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The Spectacle Blog
Bizarre. First Tiger Woods fails to hold a lead the lead at the PGA, AND his competitor (Yang) actually hits a career shot on 18 to nail down the victory. Then, today, Tiger did his usual amazing shot to within less than seven feet on the final hole to set up the inevitable birdie to tie for the lead anmd force the two co-leaders, Heath Slocum and Steve Stricker, to choke by making bogeys so Tiger can win... except that for maybe the only time ever, Tiger actually failed to convert an essential 72nd hole putt, AND then Slocum, 15 minutes later, faced with a 20 footer for par to beat Tiger by one...actually MADE IT. Suddenly, Tiger is human, and his competitors aren't totally flummoxed by him. All of which still probably is just a blip, because Tiger probably will win six or seven more major titles at least.
STILL, it does at least raise this thought: Tiger is at the age when a whole lot of all-time greats and near-greats suddenly lost their ability to close out major titles. Tiger must win four more professional majors to tie Jack Nicklaus's record. Woods will be 34 before the next Masters rolls around. Total number of majors won by all of the following golfers after age 34 -- COMBINED -- is... drum roll please... just three. This is the list who, all together, won just three majors after their 34th birthdays:
Lee Trevino
Arnold Palmer
Gene Sarazen
Tom Watson
Byron Nelson
Seve Ballesteros
... and Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf, Ernie Els (so far), Davis Love III, Fred Couples, John Daly, Gene Littler, Ken Venturi, Tony Jacklin, Jerry Pate, Hal Sutton, John Mahaffey and Lanny Wadkins.
Tiger Woods is incredibly good. To catch Nicklaus, he has to be better than Trevino, Palmer, Sarazen, Watson, Nelson, Ballesteros, and all the rest COMBINED. In a sense, that is. That's a pretty tall order. And it also is quite a testament to what Nicklaus accomplished (including six majors after age 34) and what Woods has accomplished already.
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More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/08/30/tiger-now-is-human
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astorian| 8.31.09 @ 12:29AM
Like most people, I'm STILL inclined to think Tiger will win 5 more majors, and pass Jack Nicklaus.
And yet... Joe Posnanski recently pointed out that NO other active golfer has won 5 career majors. And ALMOST nobody has won 4 majors after the age of 34.
In other words, most of us are taking for granted that Tiger is sure to do something that's extremely difficult.
astorian| 8.31.09 @ 12:29AM
Like most people, I'm STILL inclined to think Tiger will win 5 more majors, and pass Jack Nicklaus.
And yet... Joe Posnanski recently pointed out that NO other active golfer has won 5 career majors. And ALMOST nobody has won 4 majors after the age of 34.
In other words, most of us are taking for granted that Tiger is sure to do something that's extremely difficult.
reborah lloyd| 8.31.09 @ 4:55AM
Tiger Wood is really great sports man,i like to see play him.i think he is a magician of golf.
Cellulite
Solo| 8.31.09 @ 9:05AM
Good piece, Quin, but I must disagree...in part.
First (and this ties into a previous piece you offered comparing Nicklaus and Woods), The athleticism of today's golfer far exceeds that of Nicklaus' day and Tiger Woods ranks at the very top of that modern standard.
In Nicklaus' day it wasn't unusual at all to see golf's "finest" strolling up the fair-way-- pot-gutted and with a cigarette dangling from his lips . Additionally, the precision of the training techniques and the seriousness of the commitment to physical training was all but completely absent in years past.
The technology of modern equipment has helped today's golfer considerably but, for the Pros...this is largely off-set by the lengthening of the course to numbers unheard of when Nicklaus was in his prime.
And finally....the level of competition today, I believe, far exceeds that of the era of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, et al..
Golf has become more than a curiosity shared by a priviledged few among the Country Club culture. It enjoys a very wide appeal today and the rewards for the more talented among the masses is 10 times what it once was (even corrected for inflation). This has the effect of drawing talent from a very wide field that simply didn't exist in days gone by.
Jack Nicklaus was a great player in his day. Of that there can be no question. But, in effect, he was a large fish in a small pond. Tiger Woods is a large fish swimming in and dominating a very large ocean of talent- which make his achievements all the more remarkable.
Right now, Woods is just coming off surgery for a major injury and his attention is divided between his new wife and child. If he can re-focus his attention to the sport, I look for him to not only catch Nicklaus' record, but to completely blow it out of the water!
I wouldn't be shocked to see Tiger Woods win 10 more Majors before he hangs up his cleats...and do so against a field of talent that Nicklaus couldn't imagine in his worst nightmares.
Hank Archer| 8.31.09 @ 11:09AM
I've mentioned this before on these pages, but the fact that a 59 year old was a serious competitor for a Majors' championship indicates that today's generation of players is not as skilled as the previous generations.
Eric Damon| 8.31.09 @ 1:21PM
I agree with what Solo said, and would like to add this observation as well; playing with Tiger on the last day of a tournament and staring him down is way different than playing after him and holding on to win. It is easier to win when you already know what the rest of the field, including Tiger has done and just what you have to do to win. The eventual winner of this tournament was still on the course after Tiger had finished his round, so all he had to do was play for pars to finish ahead of Tiger. He was not under the pressure to match Tiger shot for shot down the stretch, which very few golfers have ever done...which is why the Open was the first time that Tiger had not sealed the deal after a 54 hole lead.
And, people seem to dismiss the fact that Tiger is coming off of major knee surgery and is not at the very top of his game yet. Next year will be a better measuring stick of Tiger's "humanity" as a golfer than this, as he will have had a full season under his belt and will not be getting over the injury. Let's see what he does going forward before we start assuming that he doesn't have it anymore.
Solo| 8.31.09 @ 10:26PM
Hank Archer Wrote:
"I've mentioned this before on these pages, but the fact that a 59 year old was a serious competitor for a Majors' championship indicates that today's generation of players is not as skilled as the previous generations. "
If this theory is true, then Tom Watson should be winning majors (or, at least tournaments) on a regular basis. He's not!
I love Tom Watson and I was certainly pulling for him. It would have been the biggest story in golf history. There's a reason for that.
Acne| 9.2.09 @ 12:19AM
I really enjoy reading your article. Keep it up the good work.
www.sunglass-mall.com| 4.16.10 @ 9:06PM
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