Tiger Tales

This article which disputes the notion that Tiger Woods needs a worthy adversary – a Frazier to his Ali – for Tiger to transcend his sport. True, Tiger’s main competitor is Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors. But this all misses the larger point. It isn’t that no one has emerged to take on Tiger mano a mano, it’s that the field of golfers he routinely pummels just plain suck.

 

Look at Nicklaus’ competition: Arnie Palmer, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Tom Watson. Those are the greatest golfers of all time. No wonder Nicklaus was runner up an astounding 19 times in majors. Look at who he was playing against – the best of the best.

 

In contrast, Woods’ primary competition reads less like a who’s who of professional golf, but a sad list of has beens and never was’s. Robert Gamez, Justin Leonard, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els? Please. What a joke. Does anyone even remember when Duval and Leonard were any good? These stiffs either didn’t have the game for the long haul or lacked the intestinal fortitude that it takes to dethrone the champ. Lee Trevino famously said that putting for $500,000 was no pressure compared to putting for $50 when you only had $5 in your pocket. Mickelson can’t even comprehend what Trevino is talking about and, besides, he’s content to cash the second – or third, place check and grab some endorsement money. And that goes, sadly, for Els too, one of my favorite golfers. He got his major and seems content to just keep cashing a top ten finish check. They don’t call him The Big Easy for nothing. And it’s why they also call Tiger…well, Tiger.

 

Nicklaus played against worthy opponents. Woods is playing against Jack and history. Tiger’s opponents can barely play at all.