Re: Jack or Tiger: Who's the greatest
Those who say that need to think about what that means. Is that because Jack was playing with other "greats"? Because it may be that Tiger is dominating so much that other players don't even get the chance to make the "great" status
In 1960 Arnold Palmer was the "Tiger Woods" of that day! Then along comes this hefty kid from Ohio and steals his glory. Anyone who knows golf history knows that Palmer hated Jack, and was relentless at wanting to beat him. Palmer was the man back then with the Tiger like galleries, Jack was the fat kid that Palmer disrespected and jeered him every chance he got. Kind of funny how Palmer likes to be buddies with Tiger. There's no doubt he wants Tiger to surpass his old enemy Jack!
Now lets look at what the world of golf looked like when Tiger turned pro in 1997. The most dominant players at that time were all on thier way out, Payne Stewart, Fred Couples, Greg Norman, and Nick Faldo. all four of those guy's had wonderful careers, from the 1980's into the mid 1990's but by 1997 were all at the end of thier careers. That's why I don't view Tiger's 1997 Masters win as anything other than a big coming out party.
Nike, Woods Sr, and Tiger himself had to be licking thier chops(CHA-CHING) because there was nobody, and I mean nobody dominating the world of golf at that time! You had Els who had a nice career going with a couple majors, nobody knew of Goosen, and Phil couldn't win a major to save his life, VJ was starting to do well. You turn the clock back to 1960 and give Jack that kind of start and he would have had 20 majors by 1970.
But this is why it is near impossible to compare era's. There are so many things that were different, not just the equipment, but the values and money from each era effect how things were done. I know there's a lot of younger Tiger followers here that maybe didn't get to see some of Jack's great shots or think that Tiger would hit the ball 50 yards past Jack if both played in thier primes together(That would be a completely incorrect thought)! It's all subjective, I grew up watching Jack, and to me Tiger is the second best player I've ever seen!
Some of the theories on here are kind of funny though, they sound like this: "Well, Tiger likes Snickers Bars, and I like Snickers Bars, so I'd have to go with Tiger as best ever",,,just a little jest,,LOL!