The Field in Tigers Prime

quote:

---

Was watching the 2008 US Open. Not going to lie, Tiger vs a potato like Rocco really makes me wonder about Tiger vs todays field.

I know he’d still win a ton but good lord, that dude rocking a peace sign belt buckle, swinging about 95 mph? Cmon.

Lee Westwood?

---

This is one of the bases for the Tiger vs. Jack debate. Tiger's field was unquestionably deeper, but Jack's was much heavier at the top with legends/HOFers (Palmer, Trevino, Player, Casper, Watson, Weiskopf, Miller)

I think it’s easier to win with a top heavy field than a deep field. The fewer guys really in contention the easier, even if the few in contention are better

As much as I like Phil, he really let us down when he couldn’t challenge Tiger. We got very few Tiger vs Phil challenges. The US Open at Bethpage was one of the few that we got. Tiger Woods had already won 8 majors before Phil got his first.

David Duval seemed poise to be a strong rival to Tiger, knocking him off of the world number one spot, but then Duval quickly fell off, I guess because of vertigo. Ernie Els never really could threaten Tiger much either.

It seemed like all of the best players in the world would fall apart when Tiger was near, while the middle of the road tour players with nothing to lose gave Tiger his biggest push. Bob May, Chris Dimarco, a teenage Sergio, Rocco Mediate, YE Yang, etc.

Padraig Harrington won 3 majors from 2007-2008. He could have been a contender.

Luke Donald was world number one for a while around 2010 or so.

Steve Stricker was always a popular pick to contend for a major but he never won one.

Then you have Martin Kaymer, Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan, Jason Dufner, etc.

Guys you always heard about but could never win consistently on tour.

quote:

---

iger had virtually no competition compared to most of the greats during his prime.

---

I am trying t think of some of the worlds best (true GOATS) in individual sports and not many really did.

Phelps
Armstrong
Federer
Sampras
Serena
Usain Bolt
Tyson
Shaun White


When a generational type (or all time GOAT) steps on the stage in their prime and is basically unbeatable they are leaps and bounds better than everyone else in their field at that time. That's how they become legends and considered better than everyone else before them as well when they were in their prime.

For most of the 80's and 90's golf wasn't about being long and going as low as possible, it was about being the best on that weekend and if the 2nd place guy shot -10 it was your job to shoot -11 not -25.

Tiger changed that.