The Tiger vs. Jack debate — or Jack vs. Tiger, depending, perhaps, on one’s generation — is not likely to end anytime soon.
But there is no denying that any argument regarding whether Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus will go down in history as golf’s greatest player becomes amplified in advance of major championships. That’s especially evident during Masters week.
“Tiger is always going to be the story leading into every major as long as he plays the game,” said ESPN golf analyst Paul Azinger, the 1993 PGA Championship winner.
That’s even true this week, with Woods coming off his self-imposed exile while he tried to rehab his game and his body.
A major championship is golf’s Super Bowl. Only there are four of them. Whereas Joe Montana and Tom Brady can be placed atop the NFL’s pedestal with that sparkle from their Super Bowl title rings, Nicklaus and Woods stand alone atop the golf world.
The score for victories in professional majors is Nicklaus 18, Woods 14.That’s the scorecard to determine golf’s greatest player. Otherwise, the comparisons become too muddled, or at least too close to call.
For example:
• After becoming a full-time member of the PGA Tour, Woods won eight of his next 22 majors. Nicklaus won seven of his first 22.
• At the top of his game, Woods won seven major championships in 11 tries beginning with the 1999 PGA Championship.
• But is that Woods streak substantially more impressive than the Nicklaus domination from 1970-80? Nicklaus played in all 44 major championships during that 11-year span, winning 10 and placing in the top 10 in 28 others, including eight runner-up finishes.
• Woods completed a career Grand Slam — winning all four majors at least once — at age 24; Nicklaus did so at age 26.
Then there are the countless arguments about the differences in golf, in their game and about the quality of competition in the PGA Tour when each was in his heyday.
Nicklaus and Woods were long hitters for their eras. And each may be regarded as the best clutch putter of his generation. Their steely-eyed competitiveness had no equals.
Both also faced issues with their game. Woods has struggled with distance control on his approach shots throughout his career, and in recent years with keeping drives in the fairway. Nicklaus was never included among the best chippers of his era.
Nicklaus won when woods were made of wood, and still managed to mash tee shots a country mile with his persimmon driver. Those balata-covered golf balls used by Nicklaus back in the day not only lacked the distance of today’s solid-core balls, the wound balls also were more erratic and less dependable.
Course conditions have improved since Nicklaus was in his prime, with advances in grasses, mowing techniques and irrigation. But Woods faces longer courses, and sometimes pristine fairways turn sinister when drives scoot off into rough that is often thicker and deeper than when Nicklaus played.
Nicklaus supporters are quick to point out that he had to battle each week against a greater number of future Hall of Famers than has Woods.
Woods enthusiasts counter by saying the talent in golf is much deeper today, with perhaps 50 players having a chance to win any given week instead of the dozen or so contenders during the Nicklaus era.
As of 2008, there appeared to be little doubt that Woods would surpass Nicklaus and win the requisite 19 major championships to stake his claim as the best ever. Woods earned his 14th major by winning the 2008 U.S. Open.
In December 2009, Woods left golf for several months after admitting to infidelity that caused his marriage to end. Since August 2007, he has undergone two separate knee surgeries (cartilage, ACL), dealt with issues in his neck and Achilles tendon, underwent back surgery in March 2014 and missed most of the early 2015 schedule because of a different back problem.
Despite all of his success, Woods has changed swing coaches several times during his career. And in the past year he made further changes to his golf swing with alarmingly poor results.
Reasons and explanations vary, but the bottom line is: Woods has missed more cuts (three) since the beginning of 2014 than he did (two) during his first eight full years as a tour regular.
Woods turns 40 on Dec. 30.
“We all know the plight of Tiger Woods,” Azinger said recently. “Sadly, for whatever reason, Tiger sacrificed a winning swing at the altar of a perfect swing. And he may have sacrificed a winning body at the altar of a perfect body. It’s been hard to watch that un- doing.”
Still, Nicklaus said recently that he expects Woods to win at least five more majors and break his record.
“I still do. Why would I not?” Nicklaus said. “Tiger has a lot of golf in front of him. Obviously, his chances (of breaking the record) are harder for him now than five years ago. But I still think he has time on his side. I think Tiger will turn it around. He’ll figure it out.”
Can Woods win this year’s Masters and move closer to Nicklaus’ Ruthian record? Nobody can make even an educated guess. Only Woods’ closest friends must know where his game stands and how much confidence he has. Woods has not teed it up in a tour event since withdrawing from the Feb. 8 Farmers Insurance Open when another back issue flared up.
Woods has not completed all four rounds of a tournament in 2015. His swing looked almost mechanical at the beginning of the year.
Curtis Strange, another ESPN golf analyst and a two-time U.S. Open champion, said one must assume that Woods is healthy because he’s entered the Masters.
But what will his game look like? He practices in private and keeps his progress close to the vest.
“All we see with Tiger is the tip of the iceberg,” Azinger said. “We only see Tiger show up (for an event). We can only know what the state of his game was the last time we saw him.
“It’s impossible to know if he is continuing the path of over-engineering (his swing) or if he wants to be the best player again. … How hard has he worked on being the best player, not the best swinger? That’s what we don’t know.”
Tom Kensler: tkensler@denverpost.com or
