People who think Tiger is better than tGOAT Nicklaus: Why?

He revolutionized the game. Next question please.

Because most didn't see Jack in his prime, if at all.

Because he played more recently therefore must be better. And I wasn't alive during Jack's prime.

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Please support this claim.

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You can't and no one can support any claim that either is better than the other. Neither played together at their primes. Theyre at way more opposite ends of the spectrum than Federer and Nadal and even THOSE two can't be compared because it wasn't the same game when they were at their individual peaks. You can throw in Djokovic too

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Lol if you think Jack's prime > Tiger's prime

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Jack's prime was 24 fricking years long.

woods lucked into coming up in an era with no dominant player before he took it, Nicklaus had to overcome Palmer to start and compete with Watson for most of his term - NOBODY competing with woods could hold either of their jocks

Who was dominant when he started? Norman? the biggest choke artist in the history of golf? Faldo? aka Foldo? good time john daly?

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People who think Tiger is better than tGOAT Nicklaus: Why?

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No one thinks that.

Tiger faced far stiffer competition.

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If Tiger Woods never wins another tournament, is he the greatest golfer of all time?

We all know he’s still well short of the 18 major championship victory mark set by Jack Nicklaus, as he still only has 14. But is that the only measure of greatness? For some, yes it’s that simple. Jack won more majors, therefore Jack is the best and Tiger will have to settle for second unless he can revitalize his career and win 5 more. For others, it’s a lot more nuanced. So I thought I’d go through the many possible ways to measure the two men’s careers and see if we can get a better picture.

Major Championship Victories: ( Jack wins )

Again, no debate here. Jack won an amazing 18 major championships over a 24 year period starting with the US Open in 1962 and ending with that final incredible victory in the 1986 Masters. Tiger through 17 years has won 14 majors, his first being the 97' Masters that we all remember so fondly, and his last being the US Open where he played and won with a fractured leg. Of course the nod goes to Jack, but both men gave us an endlessly long highlight reel of wins.

PGA Tour Victories: ( Tiger wins )

In my mind this has to be considered when comparing the two men. It’s not enough to just win majors because there’s plenty of players throughout history that have won a disproportionate amount of majors compared to other wins. That doesn’t necessarily make them better or more dominant. There’s no question Greg Norman is one of the greatest players of all time. He held down the world #1 spot for a longer period of his career than any other man besides Tiger Woods. That’s an amazing stat, yet he only has 2 major titles. Does that mean Padraig Harrington who won 3 majors but only 5 PGA Tour events is better than Greg Norman? Not taking anything away from Padraig because I’m a big fan of his, but no of course not.

Not only has Tiger won more tournaments than Jack did, but he competed against stronger fields more often while winning those tournaments. In Jacks era it was quite common for some of the top international players to only play the 4 majors and then a handful of other events that Jack would be in. Tiger sees the worlds best in nearly every tournament he plays.

Along with his 14 majors, Tiger has won 18 World Golf Championships which is as impressive an achievement as there has been in golf or any other sport for that matter. The next closest to Tiger in World Golf Championship wins is 3. It’s mind blowing, but Tiger has more WGC wins than the next 8 players combined.

He’s played against and beaten the worlds best players with such impressive regularity throughout his career. Let me leave you with a quote from Jack Nicklaus himself that sums up this depth of field argument:

In 1930, there were perhaps ten golfers, pro or amateur, who might defeat Bob Jones when everything was right for them. After my first few years as a pro, there were maybe 30 guys who could beat me if I wasn’t playing my best. If I were out there today (1996), that number would be tripled.

Weeks as World #1: ( Tiger wins )

When measuring how dominant a player is, we have to measure them in their own time vs their competitors. Therefore, how long a player held down the world #1 spot is certainly a major factor when determining how dominant a player was. Tiger is miles ahead of 2nd place Greg Norman and even further ahead of the third best of all time Jack Nicklaus. Jack just wasn’t as dominant vs the players of his time compared to Tiger in his time.


Player of the Year Awards: ( Tiger wins )

Again, when measured against their contemporary competition, Tiger was considered the best player of the year more than double the number of times Jack was. It’s quite surprising, but in Jacks 26 year long major championship victory career, he was only named player of the year 5 times. Clearly he was the best, but it wasn’t head and shoulders above like Tiger is in his era. Tiger already has 11 player of the year awards.

PGA Tour Money List Titles: ( Tiger wins )

Both Jack and Tiger have one thing in common. Neither of them ever played a full schedule of tournaments. It was common for both men to play close to the minimum required tournaments in any given season, which makes it all the more impressive that both men won several money list titles. Again though, Tiger has a couple more than Jack.

Longest Cut Streak: ( Tiger wins)

Of all the records Tiger Woods holds, this one is in my opinion the most impressive. Against deeper fields he went 142 tournaments without missing a cut. The best Jack managed was 105. I’m not taking anything away from that because 105 is incredibly impressive in it’s own right, but again several of the fields Jack played against were arguably weaker than in Tiger’s era, both in the amount of international presence as well as the quality of the lower ranked players. I’d be absolutely shocked if anybody ever approached the 100 straight made cut mark again, let alone Tiger’s 142.

Lowest Scoring Average, The Vardon Trophy: ( Tiger wins )

In Jacks era there was an 80 round minimum to qualify which Jack rarely played so he actually never won the Vardon Trophy. However using today’s minimum standard of 60 rounds he would have won a total of 8 against the 9 Tiger has won. Both men were by far the most consistently low scorers of their time, but the slight edge goes to Tiger here.

Amateur Careers: ( Tiger wins )

Jack Nicklaus won 2 US Amateur titles which is very impressive, but Tiger’s amateur career is truly unparalleled. Not only did he win 3 straight US Amateur titles which a lot of people consider “majors” he also won 3 straight US Junior titles before that. Among all of Tiger Wood’s records, his 6 straight USGA titles has to be right near the very top. This is one of those rare accomplishments that I feel confident in saying will never be beaten. Tiger was destroying his peers at every level of golf since before he was a teenager.


Conclusion

If our only measure of greatness is major championship victories, then there’s no question Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer of all time. It’s very likely his 18 major wins will never be broken. Not by Tiger, not by Rory, and not by any other player for as long as golf is a sport. There’s only 4 of them a year, and Jack Nicklaus definitely won a massively disproportionate amount of them compared to his other wins. 18 majors in 73 wins, truly astounding. It’s not hard to see why most people just stop there and say he’s the greatest, no question.

On any other measure though, whether it be total wins, world ranking, player of the year titles, scoring average awards, consistency of play and cuts made, margin of victory, win streaks, calendar year dominance, whatever. By any other measure, Tiger Woods is already the greatest player of all time.

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That is actually the opposite of what happened. They lengthened courses which gave he and a few others prohibitive favorites. But hey, nice "argument".

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You're wrong. Nothing else to say other than Google it.