Jack vs. Tiger: Who's the Greatest Golfer?

[iacas]

you might wanna check that 7 year thing. i'm pretty sure he won his first masters in 1997. so that would make this year 13?

And you may want to check the date of the post you attempted to correct. It's from early 2006. Still doesn't make "7 years" right, but your "13 years" isn't right either.

[Jared]

I think this goes to show the relative weakness of the field today. I would venture to guess more players could have hit this shot in Jack's day than can now. There are very few shotmakers anymore. For the record, I think Tiger is one of the best shotmakers of all time. I think he has benefited from technology, but not nearly as much as many, many other pros today.

Tiger will most likely go down as the best of all time if he is able to remain healthy, but he's not there yet.

[Comeback City]

Tiger's the man!

[alcorn]

I totally agree with Pakdoc. If I could see any matchup, it would Tiger vs. Jack, both in their primes. Equipment from the same era or equipment of their choosing. I think Tiger could probably win.

The only thing that truly separates them is that Tiger until recently really hasn't had much real competition.

[iacas]

Watch for Tiger to have a mediocre year in 2009.

I'll take that bet. He's already got a top ten finish and he's in second place at Bay Hill.

Tiger != Ernie.

[tbird]

Tiger.
He is just too dominate.

[mcfc_nick]

today just shows why tiger is the best the game has ever seen and will ever see!

[JetFan1983]

Tiger is now seven wins away from tying Jack for career PGA Tour wins!!

[Guest]

I was young when Jack and Arnie had their duels. I took up the game as Tiger headed into his teens and into college. It's a tough question especially for guys in their 40's-50's and up. I'll say Tiger ONLY because of how he stands alone in his era. With Jack, you had Jack, Arnie, Gary, then Kite and others. From that group I do not believe Jack broke away the way Tiger did from Phil, Sergio, Colin, VJ, Ernie and almost everyone else on the planet. I will look at the question of who's the greatest from on overall "for the good of the game" viewpoint and Tiger wins hands down.

[Shankzilla]

Jack is still the man, but Tiger is gaining fast.

[nucadet12]

I have grown up watching Tiget play. He and I are the same age. Therefore, I feel that I can relate to him best.

[lynchjo]

I'll take that bet. He's already got a top ten finish and he's in second place at Bay Hill.

Once again Tiger has forced me to take a big serving of humble pie...

I should know better than to bet against him. It took a mere mortal like Ernie Els a year before he began to play competitively after his knee surgery - I am beginning to believe Tiger is no mere mortal. How he continues to make those clutch putts is astonishing!! People will be talking about this golf prodigy for centuries...

[mirv]

let me preface this by saying that i do completely believe tiger to be one of the greatest players the game has ever seen.

BUT.

i think that, given the competition he faces week in and week out, with the very, very large gap between tiger and everyone else, i think it's a safe assumption to make that tiger only seems so good because nobody else is really stepping up to the bat to challenge him. there's coulda-been, woulda-been phil mickelson, but that's really about it.

now compare that to jack nicklaus: he was squaring off against half a dozen hall of fame golfers in their primes - lee trevino, arnold palmer, gary player, seve ballesteros, greg norman, etc etc. and he STILL won. tiger doesn't have anyone like that to go up against. we need another nicklaus or palmer to square off against tiger to really get a true measure of how good tiger is, i think.

[Lundy76]

Tiger baby

[JBK]

I'll always be a bigger fan of Jack but I think Tiger may eventually considered the best golfer of all time.

[Trav]

What a great match. I couldn't argue with either choice, although I probably lean to Tiger.

But I'll say one thing for Jack - he wouldn't flinch mentally in the clutch the way Tiger's current competitors usually do. The Tiger stare that makes most pros shake would have absolutely no effect on Jack, and I think he would figure a way to get inside Tiger's head a little.

[Powertop]

I'm going to have to go with Tiger. The man is as clutch as they get

[NorCalGolfer]

I've already shed my $.02 on this thread, but more things have come to light since. Today in the first round of the Masters, Chad Campbell has an opportunity to shoot a 62. A feat never accomplished in any major. EVER!!! And most of you say "Jack had Arnie and Lee and Tom etc....." but the other players in the PGA at that time did NOT have that kind of potential to do something like this. Or else it would've happened right? Tiger is playing a full PGA Tour that has more capability to fire off incredible scores than Jack could ever shake a stick at. Tiger may not catch Jack for the 18 Majors. He may not even reach 82 wins, but no matter what... Tiger is the best golfer of all time.