Wait, hold on, before anyone crucifies me, let me explain. I have not forgotten that Jack Nicklaus is Mr. Golf, Tiger has not won a major in two years and on top of that he just lost his number one ranking to Vijay Singh. All of those things are still fresh in my mind. But they’re fading.

For everyone else (and himself), Tiger Woods has to win 19 major championships to become the greatest golfer of all time. That would surpass Nicklaus’ record 18 major championships and make it very inconceivable for anyone to catch him in this lifetime.

But I say golf is the only sport that judges its greatest player by championship wins. If that were the case, Bill Russell would be the greatest basketball player of all time. Only in golf do you qualify the best with statistics. To half the world, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player, not because he has the most points or championships but simply because he is the best. Being that good is unexplainable; it doesn’t come with rings or points. It comes with something else.

That something else in golf is Tiger Woods. He is the best golfer of all time, right now!

If sports associated its best players with statistics, Barry Bonds would be the best baseball player to ever live. But you can argue that title for a number of greats; Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio. In football, Jerry Rice holds about every receiving record in the NFL but I doubt anyone would rate him as the greatest football player of all time. Anyway, that title will always be unjustly reserved for quarterbacks. The only double whammy may be Wayne Gretzky, The Great One. He has the rings, the statistical records and above all, Gretzky just had, it.

Only five players in the history of golf have won all four major championships and Tiger is one of them at the age of 28. He held the title of number one golfer in the world for five years and has not missed a cut since 1997. If you want to talk about the most prolific winner in golf history, that would be Sam Snead with 82 PGA victories, not Jack Nicklaus. In his 25 years on tour, Nicklaus won 73 times and in Tiger’s six years as a professional he has won 40 times. If Tiger keeps at his current pace, even with the two “slumps”, he will surpass Snead and Nicklaus with career wins by more than fifty. And since golf is on the stat train, lets talk about wins in a season. Tiger had nine in 2000, not the most ever but better than Nicklaus who never won more than seven times in one year. Nicklaus holds one record, the 18 majors.

The reason Tiger is the best is because of what he has done for the game. Jack Nicklaus, labeled as the best, gave professional golf a much-needed face. He was the marketable man behind the khaki slacks and fitted polo shirts. Tiger has gone far and beyond what Jack did for the game of golf. Jack was the pioneer of the game, but Tiger made golf cool. Tiger made golf more than a game, Tiger made it a sport.

There’s also the argument that Nicklaus and Woods played in different times.

Speaking about different eras. There is one thing that makes Tiger Woods better than Jack Nicklaus right now and I don’t know why no one speaks of it when comparing the two. When Jack Nicklaus started playing golf professionally, there were not 200 guys that played golf for a living. Back then, golfers had to support their families in other ways, meaning most golfers in the sixties and early seventies had second jobs. But Jack Nicklaus never had that dilemma, because he was The Bear. He focused all his energy on the game and easily had an upper hand on his competition. Tiger plays against men that train and practice just as much as he does.

Today, pretty much every player on tour is on an equal playing field in terms of time. Jack was playing 18-holes of golf six times a week where as his competition played maybe four times a week after twelve-hour shifts.

Don’t get me started; this is my favorite argument, the best ever.
In what sport does winning really mean everything? Is golf the lone exception to this rule? Maybe Tiger Woods made this rule up himself when he turned pro and announced that he wanted Nicklaus’ record.

The point is this. Tiger Woods will be the greatest golfer of all time before his days are up. But the fact is Tiger Woods has propelled golf to heights no one ever thought imaginable. Jordan, Gretzky, Nicklaus; they came close, but they didn’t do it like Tiger.

Tiger is the exception to all rules. He has what sports people call, it. Tiger Woods is golf. Basically, Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time. . . right now.

Dave Stuckey
davestuckey3@yahoo.com