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Tiger Woods (born
December 30, 1975) is our #2 ranked Golfing Legend. He is one of the
highest paid athletes in the world. Tiger is also the first athlete to reach 1
billion dollars in total career earnings, including income earned through
endorsements and appearance fees. He accomplished this feat by age 33. Tiger
has won 108 professional tournaments worldwide. He holds the record for most
PGA Tour wins with 81 (counting his two FedEx Cup wins). He’s, presently, three
wins ahead of Sam Snead’s total of 78. (Snead is generally credited with having
won 82 PGA Tour events. However, four of those wins were in team competition.
Golf is an individual sport and any wins that take place in team competition,
should be listed as “Other wins”. Furthermore, there have been no team events
that have counted as official PGA Tour wins since the early 1970s. That tells
me that, approximately 40 years ago, the PGA Tour realized that golf, in its
truest form, is an individual sport and team events should not be included as
official PGA Tour wins.)
Tiger is
only one of five golfers (including Sarazen, Hogan, Player and Nicklaus) who
have won all four or the traditional Majors. He is the only golfer to win the modern
day Grand Slam of all five Majors and he has multiple wins in each of them.
According to the record books, Tiger ranks second in total Major wins with 14
-- four shy of Jack Nicklaus’s total of 18. However, Tiger has also won two
FedEx Cup titles (in 2007 and 2009).
The
overriding question that begs for an answer is this; With the FedEx Cup title
being a year-long competition and the winner receiving $10 million, how is it
that winning that HUGE event is not as important as winning one of the four Majors
where the winner receives less than $2 million? In fact, I find it is totally
absurd that a Fed Ex Cup win is not even counted as a PGA Tour win. Heck, I
would gladly take a FedEx Cup win over three regular PGA Tour wins. The $10
million first prize is certainly a lot more than the, roughly, $4 million total
sum that three regular Tour events would pay to the winner. That being the
case, why isn’t winning the FedEx Cup as important as winning a Major? Not only
does the FedEx Cup pay the winner about six times as much as the winner of a
Major, it also receives far more PGA Tour promotion, throughout the year, than
any of the four Majors. Also, listening to the top PGA Tour players, their
number 1 goal for the year is to win the FedEx Cup. Thus, I believe that the
FedEx Cup should, without question, be given equal status to that of the four
Majors. So, if you add Tiger’s two FedEx Cup wins to his Major total, that
gives him 16 Majors – just two behind Nicklaus with an excellent chance of
exceeding Jack’s total of 18 Majors. It also gives Tiger a total of 81 PGA Tour
wins to his credit. (Of course, the addition of the FedEx Cup as the fifth
Major also increases Vijay’s Major total to four, Furyk’s total to two and
turns Bill Haas and Brandt Snedeker into first time Major winners.)
There is
some debate as to whether the #1 Golfing Legend ranking should go to Jack
Nicklaus rather than Tiger Woods. However, now that I’ve set the record
straight and added two more Majors to his credit, Tiger only needs an additional
three Majors to beat Jack’s record (including FedEx Cup wins) and that should
be a piece of cake seeing as how Tiger should still have another 10 years or
more of tournament winning golf ahead of him. Additionally, after Tiger
(finally) realizes that he already has won 16 Majors (rather than 14), that
should take some of the pressure off him and make it easier to win number 17.
One could
argue that adding the FedEx Cup as the fifth Major is not fair to Nicklaus,
Player, Hogan and Sarazen who never had a chance to compete for that title.
However, using that line of thinking, one could also say that the Masters
should not have been added as the fourth Major as Harry Vardon never had the
opportunity to compete in that event and Walter Hagen, Tommy Armour, etc. were
well past their prime by the time the Masters was introduced by Bobby Jones in
1934. Hopefully, you get my point that the golf world is constantly changing
and it is now time to add the FedEx Cup as the fifth Major. If you’re
questioning whether a tournament victory can be declared a Major after it has
already been won by a player, the answer is YES. As an example, when Horton
Smith won the Augusta National Invitational in 1934 and 1936 it, obviously, had
not received Major status yet. However, it later became known as The Masters
and Smith was credited, retroactively, with having won two Majors. The same
should be done with Tiger and the other past FedEx Cup winners.
Tiger has
already thoroughly dominated the World Golf Championships -- winning 18 out of
44 events that have been held, thus far. No other golfer in the history of the
game has ever been anywhere near as dominant as Tiger Woods.
In
addition to his golf abilities, Tiger is renowned for his supreme physical
fitness and regarded as one of the most highly conditioned athletes in the
world. Until Tiger came along, I wouldn’t have believed that a pro golfer could
ever be listed in that context. In that regard, he certainly raised the bar for
his fellow competitors to follow. In terms of physical fitness, Tiger is like
Gary Player on steroids. On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t say that.
Actually, Tiger is looking leaner these days with less muscle mass then he did
a few years ago and that is probably a more appropriate physique for a pro
golfer.
Tiger’s early amateur career
In 1984,
as an 8 year old, he won the 9-10 boys’ division at the Junior World Golf
Championship. He went on to win this event six times, the final win taking
place in 1991, at age 15. That same year, he also became the youngest ever
winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. In recognition of those wins,
Golf Digest named Tiger the 1991 Junior Amateur player of the year. He went on
to successfully defend his U.S. Junior Amateur championship in 1992 and was named
Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year, and
Golfweek National Amateur of the Year. In 1993 Woods won his, record, third
consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. In 1994, he became the
youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship. He won a very close match on the par-3 17th
hole (island green) at TPC Sawgrass, by making a 15 foot birdie putt for a 1-up
win, with his tee shot coming perilously close to the water hazard. Woods
became the only 3-time winner of the U.S. Amateur after repeat wins in 1995 and
1996. The win in ’96 proved far more difficult than the odds makers would have
imagined as he had to come from behind, in the last few holes, to force a
playoff and secure his victory over a, relatively, unknown opponent.
Tiger
Turns Pro
That
third consecutive U.S Amateur win secured his superstar status as he turned pro
and made him a wealthy young man as a result of deals signed with Nike and
Titleist that were, reportedly, worth around $150 million. Woods turned professional and,
playing on sponsors exemptions, quickly won two of the year-ending tournaments
-- the Las Vegas Invitational and the Disney Classic.
Tiger
went on to win the first Major he played in as a professional, the 1997
Masters, by a record 12 strokes and by June of that year he had reached the
ranking of World Number 1. He dominated the golfing world for the period of
August 1999 to October 2010, spending a total of 545 weeks as World Number 1,
an all-time record.
Tiger’s
victory in the 2008 U.S. Open was particularly memorable, both in how close of
a contest it was against (the unlikely) Rocco Mediate (requiring a total of 91
holes to determine a winner) and how he won the event with both a broken leg
and turn ACL. I recall hearing Rocco comment, at the time, "This guy does
things that no one else can come close to doing," and Kenny Perry saying,
"He beat everybody on one leg.” Tiger called this his greatest
championship ever. At the time I thought, “Wow, is it possible this is even
more amazing than his 12 stroke win at the 1997 Masters and his 15 stroke win
at the 2000 U.S. Open?” I went on to conclude that this victory was his most
impressive due to the severity of his injury. It’s likely that no other player
in the field would have finished 18 holes, with a comparable injury, let alone
win this major tournament. This victory
of Tiger’s is very reminiscent of Hogan’s win at Merion in 1950 with two battered
legs and a broken pelvis that had not yet fully mended.
From
December 2009 to early April 2010, Woods took leave from professional golf for
personal reasons and it resulted in him losing his form that produced a
career-long winless streak of 107 weeks. In wake of this, his world ranking
dropped to a low of 58 in November 2011. Tiger finally snapped his winless
streak in December of 2011 by winning his own tournament, the Chevron World
Challenge. Then, after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in late March of
2013, he regained his World Number 1 ranking once again.
Woods has
broken may other golf records, winning PGA Player of the Year honors 10 times,
low scoring average eight times and leading money winner nine times. He has far
more Major wins than any other active golfer, with Phil Michelson at 5 Majors and
Ernie Els and Vijay Singh tying for third with just four. Tiger was also the
youngest player in history to achieve the career Grand Slam of the four traditional
Majors and to win 50 PGA Tour events. Woods has been incredibly dominant in
World Golf Championship events with 18 wins, while Geoff Ogilvy comes in second
with just 3 WGC wins.
The year
2013 will be remembered as the year that Tiger resumed his dominant play. He won the San Diego Open in January by 4
strokes, after being ahead by 7. In March he won the WGC Trump Doral
Championship, for the 7th time.
A couple weeks later, he won Arnold Palmer’s tournament for the 8th
time, tying the record set by Sam Snead and moving back to the top of the world
golf rankings.
Woods got
screwed royally at the 2013 Masters on the 15th hole, during
Friday’s third round when he was tied for the lead. He hit his pitch shot so
deadly accurate that it struck the bottom of the flagstick and bounced off the
green and into the water. Had the shot missed the pin, he may probably would
have scored an easy birdie. In that
situation, where a player suffers such a horribly unfair result from a great
golf shot, I believe he should be allowed to replay the shot, without penalty.
Tiger was forced to replay the shot with, effectively, a two stroke penalty as
he got up and down on his second ball for a bogy. But that was far from the end
of his troubles on that hole. It just so happened that a TV viewer by the name
of David Eger, who just happened to be a former rules official, noticed that
Tiger took a drop from a spot that was about a yard farther back then where he
should have been. This, seemingly insignificant, error was punishable by a two
stroke penalty and Eger decided to rat Tiger out from the comfort of his couch.
However, Egar was unable to get a hold of a Masters rules official until after
Tiger had completed his round.
Tiger
wound up having the two stroke penalty assessed against him after his scorecard
had already been signed. Nick Faldo, among others, called for Tiger to
disqualify himself from the tournament for signing an incorrect scorecard. However,
for the first time in Masters or PGA Tour history, officials allowed the
penalty to be added to a player’s scorecard, after he had already signed it.
Tiger wound up posting an 8 on that hole, which took a lot of wind of his sails
and he ended up finishing the tournament 4 shots out of the first place
playoff. Thus, if Tiger had been allowed to replay his third shot, after it
bounced off the flagstick and into the water, he would have scored a birdie,
instead of an 8. More than likely, this would have propelled Tiger to win the
2013 Masters in regulation. It could be argued that Tiger had a Masters victory
stolen from him due to a terribly unfair rule that severely punished him for
hitting a near-perfect golf shot. This was the first time in the history of the
Majors (going back to the late 1800s) where a player (ultimately) lost a
tournament because of his ball striking the flagstick and bouncing into a water
hazard.
Let’s put
a stop to the insanity of allowing a player to be severely punished for hitting
too good of a golf shot!! I encourage every reader of this book to send my Letter
of Petition to the USGA demanding that they change the rule to allow a
player to replay a shot anytime their ball strikes the flagstick and bounces
into a water hazard. To see my letter of Petition to the U.S.G.A., go to the
page A2 at the end of this book.
A month
later, Woods had recovered from the Masters debacle enough to win The Players
Championship in
for his second career win at the event, notching his fourth win of the 2013
season. It was the quickest he had ever gotten to four wins anytime in his pro
career.
Following
Tiger’s Player’s Championship win he had disappointing showings in both the
U.S. Open (a tie for 32nd) and the Open Championships (a tie for 6th).
However, he made a cake walk of the WGC – Bridgestone Championship at
Firestone. After shooting a second round 61, he coasted on Saturday and Sunday
to an easy 7 stroke victory, his 8th win in that prestigious event
and his fifth win of the 2013 season.
1996 (2) 1. Las Vegas
Invitational 2. Walt Disney World Classic
1997 (4)3. Mercedes
Championship 4.The Masters 5. Byron
Nelson Golf Classic 6. Motorola Western Open
1998 (1) 7. BellSouth
Classic
1999 (8) 8. Buick
Invitational 9. The Memorial 10. Western Open 11.PGA Championship 12. WGC NEC Invitational 13. Disney Classic 14.
The Tour Championship 15. WGC American Express Championship
2000 (9) 16. Mercedes Championships 17. Pebble Beach National Pro-Am 18. Bay Hill 19. The Memorial Invitational 20. U.S. Open 21. British Open 22. PGA Championship 23. WGC NEC Invitational 24. The Canadian Open
2001 (5) 25. Bay Hill Invitational 26. Players Championship 27. The Masters 28. The Memorial 29. WGC NEC Invitational
2002 (5) 30. Bay Hill Invitational 31. The Masters 32. U.S. Open 33. Buick Open 34. WGC American Express Championship
2003 (5) 35. Buick
Invitational 36. WGC Match Play Championship 37. Bay Hill Invitational 38.
Western Open 39. WGC American Express Championship
2004 (1) 40. WGC Match Play Championship
2004 (1) 40. WGC Match Play Championship
2005 (6) 42. Ford
Championship at Doral 43. The Masters 44. British Open 45. WGC NEC Invitational 46. WGC American
Express Championship
2006 (8) 47. Buick
Invitational 48. Ford Championship at Doral 49. British Open 50. Buick Open 51. PGA Championship 52. WGC Bridgestone
Invitational 53. Deutsche Bank Championship 54. WGC American Express
Championship
2007 (7) 55. Buick Invitational 56. WGC CA Championship 57. Wachovia Championship 58. WC Bridgestone Invitational 59. PGA Championship 60. BMW Championship 61. The Tour Championship 62. FedEx Cup
2008 (4) 63. Buick Invitational 64. WGC Match Play Championship 65. Arnold Palmer Invitational 66. U.S. Open
2009 (6) 67. Arnold Palmer Invitational 68. The Memorial 69. AT&T National 70. Buick Open 71. WGC Bridgestone Invitational 72. BMW Championship 73. FedEx Cup
2012 (3) 74. Arnold Palmer Invitational 75. The Memorial 76. AT&T National
2013 (5) 77. San Diego Open 78. WGC Championship at Doral 79. Arnold Palmer Invitational 80. The Players Championship 81. WGC Bridgestone Invitational
2007 (7) 55. Buick Invitational 56. WGC CA Championship 57. Wachovia Championship 58. WC Bridgestone Invitational 59. PGA Championship 60. BMW Championship 61. The Tour Championship 62. FedEx Cup
2008 (4) 63. Buick Invitational 64. WGC Match Play Championship 65. Arnold Palmer Invitational 66. U.S. Open
2009 (6) 67. Arnold Palmer Invitational 68. The Memorial 69. AT&T National 70. Buick Open 71. WGC Bridgestone Invitational 72. BMW Championship 73. FedEx Cup
2012 (3) 74. Arnold Palmer Invitational 75. The Memorial 76. AT&T National
2013 (5) 77. San Diego Open 78. WGC Championship at Doral 79. Arnold Palmer Invitational 80. The Players Championship 81. WGC Bridgestone Invitational
1997 (1) 1. The
Masters
1998 (1) 2. Johnny Walker Classic
1999 (4) 3. Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe 4. PGA Championship 5. NEC Invitational 6.
American Express Championship
2000 (5) 7. U.S. Open 8. The Open Championship 9. PGA
Championship 10. NEC Invitational 11. Johnny Walker Classic
2001 (3) 12. The
Masters 13. Deusche Bank – SAP TPC of Europe 14. NEC Invitational
2002 (4) 15. The
Masters 16. Deusche Bank – SAP TPC of Europe 17. U.S. Open 18. American Express Championship
2003 (2) 19. Accenture Match Play Championship 20. American
Express Championship
2004 (1) 21. Accenture Match Play Championship
2005 (4) 22. The
Masters 23. The Open Championship
24. NEC Invitational 25. American Express Championship
2006 (5) 26. Dubai Desert Classic 27. The Open Championship 28 PGA
Championship 29. Bridgestone Invitational 30. American Express Championship
2007 (3) 31. CA Championship 32. Bridgestone Invitational
33. PGA Championship
2008 (3) 34 Dubai Desert Classic 35. Accenture Match Play
Championship 36. U.S Open
2009 (2) 37. Bridgestone Invitational 38. JB Were Masters
2013 (2) 39. Cadillac Championship 40. Bridgestone
Invitational
1997 Asian Honda Classic
1999 (3) World Cup of Golf: individual (unofficial money
event), World Cup of Golf: team (unofficial money event
– with Mark O'Meara), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States –
unofficial money event)
2000 (2) WGC-World Cup: team (unofficial money event – with David Duval), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States –
unofficial money event)
2001 (2) Williams World Challenge (United States –
unofficial money event), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States –
unofficial money event)
2006 (2) PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States –
unofficial money event), Target World Challenge (United States –
unofficial money event)
Amateur wins (21)
Major championships Wins (16)
1997 The Masters
1999 PGA Championship
2000 U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship
2001 The Masters
2002 The Masters, U.S. Open
2005 The Masters, Open Championship
2006 Open Championship, PGA Championship
2007 PGA Championship, FedEx Cup
2008 U.S. Open
2009 FedEx Cup
World Golf Championships Wins (18)
1999 (2) WGC-NEC Invitational, WGC-American Express
Championship
2000 (1) WGC-NEC Invitational
2001 (1) WGC-NEC Invitational
2002 (1) WGC-American Express Championship
2003 (2) WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, WGC-American
Express Championship
2004 (1) WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
2005 (2) WGC-NEC Invitational, WGC-American Express
Championship
2006 (2) WGC-NEC Invitational, WGC-American Express
Championship
2007 (2) WGC-CA Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
2008 (1) WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
2009 (1) WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
2013 (2) WGC-Cadillac Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
Quotes by
and about Tiger Woods
Quotations from Tiger Woods
“Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball
is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black
pimps.”
“As a kid, I might have been psycho, I guess,
but I used to throw golf balls in the trees and try and somehow make par from
them. I thought that was fun. “
“Achievements on the golf course are not what
matters, decency and honesty are what matter.”
“If you are given a chance to be a role model,
I think you should always take it because you can influence a person's life in
a positive light, and that's what I want to do. That's what it's all about.”
“I love to play golf, and that's my arena. And
you can characterize it and describe it however you want, but I have a love and
a passion for getting that ball in the hole and beating those guys.”
“If money titles meant anything, I'd play more tournaments.
The only thing that means a lot to me is winning. If I have more wins than
anybody else and win more majors than anybody else in the same year, then it's
been a good year.”
“I want to be what I've always wanted to be:
dominant.”
“And I don't cook, either. Not as long as they still deliver
pizza.”
“For many my behavior has been a major
disappointment, my behavior has caused considerable worry to my business
partners, and everyone involved in my business, but most importantly to the
young people we influence, I apologize.”
“I'm addicted. I'm addicted to golf.”
“Don't force your kids into sports. I never
was. To this day, my dad has never asked me to go play golf. I ask him. It's
the child's desire to play that matters, not the parent's desire to have the
child play. Fun. Keep it fun.”
“In therapy I have learned the importance of
keeping spiritual life and professional life balanced. I need to regain my
balance.”
“I get to play golf for a living. What more
can you ask for - getting paid for doing what you love.”
“I did envisage being this successful as a
player, but not all the hysteria around it off the golf course. “
“I'm aware if I'm playing at my best I'm tough
to beat. And I enjoy that. “
“You can always become better.”
“I'm not as far along as Jack Nicklaus was at
this age, but I'm trying.”
“It will always be the ball and me.”
“My main focus is on my game.”
“Green and black go well together, don't
they?”
“Money and fame made me believe I was
entitled. I was wrong and foolish.”
“I stopped living according to my core values. I knew what I
was doing was wrong but thought only about myself and thought I could get away
with whatever I wanted to.”
“I don't get to live by different rules. The
same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me.”
“I do plan to return to golf one day, I just
don't know when that day will be.”
“The Masters is where I won my first major,
and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time
away from the game, I feel like I'm ready to start my season at Augusta.”
“The major championships have always been a
special focus in my career, and as a professional, I think Augusta is where I
need to be.”
“One of the things my parents have taught me
is never listen to other people’s expectations. You should live your own life
and live up to your own expectations, and those are the lonely things I really
care about.”
“If you can’t laugh at yourself, then who can
you laugh at?”
“The key to shooting any good round is to give
yourself some chances and, tomorrow, if my swing is feeling good, I‘ll have
some chances. But, if it’s not, then I’ll have to give myself those 15 to 20
footers and hope I can make those.”
“My dad has always taught me these words: care
and share. That’s why we put on clinics. The only thing can do is give back. If
it works, it works.”
“A child born to a black mother in a state
like Mississippi…has exactly the same rights as a white baby to the wealthiest
person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is
not a goal worth working for.”
“I don’t know if I have an aura, man. I just
try to win.”
“The thing is, you see all the money that’s
available out there. I see where I’m going to play. I have no place to play
yet. I’m not exempt. I have no security. So if I don’t turn pro and don’t make
it out here, where am I going to go? Nike? Hooters? Asia? Anywhere but here, I
guess.”
“You’ve got to say patient, stay in the
moment, keep grinding…You never know what can happen. And it turned out well.”
I just didn’t start off very well and it was a
long day. All day I was grinding, but I stayed as patient as possible and I
have three more days to get back into it. I will go home, relax and put this
day behind me.”
“I had to take baby steps all year.”
“That’s why I’ve busted my but on the range
for hours on end and made changes to get to this point where I’m able to
compete at the highest level in major championships. That’s where you want to
be.”
“The only thing you can do is take a learning
experience from it, positives and negatives, and apply them to the future. What
did you do right, what did you do wrong, and I did a lot of things right this
week.”
“I like my chances.”
“You know, all the nay-sayers said that I was
doing the wrong things. They can understand why now I made those changes.”
“I saw everybody there and kept looking in the
opposite direction,”
“I
think the golf swing is all about rotation, all about keeping the club on
plane.”
“I don’t know if (the money title) means a lot
to me or winning…I have more wins than anybody else, and I have won more majors
that anybody else in the same year, it’s a very good year.”
“I don’t think you’re ever there. You never
arrive, but if you do, you might as well quit because you’re already there.
Can’t get any better. And as players, if you ever have that moment – you should
never have that moment. You’re always trying to get better.”
Quotations about Tiger Woods
Jack Nicklaus: “There isn’t a flaw in his golf
or his makeup. He will win more majors than Arnold Palmer and me combined.
Somebody is going to dust my records. It might as well be Tiger, because he’s
such a great kid. He has the finest, fundamentally sound golf swing I’ve ever
seen.”
Jack Nicklaus: “Years ago somebody told me
that when Tiger was a kid, he taped a list of my golf accomplishments on his
closet. Well, if he’s making a checkmark every time he matches me in something,
he must have his pencil out pretty darn often”
Jack Nicklaus: “He’s much better now than a
year ago. His ability to control the distance on his short irons has improved
dramatically. I don’t know if I ever did that – made such a substantial
improvement in one part of my game in one year’s time.”
Jack Nicklaus: “Tiger didn’t do anything the
last nine holes (of the Masters) except stay out of harm’s way. Nobody
challenged him. Piece of cake. I did that a dozen times. It was exciting to
watch a mature, smart player…Somebody who had total command of himself and what
to do.”
Earl Woods: “When Tiger was 6 months old, he
would sit in our garage, watching me hit balls into a net. He had been
assimilating his golf swing. When he got out of the high chair, he had a golf
swing.”
Earl Woods: “He doesn’t need a challenge. I
think that is the worst misconception going. That the No. 1 golfer needs a No.
2 golfer to push him. Tiger is pushed by history and by records and by his own
goals. He doesn’t need anybody pushing him.”
Earl Woods: “He can shift to grind any gear
any time he wants. Like today, he was on cruise control. He was not on his
A-game, going out there aggressive and trying to make birdie, birdie, birdie.
If he had been threatened, he would have switched gears and gone into attack
mode. He can do that any time he wants. It’s called talent.”
Earl Woods: “I told him, ‘I promise you one
thing. You’ll never meet another person as tough as you. ‘He hasn’t. And he
won’t.”
Earl Woods: “I would be walking around carrying
his bag, and with those long legs of his, he was gone. He’s say, ‘Hurry up,
Dad. ’I said, ‘Are you at your ball yet? No. Are you ready for another club?
No. When you are, I’ll be there.”
Earl Woods: “I knew better than to caddie for
him. I felt it important that he had the correct support inside the ropes, and
that was a professional caddie.”
Earl Woods: “When you are on the golf course,
you’re the boss.”
Butch Harmon: “He is the best student I ever
had. He is like a sponge—he soaks up information, and he always wants to learn
and get better.”
Butch Harmon: “One thing that makes Tiger is
that he’s more willing to bring a shot from the practice tee onto the course
than any other golfer I know.”
Arnold Palmer: “That’s Tiger’s biggest
strength—he can play in Jack’s style, waiting for his chances, and he can play
in my style, attacking all the time. That’s some combination.”
Peter Kessler: “I realized for the first time
that he was like Michael Jordan, that he wanted the ball with the game on the
line, no matter the outcome. Very few players in the history of golf have felt
that way, have wanted the pressure.”
Ernie Els: “Tiger sees things differently. He
sees the line—not just of his puts, on all his shots—more clearly. I’d like to
know how he does it. Know this: The next time he’s standing over a 45-footer,
I’ll be expecting him to make it.”
Johnny Miller: “Tiger has the ability to make
people feel uncomfortable, but not because he’s not a nice guy. That’s the mark
of a truly phenomenal player. You can just feel he’s better than you, and he
knows he’s better than you. That just widens the gap, though he doesn’t say
anything.”
Lee Trevino: “One thing people forget is that
Tiger is a dedicated player. When you are the most talented and the strongest
and the most dedicated, it doesn’t surprise me what he’s done.”
Byron Nelson: “I have seen Tiger every year
since he was 14. And I’ve never seen a player at the age of Tiger—when he was
14 or 16 or 20 or 22 or 26—who was as good as Tiger the age he was. Whether or
not he is going to beat Jack Nicklaus’ major record, don’t know and I’m sure he
doesn’t know. But I’ll tell you this: He’s working on it. He has a great desire
to accomplish things, and I think he’s doing a remarkable job of it.”
Tom Watson: “He’s something supernatural.”
David Feherty: “I’ve played with just about
everybody, and think I can say that Tiger has virtually hit every truly great
shot I’ve ever seen.”
Payne Stewart: “Tiger is the greatest thing
that’s happened to the tour in a long time. He has brought incredible attention
to golf at a time of the year when football and the World Series always take
precedence. Everything I’ve heard about him seems to be true.”
Paul Goydos: “Tiger is like John Daly but with
total control. If that’s not a scary prospect for the rest of us, I don’t know
what is.”
Greg Norman: “What’s a good tournament for
him? Winning it. He’s good enough.”
Gary McCord: “He’s in the mold of Tom Watson
in that he’ll hit the ball in the trees and, undaunted, go in there, flail it out
and make something out of it. He’s got an overall flair for the game. It looks
to me like he really loves what he does and can’t wait to get up in the
morning, go hit some balls and go play.”
Gary Player: “the first time I saw Arnold
Palmer, I said, ‘There’s as star. ‘The first time I saw Jack Nicklaus, said,
‘Superstar.’ I feel the same way about Tiger Woods.”
Jack talking about Tiger Woods, “How do you compare
what he’s doing? Nobody has ever done what he’s doing. Certainly I didn’t. He
has dominated way beyond how anybody has ever dominated.”
