The other day I came into the grill at a time when some of our members were watching the Golf Channel which was airing some comments and stats on Tiger Woods' winning performance. One of them, good natured, but to needle me a little, said, "They are talking about the best golfer that ever lived". He -and all in the grill- knows my position (which I will argue here), which I have stated before that I do not think that Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer ever. I have two names whom I think as golfers, were better than Tiger, one is Ben Hogan, and the other one is Jack Nicklaus.
I'll begin by saying -you'll get no arguments from me is you say: "Tiger Woods is the greatest winner of the last 18 years, and he will probably end his career as the most prolific winner of all time"; but I'll argue that he is not the greatest golfer ever...at least not yet. The reason I say this is because other than Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, there isn't anyone else who has consistently played to win in the last 17 years since Tiger came to the world of golf.
Here is another point in Tiger's favor that I will not argue: he revived golf in the late 90's because up to that time, since Nicklaus, Faldo and Watson had left the scene, there was no one who was winning majors and winning so much. Most professional golfers were content to reap the benefits of the popularity that Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus helped the game of golf with... "if I finish in the top 10 five times a year, I'll make a very good living!"
Let me start with Tiger vs Hogan who "only" won 9 majors:
This year is the 60th anniversary of the greatest year ever in golf: Ben Hogan played in 8 events, won 6 of them, including all the majors that he played in. I know, Tiger Woods once won all four majors in a row: the 2000 U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship and the 2001 Masters. I think this feat is short of Hogan's in many ways.
Here is my case of Hogan's year and Tiger's year:
- Ben Hogan, due to World War II, where he was enlisted in the Army, did not play competitive golf for 5 long years, his prime years as a man and athlete. Tiger has won all of his majors in his prime years. In fact, because of people like Hogan, Tiger was a free man to compete any time he wanted!
- There is a (true) story about Hogan who was playing a practice round just before the U.S. Open in Merion in 1951, which he won. He was paired with a young man who was trying to have a conversation with him, but in Hogan's style, he was all business when on the course. Merion, at the time (and this year's U.S. open site), did not have any fairway bunkers until the 6th hole. The young player asked, "Mr. Hogan, does that bunker come into play?", Hogan answered, "No, just hit it to the right of it" (a fairway only 20 yards wide at about 275 yards which was a very long drive in those days). Tiger would have answered, "just blow it past it, you have an open shot from the rough past it". Hogan hit more fairways and greens than Tiger ever will.
- Tiger was in his 20's, in his prime, when he won those four championships, Hogan was 41 and on his way down as an athlete. In fact, he only won twice more in his career after his 1953 feat, and no more majors.
- Tiger has had many swing coaches, Hogan dug the secrets out of the dirt, with practice and by putting in practice those things that worked, and discarding those that didn't.
- Tiger is naturally right handed, Hogan was left handed and had to learn a totally new way of swinging because he had no money growing up, and the clubs handed down to him, were right handed.
- Tiger was competing against players who had not won but one major in most cases (only one had won 2 majors at the time, Vijay Singh as Nick Faldo had semiretired and Mickelson was yet to win his first major in 2004) and who were content to make a paycheck every week; Hogan was competing against players who wanted to win as much as him because coming in 2nd barely paid your expenses.
- Tiger travels in a Gulfstream 5 at 600 mph, Ben Hogan traveled in a Cadillac at about 65mph, driven by himself, and, to win the British Open, he traveled by boat (Hogan did not compete in the 1953 PGA Championship because the dates overlapped with the British Open);
- Hogan was known for his shotmaking, Tiger is actually known for his touch and his power, and yes, he has hit marvelous shots, but those shots I most remember are either recovery shots or putts. Hogan was "boring", he "attacked" a golf course by hitting it in the fairway, then on the green (he was never as great of a putter as Tiger is, in most cases he didn't need to be).
- Tiger is a great athlete who is as much of an athlete as he is a golfer, he even won a U.S. Open "in one leg" because of his (Torrey Pines, 2008) bad leg that he operated on after the 2008 US Open; Hogan completed his feat 3 1/2 years after breaking 7 ribs, a hip, his pelvis, his left leg and foot in a head on collision with a Greyhound bus and at a time when walking 18 holes was as much as a challenge as hitting the ball on the green from a buried lie in a fairway bunker; in 2000-2001, Tiger was at his best as an athlete. In fact, during his recovery, Hogan had an emergency operation because of a clot found in his bloodstream which required to take a vein from his "good" leg to put in his bad leg, rendering a man with two bad legs whom doctors said not only that he would not play competitive golf ever again, but that most likely, he would never walk again! Obviously, no one knew his spirit (*)
- Ben Hogan won his only British Open in his first and last visit to England. First, he had to play a qualifying tournament to get in (in those days, if you won the US Open or Masters, it did not get you in the tournament, and the only "qualifier" was the defending champion. Now you have many ways (pretty fair I would say) to qualify, but in those days, you had to play your way in, if you had a bad day, it did not mattered who you were or what you had won. In addition, Hogan won it at Carnoustie, the toughest test of all, and the site where in 1999 Jeane van DeVelde made that infamous 7 in the last hole to to tie with Justin Leonard and Paul Lawrie who eventually won the playoff. Tiger has played Carnoustie twice, once placing 7th and once placing 12th, commendable of course, but in Carnoustie,
you must play from the short grass or you have no chance!!Here is my case of Nicklaus' career against Tiger's:
- Nicklaus turned pro at 23, just short of 24; Tiger just short of 21. You say "so what", this is what I say: three years makes a lot of difference, that is three years more that Tiger will have to break Nicklaus' record. Three more years of youthful athletic abilities.
- Equipment: In Nicklaus' day, it was not as easy to hit the ball 300 yards as it is now. Yet Nicklaus hit it that far as often as Tiger did in the 90's, except that Nicklaus did it with steel shafts, 43 1/4" driver with a wooden head the size of must hybrids now; Tiger hit it 300 yards with metal heads, 44" driver (he used a Cobra driver in the late 90's); Nicklaus did it with an inferior ball (Macgregor Tourney, which was never as good as Titleist) that was wound; Tiger did it with a much better wound ball (Titleist Professional) and then with 2 piece, 3 piece, 4 piece and now 5 piece balls that go 30% longer... plus, he now uses graphite shafts.
- Nicklaus won the lowing scoring average on tour 12 years in a row (though he did not qualify for the Vardon trophy because he only played 15 tournaments a year plus 2-3 overseas, which included the British Open, not yet an "official" tour event in those days.
- Nicklaus's GIR stats over his playing career years is higher than Tiger's... and also fairways hit.
- Nicklaus could hit a 1 iron better than Tiger can hit his "stinger" 2 iron... and higher and straighter with an unforgiving ball.
- The only two categories where I believe Tiger is better than Nicklaus are the game inside 100 yards and perhaps putting, though nowadays the greens on tour venues are much easier to read and putt than those of the 60's, 70's and 80's. That could be because Nicklaus had to play courses where 3, 4, 5 and 6 irons were common clubs to approach with in par 4 holes, and now, most pros use 7, 8 and 9 irons because the ball goes so long, and Nickalus rarely missed a green with those clubs.
- Jack Nicklaus literally played championship golf "part time". He played fewer tournaments than Tiger, raised (and was literally part of) five children, often going to football, baseball, tennis games or school plays instead of playing a tournament, or flying in in the afternoon to do so, and flying back to play his next round. When at home, he practiced golf little, and practiced "dad" a lot. Tiger on the other hand, is a full time golfer, who did not even find time to attend his daughter's baptism (true!!).
Note: the above is not to criticize Woods about his personal life or beliefs, but only to point out that Nicklaus truly played a lot less golf than Woods because he spent a lot more time at home than Woods ever did.
Now, if anything of the above does not convince you, perhaps my closing argument, "the same old story" will....
- Nicklaus played against golfers who wanted to win majors, not players who "wished" to maybe win a major. Among those who he played against were Gary Player (9 majors), Lee Trevino (6), Arnold Palmer (7), Tom Watson (8), Billy Casper (3), Sever Ballesteros (5), Greg Norman (2), Johnny Miller (2), Ray Floyd (3). On the other hand, Tiger had competed against only four players who have won multiple majors, Mickelson (4), Singh (3), McIlroy (2) and Goosen (2). Moreover, the last major that Nicklaus won, at age 46, the 1986 Masters, there were over 20 majors among the players who placed 2nd - 10th! You tell me when has Tiger beat a field 1/4 that strong!
In short, most of today's golfers are content to make a big paycheck. In fact, when a player is throwing a few strokes at the end of a tournament, the commentators instead of saying, "there goes his chances at WINNING", say, 'he is spending a lot of money here!'" Such is today's culture. You may try to defend this with, "the tour is deeper in talent now". Really? So why have we lost five of the last even Ryder Cups? We have great depth, uh?
Here is the truth: the European Tour pays about 1/2 of what the tournaments in the U.S. pay, European players play to win 1st place (which pays about 33-40% of a 1st paycheck here), while finishing 2nd here often earns more than 1st there.
For those of you who still feel that I am wrong, I will concede the following: It is really impossible to say who the greatest is in any sport when the athletes have lived in different eras, was Cassius Clay better than Mike Tyson? I don't know, but I wouldn't get in the ring with either one (and neither would you) that's for sure; was Pete Sampras better than Roger Federer, could be, he competed against the likes of Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi and John McEnroe, but again, it is hard to tell.
The point is that I will agree that there has not been anyone who dominated the game of golf as Tiger has for the last 17 years, but again, the competition against him has not been all that stellar. Nicklaus won more than others in his time, and was closer to dominating than any other player, but there were a few other players who "took" several tournaments and majors away from him (he finished 2nd in the majors 19 times!!).
In closing:
I will agree -in advance- that Tiger will go down in the history books as the player with the most wins ever, perhaps even more majors than Nicklaus, a feat still to be seen, but I can't agree that as a player, he is better than Hogan or Nicklaus at their best, close, but not there!
(*) Just before the head on collision with the bus in a Texas highway, Ben Hogan threw himself in front of his wife to try to try to save her when he saw the bus's lights in the fog in front of him. That not only saved his wife, but his life as well as the steering wheel came to rest against the driver's seat. Having participated in a war, made Hogan a man of great convictions who valued his life and that of others.
The tournament has a scoring "twist", instead of "mulligans", you get a 2 foot string which you use to get your ball in the hole in the following manner: if you hit your shot (chip or putt) a couple of inches from the cup, you can use the string to "hole out" by cutting off the distance to the hole. Each time you use the string, you must cut off whatever length you used to hole out. Better that a mulligan, if you ask me. And more fun for all of those, "almosts" that we have to live with day in and day out.
There were many very good scores, beginning with a 50 scored by Ricky Nagle, Jordan Williamson, Rusty Wilson and daughter Kelsi. Next came a 54 shot by Paul Gunkel who played with two of his daughters, Haley and Tori (Windsor) and son in law Tyler. This team "disqualified" themselves from the prize pool because their "kid" on the team, is already past 20 years old (you were supposed to have a kid of 18 years of age our younger in each team) and they only wanted to donate... and have fun together! (Paul, like myself, is happier when he gets to play with any of his daughters!)
Next came two teams at 55; Joby Gray, Keith Hulen, Donnie Bursom and Chris Coy who won the scorecard playoff against "dad" Rocky Andresen, with daughter Jill (Cowan), grandson Ryder and son in law Sean Cowan.
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