Woods /US Open

Swango1980

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Woods will never win another Major


None of us saw Young Tom Morris, the Great Triumvirate, Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan, so we don’t know about the ‘of all time’ bit….but I’d go with Jack Nicklaus over Woods, both as a player and as a gentleman
I always chuckle when people throw in "Jack was a better gentleman". Sounds like they need another better reason to justify Jack being the better golfer, as golf alone is not enough.

Stephen Fry is probably a better gentleman than Tiger, but pretty irrelevant when figuring out who was better for golf.

Besides, maybe Jack hasn't been as squeaky clean as some believe. But, given he hasn't had a one hundredth of the media attention as Tiger, then his private life has been much easier to keep private :)
 

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I always chuckle when people throw in "Jack was a better gentleman". Sounds like they need another better reason to justify Jack being the better golfer, as golf alone is not enough.

Stephen Fry is probably a better gentleman than Tiger, but pretty irrelevant when figuring out who was better for golf.

Besides, maybe Jack hasn't been as squeaky clean as some believe. But, given he hasn't had a one hundredth of the media attention as Tiger, then his private life has been much easier to keep private :)

Not saying anything against jack as I don't know about his past

But your right about the media

tiger had "tampongate" the storm in a teacup that caused only made by the media

Justin Thomas had his sponsors drop him for something he said to himself but the TV cameras picked it up

For the record neither of them I agree with or are right things but if say jack had done that in his day we would never know about it.
 

Swango1980

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Not saying anything against jack as I don't know about his past

But your right about the media

tiger had "tampongate" the storm in a teacup that caused only made by the media

Justin Thomas had his sponsors drop him for something he said to himself but the TV cameras picked it up

For the record neither of them I agree with or are right things but if say jack had done that in his day we would never know about it.
And, to be fair, I don't agree with a lot of the things I call myself after hitting a bad shot :)
 

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I'm surprised at you posting this sort of half baked truths and personal opinions when you diss every link posted by doubters in the EV thread!

This just says how he changed people's approach to golf. He has not changed the game of golf in any way. He has not come up with a new tour, a new format, one length clubs, a new way of scoring or anything like that. Tom Morris would still recognise the game now as the same as when he played so what has changed with the game of golf?
 

PJ87

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I'm surprised at you posting this sort of half baked truths and personal opinions when you diss every link posted by doubters in the EV thread!

This just says how he changed people's approach to golf. He has not changed the game of golf in any way. He has not come up with a new tour, a new format, one length clubs, a new way of scoring or anything like that. Tom Morris would still recognise the game now as the same as when he played so what has changed with the game of golf?
 
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Sorry, but Tiger at his peak between 99 and 03 then 05 to 09 (I think) was head and shoulders above anything anyone else has done in terms of playing golf.

Jack won more majors yes, but against a smaller number of high level competitors.

Forgetting Tigers extra curricular activities, his best golf was on another level.
 

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There was no such thing as The Masters Tournament in Hagen's day. So removing Masters wins makes the Top Major Winners

Jack 12
Walter 11
Tiger 10

And Hagen might have done better if it were not for some major tournaments being cancelled during WW1.
Thats why majors are no arbiters of greatness. The British Open has really only be a relevant major since 1960. Before that, it was a local tournament for UK/Empire/Commonwealth golfers and the occassional colonial visitor. Americans would have cleaned up had they participated - as they did, as soon as they came regularly and in numbers.

European golfers were third division compared to US, until Jacklin opened a chink, and then Seve paved the way raise us to level pegging.

Young Tom - there are literally thousands of golfers active today better than him. Open wins or not. Braid, Vardon etc wouldnt rank at all.
 

evemccc

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I'm surprised at you posting this sort of half baked truths and personal opinions when you diss every link posted by doubters in the EV thread!

This just says how he changed people's approach to golf. He has not changed the game of golf in any way. He has not come up with a new tour, a new format, one length clubs, a new way of scoring or anything like that. Tom Morris would still recognise the game now as the same as when he played so what has changed with the game of golf?
Poor article. Learnt nothing!

The main way Tiger changed things was financially
Before Tiger they were merely well paid, after Tiger they're astronomically well paid...

Yep. Basically he affected the money and brought a lot of money to the game, due to his wins and dominance, and marketability

Didn’t ‘change the game’ substantially to something it wasn’t originally …Arnold Palmer was surely v similar in the 60s in terms of attracting money and interest etc etc
 

Lord Tyrion

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The main way Tiger changed things was financially
Before Tiger they were merely well paid, after Tiger they're astronomically well paid...
This was pretty much what I was about to post. Tiger's marketability is what changed golf. He brought bigger ratings, more sponsors. He didn't change golf, he changed the finances of the pro's.
 

PJ87

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All his own work? And was also only mentioned about 4/5 years after your linked article was published.

Tiger has changed the game. How can you argue with that? Look at golfers today compared to golfers of the past? They are more athletic now. That's down to people seeing the results tiger got from his way of doing it and they followed suit. That's 1 change

Tiger challenged dress codes. His roll necks for example. Courses found it hard to stop players rocking up in what tiger wore because he's wearing it on tour. That's another change

You have a field of players now that got into golf because of the interest in tiger. They even admit it. Another change.
 

PJ87

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Poor article. Learnt nothing!



Yep. Basically he affected the money and brought a lot of money to the game, due to his wins and dominance, and marketability

Didn’t ‘change the game’ substantially to something it wasn’t originally …Arnold Palmer was surely v similar in the 60s in terms of attracting money and interest etc etc

 

PJ87

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Looking into it further it does seem it's a bit of a nothing

The us open is the only major he doesn't t auto qualify for anyways

Open he can play until he is 55
Masters forever
Pga forever

The us open let in "the last 5 years of winnings of the masters" now because the masters is before the open his 2019 doesn't qualify him. Yet tbh 2019 was 5 years ago... So should it not count anyways??
 

Imurg

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Looking into it further it does seem it's a bit of a nothing

The us open is the only major he doesn't t auto qualify for anyways

Open he can play until he is 55
Masters forever
Pga forever

The us open let in "the last 5 years of winnings of the masters" now because the masters is before the open his 2019 doesn't qualify him. Yet tbh 2019 was 5 years ago... So should it not count anyways??
The exemption is for 5 US Opens not 5 years
 

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Looking into it further it does seem it's a bit of a nothing

The us open is the only major he doesn't t auto qualify for anyways

Open he can play until he is 55
Masters forever
Pga forever

The us open let in "the last 5 years of winnings of the masters" now because the masters is before the open his 2019 doesn't qualify him. Yet tbh 2019 was 5 years ago... So should it not count anyways??

A bit inconsequential but they've just dropped The Open to 55, with his wins being before that change it means he can still play the Open until he's 60yrs old
 

Swango1980

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How did Tiger change the game? Who knows. It isn't like he changed the rules of golf, or made changes to the equipment, or change the format of competitions. But, if anyone is trying to take the "change the game" that literally, then it isn't really worth discussing with them.

Tiger was the best thing to happen to the professionals that play the game today, and have done for the last 20 years. Listen to what pretty much all professionals say today, they are grateful as to what Tiger's greatness and marketability has done to the game they play. For me personally, Tiger came to fame in my latter years at school, and without doubt he was the single biggest factor that made the game really appealing to play for myself. Golf became cool. Before that, we might have had players like Faldo, Norman, Els, Price, Woosnam, etc. I didn't mind watching the odd tournament if it was on, but it wasn't really that exciting.

Also, what has Tiger's achievements and profile done to the game to other communities? Suddenly, you had a black golfer who looked like a proper athlete, dominating a game that was generally seen to be played by middle aged white men from wealthy backgrounds. Tiger must have caused a huge interest in the game from black communities, or just generally non-white communities, around the globe that was exposed to his achievements. Has golf become much more accessible, not just in the west, but in places in the world that golf wasn't ever a consideration? I suspect it has, and I think the existence of Tiger Woods has played a part in that.

From a golfing perspective, especially getting a few years into Tigers career, I suspect his overall competition was tougher than it would ever have been in the history of golf, and continues to get tougher and tougher. Golf is now seen as a sport that can earn top players huge financial rewards. Not just the top 2 or 3 golfers, but even journeyman pros make millions. So, not only are you likely to have more kids play golf in this day and age, any of them that show any talent in the game are much more likely to pursue a career in it because of the wealth it could bring them. Add to that what we have learned about the game, over years of trial and error in coaching and the added benefit of technology (e.g. trackman), there is almost a conveyer belt of brilliant golfers being churned out every year. I wouldn't be surprised that many of the golfers that don't make it in today's game (ones we barely ever hear of) would have been brilliant golfers 30-40 years ago.

Who was better, Woods or Nicklaus? It is an unwinnable debate as they'll never play against each other in their prime. It is easiest to just respect them both equally as they were the best in their generations, they can only beat whoever they are up against at the time. If they played in their prime, I suspect Tiger would be better. But then again, if Jack's prime was in the 90's and he had the advantage of new technology, potentially playing against tougher fields, perhaps he'd up his own game. Who is to say Scheffler wouldn't be a match for prime Tiger or Jack, the way Scheffler is playing now? Scheffler is up against brilliant players, and making them look like County Golfers at the moment.
 

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I wonder how long before AI/technology will be able to create a Jones/Palmer/Nicklaus/Woods 4 ball (pick your own players) and pit them against each other SIM style to see how they’d compare. Or maybe just to say it can’t be done fairly :unsure:
 
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