Who would have thought that one day he would be as famous as the character who was looking at him from a large poster on the wall of his room. The youngster was Tiger Woods and the gentleman on the wall was Jack Nicklaus.
Little Eldrick, Woods’ real name, watched his idol’s record of victories every night and dreamed of emulating him one day. The 18 majors of the master became, over time, an obsession for the Californian. “It has always been my goal to surpass Jack,” Woods has acknowledged several times. And it seemed that the goal was within his reach… until the fall of 2009 when his life and his game underwent a radical change.
It is not easy to establish a more or less fair comparison between Nicklaus and Woods on a sporting level, since three and a half decades separate them in their life chronology, and in that time golf has changed a lot in some aspects, such as equipment (clubs and balls) and physical and even mental preparation. However, the essence of the competition, which is none other than the talent of the players, remains. In Nicklaus’ favor, it should be pointed out that in his time he had to fight against the all-time greats, such as Gary Player, Arnold Palmer or Tom Watson, to cite just a few examples (the first won nine majors, and the other two won eight each).
Analyzing the records of both golf stars, we see that at the age Tiger is now (36), Nicklaus had won 14 of his 18 majors, the first of them when he was 22 years old (Tiger had 6 majors at that age: 2 when he was 20 and 4 when he was 21). The remaining 4 were won by the Golden Bear over a period of a decade, when he was 38, 40 (he won 2) and 46 years old. In total, Nicklaus won his 18 majors in the course of 25 years, while Woods has accumulated his 14 triumphs in a period of 12 years. Based on these figures, Tiger has 10 years left to try to match or surpass his boyhood hero. Of course, you have to take into account the fact that only one golfer in the last 58 years has won five majors after he turned 35, and that’s Nicklaus.
Before turning pro, Tiger won the U.S. Amateur three times in a row, while Jack won twice. Both claimed victories in the NCAA Championship, while Woods was crowned the best in three editions of the U.S. Junior Amateur.
The number of victories in the majors for both could have been significantly increased if they had a bit of luck in the last round, as in both cases they finished second a few times. Nicklaus takes the cake in this regard, as he finished second in no less than 19 majors, while Tiger was one place behind the champion on 6 occasions. The Golden Bear succumbed to Arnold Palmer twice, Lee Treviño four times and Tom Watson four times. Nor could he resist the onslaught of Seve Ballesteros, who beat him by three strokes in the 1979 British Open. The names of Tiger’s rivals, to be honest, do not have in this section (Cabrera, Beem, Yang…) the mythical resonances of the figures who beat Nicklaus in the Grand Slam events.
When comparing the number of victories of both in the American Tour, we see that they are practically equal (73 to 72 in favor of the Ohioan), so, if things do not go even more wrong for Tiger, the Californian will pass his idol very soon in this ranking. The Golden Bear could have easily surpassed the hundred wins on the PGA Tour if he had been a little luckier, as he came second in no less than 58 tournaments and finished third on 38 occasions.
After analyzing the figures, the question remains as to who is the greatest golfer of all time. It is clear that if Tiger had continued in the same line of sporting achievements that began in 1997 and was interrupted in 2009, the Californian would have long ago surpassed the records of victories of the Golden Bear in the PGA Tour and possibly also in terms of majors.
A lot has happened since 1997, when the earnest Cypress boy shocked the world by winning the prestigious Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in an uncontested manner: at only 21 years of age, becoming the youngest person to win a major, with the largest stroke differential (12) and the lowest score (-18).
From then on, the Cypress native gave a golf recital like never seen before, demonstrating a superiority on the course that made him fully deserving of the nickname The Extraterrestrial. His game was certainly not of this world. He broke all records, both in statistics related to the game and in winnings, he chained victories as if nothing, up to six in a row in a season, he became the owner and master of the Grand Slam… He turned everything into gold. For a decade, there was no one to overshadow him in the world, and his reign in the world ranking became indefinite.
Everything was going perfectly, and even in the year when the scandal broke out, in 2009, his earnings on the American Tour could have been a record in his career if he had started the season a little earlier or if he had participated in one or two more tournaments, as he fell some 360,000 euros short of what he earned in his most profitable year: 2007, when he pocketed 10,867,05 dollars. The 10,508,163 he earned in 2009 in prize money on the PGA Tour brought his earnings on that circuit, which he joined as a professional in 1996, to a total of $92,862,539, barely a tenth of what he has allegedly earned so far by adding his income from advertising and other items. In total, about a billion dollars, making Tiger the highest paid athlete in history. Also, to his misfortune, the one who has probably paid the most expensive divorce (it was gossiped that it could have reached 300 million dollars).
However, in 2010, after his return to competition, Tiger experienced the worst streak of his career and ended the year without a single victory. It was undoubtedly a year of changes for Woods, who reappeared in competition in April, at the Masters, five months after the scandal of his infidelities had broken out. In August his divorce with model Elin Nordegren was finalized, and his results in the field of play were not quite what they used to be. However, at least he was still number one in the world thanks to the fact that his compatriot Phil Mickelson did not push the accelerator too hard.
Tiger’s 42nd place finish on the 2010 PGA Tour, with $1,294,765 earned, was the worst position of his career. Only the year of his debut (1996) did he earn less money on Tour ($790,594), but even then he finished better (24th). The 2010 figures contrasted with his 2009 first-place finish and $10.5 million earned that season, in which he had seven victories (including the Presidents Cup with his team) and two runner-up finishes (at the US PGA Championship and The Tour Championship). He finished first in the earnings ranking, with 10.5 million dollars. That year he played twelve tournaments, but only finished two in the top-10 (fourth in both): the Masters and the US Open. There were two that he did not finish: one because of the cut and the other because of his withdrawal on the last day.
2011 was an equally fateful season for the Cypress native, although in the twilight of the year, in December, he finally experienced some joy. He was no longer number one in the world, only managed one top 10, missed the cut in one tournament, abandoned another and finished 132nd in the PGA Tour ranking, with earnings of 660,000 dollars (the tournament he won, the Chevron World Challenge in California, was not an official Tour event). And he had not won a Grand Slam title for two years: the 14th and so far the last one he won at the US Open in 2008.
His triumph at the Chevron came two years after his last victory, which was in late 2009. Woods, who had not tasted victory in 26 tournaments since his personal crisis and the changes he made to his swing, beat fellow countryman Zach Johnson, champion of the 2007 Augusta Masters, by one stroke.
Do not settle for second place
The explosion of his busy private life put an end to a sporting career that, for the moment, is not returning to its former course. However, the Tiger is not throwing in the towel, far from it, and a few weeks ago, in Palm Beach, he assured that he wants to continue competing at the highest level and that he does it to win. He will not be satisfied with second places and his ultimate goal is to break Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors won.
“It’s going to be a career-long task, and I’ve known that since I started playing. I was extremely fortunate to win my first major in 1997 and it’s taken me 16 years to get to this point,” Woods said.
“It wasn’t overnight that Jack got the 18, so it’s going to take me a while. No one in the history of the sport has been better than Jack at putting himself in position to win a major. If you have 37 Top-2s (like him), you’ve done well,” he finished.
By the way, what does Nicklaus think of Tiger’s chances of breaking his record of majors won? The Golden Bear didn’t beat around the bush in a statement he made a year ago: “I still think he’s going to break my record. I’m surprised he hasn’t recovered yet. He has a great work ethic and a great determination to do what he sets out to do”.
NICKLAUS’ CREDENTIALS
If there is a charismatic player in the history of modern golf, someone who can be considered almost without discussion as the greatest, it is undoubtedly Jack Nicklaus. The Golden Bear, who was born 72 years ago, has had one of the most fantastic sporting careers of all time. He has 18 majors and 73 victories on the PGA Tour, the North American Tour, where 
maintained its undisputed reign for many years in the 60s, 70s and even 80s.
Nicklaus’ sporting career, which has been everything in the world of golf, is unparalleled. He began playing golf as a child and won his first major tournament, the Ohio Open, when he was only 16 years old. His next great triumph was the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1959. Two years later he retained this title and won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship.
From 1959 to 1961, the year he entered the professional circuit in his country, he won all but one of the tournaments in which he participated.
In 1962, Nicklaus won the U.S. Open after defeating his compatriot Arnold Palmer, another legend of the sport. Throughout his long and successful professional career he achieved an incredible record, which includes six editions of the Masters (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986), five editions of the US PGA (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980), four of the US Open (1962, 1967, 1972, 1980), three of the British Open (1966, 1970, 1978) and one of the World Match Play Championship (1970). He was named best player on the PGA Tour on five occasions (1967, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976) and was awarded the prize as the best golf player of the 20th century in 1988.
The Golden Bear joined the Champions Tour, the U.S. senior circuit, in 1990 and, in this category, won two U.S. Opens (1991 and 1993) and two PGAs (1991 and 1996).
Woods, another ‘extraterrestrial’ figure, is the only one who can match Nicklaus’ sporting records. The Tiger and the Bear, two splendid beasts that have written, and still write, the history of golf.
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