quote:

---

I'm more surprised he may not catch snead with 82 wins. That is still well within reach but figured he'd have almost 100 by now.

---

I would have bet a lot that Tiger would have 18 majors by age 40. Hard to believe it's been 7 years since he won a major. And he still may end up with that many majors, or more.

But for comparison. from ages 33-40 ...

Tiger in majors
No wins/2 Top 3/ 7 missed cuts

Nicklaus in majors:
5 majors/16 Top 3/1 missed cut (that's right, he had 16 Top 3 finishes in majors from 1973-1980)

Again, I would have bet anything Tiger wouldn't have had this kind of "slump" since the accident, but it's derailed him from hos major goal ...

Yeah, I thought he'd be at 20 by age 40 and would spend his 40's closing in on 25 total.

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

Point is, you never heard Hogan, Nelson, Snead, Arnie, or Jack offering excuses when they played poorly. And they all did. But then, those asking the questions had different expectations as well.

---

This seems like a really valid comparison... Give me a break.

---

Straighten me out, good sir.

---

The main reason I don't think this is a good comparison is that Tiger plays in the Golf Channel era. Snead for example... First ever national broadcast of a golf tournament was in 1953, so at least 68 of his 82 wins happened before golf had ever been on TV at all. When Snead finished T-10 at the Wyndham Championship did he have a dozen reporters asking him questions? Did he have anyone asking him questions at all?

The amount of media that Tiger has to deal with now totally blows away what those guys you mentioned had to deal with. Those guys you mentioned played in a time where no media outlet had the resources or a reason to give a crap about whether they were limping or why they were limping. And if they did care they didn't have the resources to send someone over to interview a guy who didn't win the tournament to ask him about it. Had Jack Nicklaus fallen off a cliff and broken his leg, it would have been a blurb in the morning paper. Same thing happens to Fowler, Spieth, Bubba, Rose, Scott or probably a dozen other big names of the sport and it's front page news on ESPN, Morning Drive talks about it for an hour, every golf site has a blog post about it, and there is a national conversation about the safety of the course. If it's Tiger Woods, multiply that coverage by about ten and it's CNN's top story of the day as well.

Also, his comment about his hip being sore was in direct response to someone asking him "why were you limping?" He said several times in that interview that he had lots of opportunities and just didn't get it done. He never blamed anything about his round on a sore hip at all.

He probably could have, though. I have some experience with hip problems. If it's hurting bad enough to change your gait, it's no small deal.

Thanks for straightening him out, bagger. I forgot to!

If there's a problem, it's with context and perspective. I've seen all of the golfers mentioned play the game (excepting Lord Byron), and so my perspective is not as limited as those who did not witness the greatest of the past few eras play.

By comparison, I've been following Aggie football for more than fifty years (my first game in Kyle was 1960), and I have no qualms claiming JFF is the GOAT. However, you lack that same perspective, and thus if you were to make the same claim, it would lack some credibility, though you might well disagree.

On that same token, when 95%+ of the people on here disagree with your perspectives on this and other issues, that's also detrimental to your credibility.

Does who is GOAT really natter? Right now the guy is 270 or so and deserving of that ranking.

He needs to get out and play the fall events.

quote:

---

By comparison, I've been following Aggie football for more than fifty years (my first game in Kyle was 1960), and I have no qualms claiming JFF is the GOAT. However, you lack that same perspective, and thus if you were to make the same claim, it would lack some credibility, though you might well disagree.

---

...Greatest Aggie?

Or otherwise?

quote:

---

quote:

---

By comparison, I've been following Aggie football for more than fifty years (my first game in Kyle was 1960), and I have no qualms claiming JFF is the GOAT. However, you lack that same perspective, and thus if you were to make the same claim, it would lack some credibility, though you might well disagree.

---

...Greatest Aggie?

Or otherwise?

---

Meant to say he's the greatest college football that I've ever seen. Can't name another player who impacted the game and his team as much as JFF. Which means he gets my vote for GOAT, but it's just a subjective opinion.

My favorite Aggie player is Edd Hargett, but I'm slightly prejudiced.

I think you're underestimating the coverage print media gave to golf in the first half, maybe the first two-thirds, of the 20th century.

Andre Ware? Vince Young? Local bias aside, if you are looking at raw impact, both of those guys had more amazing accomplishments than Johnny.

But..like you said - subjective opinion I suppose.

quote:

---

Does who is GOAT really natter? Right now the guy is 270 or so and deserving of that ranking.

He needs to get out and play the fall events.

---

That's the beauty of golf. You don't deserve anything. Your ranking is literally reflective of your skill and execution. In 2015, Tiger's skill and execution have been 178th on tour.

Anyone want to take over / under 178th in 2016 for Tiger? I'll take the under.

Over.

As in better than 178th

Just saw a golf digest post that the 3rd round of Wyndham got higher rankings than the 3rd round at the PGA, because of Eldrick.

quote:

---

Just saw a golf digest post that the 3rd round of Wyndham got higher rankings than the 3rd round at the PGA, because of Eldrick.

---

Not surprising one bit. I was glued to the TV. It's not just lay people either, the commentators were giddy as well.

So glad to see staff clean up a golf forum thread. It was much needed and is much appreciated.

Apparently El Tigre with another surgery on his back.

quote:

---

Apparently El Tigre with another surgery on his back.

---

Yep. He won't play again until spring 2016.

And this after hearing all year (yet again) that he was "finally healthy."

The rust next year, even assuming he comes back healthy, assures another year of not remotely contending in majors.

I'm his biggest fan. But he's done as a top tier golfer.

You never know, but you'd have to guess it's over for Tiger.

More surgery. Even if he gets back in to good form when will the next surgery be? It guess some of you were right, his body looks like it's done.

I've mentioned this a few times before, but backs rarely get "healthy" again once they are bad enough to be cut on. It's more about cleaning up debris and mitigating some pain, but they are rarely right ever again. It's why the "just sit out as long as it takes to get fully healthy" strategy isn't a viable one.

Yeah, I think you have to think about several things.

1. He's suffering through a variety of chronic injuries, that are not healing enough to allow him to play world class golf. As stated before, backs never completely heal.

2. He turns 40 on Dec 30.

3. Next year it will be 8 years since he won a major. We're getting close to it being a full decade since his last win.

4. He's at a different place in his life now. He's spending more time with his kids. I doubt his mental fires are stoked like they use to be. Etc.

I would not be shocked to see him win again, but the Tiger era is over.

Disagree about #4, but with that said...

Tiger refuses to admit that he's not the 2000 - 2007 tiger anymore. He had great season in 2009 and 2013, but he has failed to see that guys like Speith, Rory, and Day are really really good, and that he can't just show up, intimidate and win like he did before. I wish he would swallow some pride and consult with Butch (he wont). He needs to realize that he's an aging golfer (which happens to EVERYONE) and that his focus should be to win a single tournament, and not look at majors, wgc, etc...

quote:

---

Disagree about #4, but with that said

---

You think Tiger views life the same today as he did when he was in his 20s? That he spends his time approaching golf the exact same? That he thinks about the same things? Has the same priorities?

That defies logic. Everybody's life changes when they have kids and as they age and get a glimpse of their own mortality. Tiger is no different.

His ego won't let him swing easy on the course. He has to try and keep up with the bombers. This is why we heard so much about his swing speed. I can't tell you how many times we've heard how he just stripping the ball on the range with his smooth swing, yet when he gets to the course it's like he thinks he's 25 and can hit anything he wants.

Yep I definitely agree with this. Sad state of affairs.

Yall watch too much Dr. Phil.

It aint spending more time with kids. It's not Tiger facing his own mortality. Or hubris. And so on.

He can't hit it straight.

Agree. His body is failing him and he can't hit it straight, and the former probably plays at least some role in the latter.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/golf/73494818/steve-williams-a-slave-for-tiger-woods.html

I'm just here to kick some dirt on a despicable human being.

And happy birthday, Gary Player.

Steve Williams is full of ****. I nearly gagged at some of the "my strong values" crap. That said, I do believe his story about essentially being cut off and left hanging in the breeze, and i think its a bullsh thing to do to a guy that has spent a decade working for you. But Tiger has never shown that he knows how to deal with people.

quote:

---

He said that after winning Nicklaus' tournament.

Would have been real poor form to say, "actually I AM the GOAT, Nicklaus played in an ERA with less competition and you clowns weren't changing every golf course to beat him. Oh BTW Sam Snead has more wins than all of us."

---

Nicklaus did not play in an era when there was less competition.

Watson, Trevino, Player, Miller, Weiskopf were all better than the Rocco Mediates and Davis Love IIIs and every other hack that backed up as soon as Tiger showed up on the leader board.