ROCKET Ronnie’s record ton at this week’s Masters tournament got me thinking about the age old sporting debate – just who is the greatest.

O’Sullivan this week passed Stephen Hendry’s all-time record of centuries, knocking in the 776th ton of his career in a quarter-final victory over Marco Fu.

Century building is clearly an important measure of a snooker player’s talent, but world titles, as in most other sports, has to be the ultimate benchmark.

In that regard, O’Sullivan’s tally of five victories at the World Championships is still two short of Hendry’s record in the modern era.

Using that simple yardstick, the Scot can still lay claim to being the best snooker player of all time.

But this argument proves to me that there is more to sport than winning.

I would like to think any snooker lover who has witnessed both O’Sullivan and Hendry playing at their peak would side with the Rocket.

For some sporting heroes, style counts over substance.

The Ballon d’Or offered an interesting example this week.

I don’t think you can compare the respective talents of a goalkeeper and a forward, but I don’t think there can be a lot of argument that Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player on the planet at the moment.

Yet Bayern Munich and Germany stopper Manuel Neuer, who along with Lionel Messi made up the list of three footballers in the running, could point to his World Cup winner’s medal as a valid reason to ask for a recount.

In my mind though, sportsmen and women should not be judged on pure statistics.

It is a game of opinions after all, so here is my completely biased, baseless list of three more sporting head-to-heads.

1. George Best was better than Pele (and Maradona) – I only ever saw one of these footballers play live, but while Pele bagged more than 1,000 goals I just have this feeling that watching Bestie in full flow would have given me more pleasure.

2. Jack Nicklaus was better than Tiger Woods – The golfing world would like to see one last roar from the Tiger, but even if he did miraculously bridge the gap to claim the five major titles he needs to surpass the Golden Bear’s total of 18, Jack will always win on class alone.

3. Roger Federer is better than Rafael Nadal – This is a tough one because if Nadal’s body does not give way he could well to go on to break Federer’s record of 17 grand slam titles. But sometimes you have to give the nod on all-round ability. Nadal is the game's most courageous player, but Fed’s quality across all surfaces just gives him the edge.