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

[Golfingdad]

QFT*. * Queerily Funny Trollop. Anyway, back to the topic…

Queen From Transylvania. Ok, I'm done. ;)

[Ernest Jones]

Quantification For Tiger

[bplewis24]

Lol, no way?!?! All this time I thought I had you guys figured out and I thought it meant "quite f***ing true!!!" Whoops. (Generally similar sentiment, however I unfairly attributed you guys with a bit of emphasis and vulgarity ;))

Now this makes me curious to know what you think QFP stands for.

[Ernest Jones]

Quite F**king Possibly?

[iacas]

I'd hoped to avoid using him, but you pushed too far. :)

[turtleback]

Why should it be more complicated? I don't get that. But to use that argument, to claim Tiger is the best, means he's dominant. In the last few games I've watched, he wasn't all that dominant. I'd like to quote a guy who posted here earlier (Last year, there were four Majors, and Tiger won one. Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington won the first three and Tiger won the last one---the PGA Championship. Winning one of four and losing to Zach and Angel and Padraig is NOT exactly DOMINANCE, in my judgement). Tiger isn't the best yet. Until he wins the masters at age 46 in a field dominated by Golf Hall of Famers like Lee Trevino, Seve, Arnie, Billy Casper, Johnny Miller, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd, and Tom Watson, then he's going to GOAT. And don't tell me the field he plays in (i.e. Zach, Angel, and Trevor) are in the same league as Arnie the the guys.

You talk about dominance.  In which specific years do you rate Jack Nicklaus as having been dominant?

[desertpig]

You talk about dominance.  In which specific years do you rate Jack Nicklaus as having been dominant?

1963 - won two of the major championships, US Open and PGA Championship

1965 and 66 - won the Masters back-to-back

1978 - achieves triple grand slam

1980 - Wins the US Open & PGA Championship

Notable achievement - was PGA Player of the Year back to back in 1972 & 1973 and 1975 and 76;

[desertpig]

1963 - won two of the major championships, US Open and PGA Championship

1965 and 66 - won the Masters back-to-back

1978 - achieves triple grand slam

1980 - Wins the US Open & PGA Championship

Notable achievement - was PGA Player of the Year back to back in 1972 & 1973 and 1975 and 76;

BTW, Tiger has never won the Masters back-to-back

[Abu3baid]

I vote for............... Wait what are we voting for again? Ok.. Seriously, who is better? 4000 posts we should have a clear winner right?

[mvmac]

I vote for............... Wait what are we voting for again?

Ok.. Seriously, who is better? 4000 posts we should have a clear winner right?

Bobby Jones

@desertpig Please take a look at this and read about multi-quoting

[turtleback]

1963 - won two of the major championships, US Open and PGA Championship

1965 and 66 - won the Masters back-to-back

1978 - achieves triple grand slam

1980 - Wins the US Open & PGA Championship

Notable achievement - was PGA Player of the Year back to back in 1972 & 1973 and 1975 and 76;

And THIS is what you claim is more dominant than Tiger?

2000, won 3 major championships (and then won a fourth in a row with the Masters win in 2001).

2001 and 2002 won the Masters back to back (contrary to your assertion)

2005 and 2006, won the British Open back to back

1999/2000 and 2005/2006 won the PGA Championship back to back

2008 achieves triple career grand slam (6 years younger than Jack did it)

But how about some other measurements of dominance?  Like consecutive win streaks.

Tiger has won 7 in a row, 6 in a row, 5 in a row, and 3 in a row twice.

Jack has one winning streak of 3 in a row and nothing better.

Since you bring up Player of the Year awards, Jack has indeed won it back to back twice and added one other for a total of 5.

Tiger OTOH, won it 5 times in a row (1999-2003), lost it in 2004 to Vijay, and then won it the next 3 years in a row - that is 8 out of 9 years.  And won it 3 other times for a total of 11 times.

Tiger also has 9 Vardon Trophies Jack has 0)

So remind me again of how Jack was more dominant that Tiger?

[boogielicious]

And THIS is what you claim is more dominant than Tiger?

2000, won 3 major championships (and then won a fourth in a row with the Masters win in 2001).

2001 and 2002 won the Masters back to back (contrary to your assertion)

2005 and 2006, won the British Open back to back

1999/2000 and 2005/2006 won the PGA Championship back to back

2008 achieves triple career grand slam (6 years younger than Jack did it)

But how about some other measurements of dominance?  Like consecutive win streaks.

Tiger has won 7 in a row, 6 in a row, 5 in a row, and 3 in a row twice.

Jack has one winning streak of 3 in a row and nothing better.

Since you bring up Player of the Year awards, Jack has indeed won it back to back twice and added one other for a total of 5.

Tiger OTOH, won it 5 times in a row (1999-2003), lost it in 2004 to Vijay, and then won it the next 3 years in a row - that is 8 out of 9 years.  And won it 3 other times for a total of 11 times.

Tiger also has 9 Vardon Trophies Jack has 0)

So remind me again of how Jack was more dominant that Tiger?

And add this:

PGA Tour win percentage: Tiger Woods 25.99%, Jack Nicklaus 19.39%.  This has all been brought up before, many times, but @desertpig is too lazy to read the thread, even though he claims to have.

[jamo]

BTW, Tiger has never won the Masters back-to-back

Jack also never held all four majors at once. (By which I mean, comparing streaks and who won things consecutively is pointless.)

[Mulligan Jeff]

I gotta believe Tiger is more mentally tough than any of his predecessors including Jack. Tiger's total number of wins, winning percentage with a 54 hole lead, as well as re-capturing number 1 in the world (after personal collapse) make the case for GOAT even stronger. The only flaw in this where I have a problem giving Tiger the GOAT is his lack of come from behind wins. Jack did it numerous times, heck Arnie did it, Watson did it, Player did it and maybe one or two other players. My point is Tiger has never done it and that IMO is an issue.

[MS256]

I gotta believe Tiger is more mentally tough than any of his predecessors including Jack. Tiger's total number of wins, winning percentage with a 54 hole lead, as well as re-capturing number 1 in the world (after personal collapse) make the case for GOAT even stronger. The only flaw in this where I have a problem giving Tiger the GOAT is his lack of come from behind wins. Jack did it numerous times, heck Arnie did it, Watson did it, Player did it and maybe one or two other players. My point is Tiger has never done it and that IMO is an issue.

I guess there's nothing wrong with that opinion but to me it would be like disqualifying a football team from GOAT consideration because they never trailed in a game, and beat the daylights out of everybody they played, just because they didn't have a last minute comeback.

[Mulligan Jeff]

I see your point and I know that Tiger dominates, yet he has trailed in a number of tournaments where he hasn't come out on top. I do believe Tiger has faced tougher competition than Jack and I'm ready to hand him the GOAT trophy - it's like the recipe for GOAT is made up of numerous key ingredients and the one that Tiger lacks is "come from behind wins".

[MS256]

I see your point and I know that Tiger dominates, yet he has trailed in a number of tournaments where he hasn't come out on top. I do believe Tiger has faced tougher competition than Jack and I'm ready to hand him the GOAT trophy - it's like the recipe for GOAT is made up of numerous key ingredients and the one that Tiger lacks is "come from behind wins".

Yeah I'm sure Tiger would like to come from behind and get that perceived monkey off of his back.

My biggest hurdle in deciding on GOAT is whether a big fish in a small pond can be as big as a big fish in a big pond.

Of course they can but my experience around sports tells me the odds are against it. Most of the time the better money is on the best athlete from the largest pool.

[Mulligan Jeff]

Does that mean your money is on Jack? One point that is hard to judge is the level of competition each has faced - that may be defined by the scoring average among their competition.