It’s a silly debate, really, but here’s one argument in favor of Jack being better than Tiger, no matter how Tiger finishes his career. Tiger’s birdie on the 72nd hole to win yesterday made me realize this.
I don’t care who you are, all seems right when Tiger wins. He’s supposed to. Everyone wants him to. Everyone except the other guys in contention. He has massive fan support. Even people who don’t like him want him to win. Jack Nicklaus, on the other hand, came along at a time when Arnold Palmer was the Tiger Woods of his day. Jack won all those tournaments when everyone was pulling against him. Arnold was supposed to win all those, and he probably would’ve if Jack hadn’t come along. Johnny Miller certainly would’ve won a lot more tournaments in a Jack-less era. Lots of other players would’ve.
Some knucklehead (Arron Oberholser, maybe?) was interviewed in one of the golf rags out right now, and he said Tiger is better than Jack because “today’s fields are deeper” and “anyone in the field can win any week” or something idiotic like that. News flash, phucko: anyone in any field in any era can win. You all start at even par. Beyond that, and beyond Jack winning when no one wanted him to, everyone should respect what those who came before us did to make golf what it is today.
And if time travel were possible, there’s no telling what I’d pay to be inside the ropes as Tiger and Jack stepped onto the first tee of Augusta National on a warm Sunday in April.
Good note on the Golden Bear. I still think Bobby Jones was the greatest of all time. As dominate if not more than Tiger, retired at 30 with 13 majors. Enough said.
You may be right about Bobby, but no one seems to want to compare him to Tiger.