Nicklaus v Woods – Matchplay With a Twist
In June 2009, Tiger Woods gutted out 72 holes of regulation play, an 18-hole playoff and a further two holes of sudden-death golf against Rocco Mediate on what was essentially a broken leg to capture the 2009 US Open at Torrey Pines. This was his 14th major tournament victory and brought him to within four majors of the record held by Jack Nicklaus, intensifying the debate and who was the greatest of all time. His period of recovery from injury gave away to the dramatic off-course scandal regarding his extra-martial affairs, divorce settlements and a 2010 season where Woods was undertaking significant swing changes with new coach Sean Foley and did not record a victory. With the 2011 US Masters rapidly approaching, perhaps it’s time to reassess where the Nicklaus v Woods debate stands and what the future may hold in store for Woods – what better way to do this than with a mock nine-hole matchplay event?
A quick introductory note: Nicklaus was born in 1940, Woods in 1975. All ages presented below refer to their age at the end of the calendar year (i.e. Nicklaus was 22 years old at the end of 1962, Woods was 23 at the end of 1998, etc.) Also, as Nicklaus’ career started and ended first, he will have the honour on every tee, ignoring usual golf etiquette on this issue.
1st Hole (Par 4) – The amateur and early professional days
By the end of 1962 (age 22), Nicklaus had won two US Amateur titles and in the majors had one win, three top-3 finishes, four top-5 finishes and five top-10 finishes.
By the end of 1998 (age 23), Woods had won three US Amateur titles and in the majors had one win, two top-3 finishes, two top-5 finishes and four top-10 finishes.
Nicklaus turned professional after his second US Amateur title whilst Woods went around a third time before leaving the amateur ranks. It therefore stands to reason that Woods had the more impressive amateur titles record and that Nicklaus got the jump in terms of contending in the majors. Let's call it a pair of birdies for a half.
2nd hole (Par 5) – The first period of domination
Nicklaus aged 23 to 27: 20 majors played, six wins, five seconds, three thirds (fourteen top-3s), fourteen top-5s, fourteen top-10s.
Woods aged 24 to 27: 16 majors played, seven wins, one second, one third (nine top-3s), ten top-5s, eleven top-10s.
Nicklaus submitted a phenomenal five year stretch, averaging more than one major victory and almost three top-3s per four majors played – that’s worth a tap-in birdie at the very worst. But I can’t get past this: had you back Tiger Woods at $2.50 (or 6-4 in the old language) in every major over the four years referred to above, you’d have turned a profit. That’s just insane – the equivalent of Woods hitting his patented ‘stinger’ 2-iron to within six feet of the hole for two, then draining the eagle putt and unleashing a classic Tiger fist pump as he goes one up in the match.
3rd hole (Par 4) – A brief lapse
Nicklaus aged 28 to 30: twelve majors played, one win, two seconds, no thirds (three top-3s), four top-5s, six top-10s.
Woods aged 28 to 29: eight majors played, no wins, no seconds, no thirds (no top-3s), one top-5, two top-10s.
The run of glittering success couldn’t continue year after year, as both players have a brief period that would be entirely acceptable by the standards of high quality golfers, but appears to be a blip on the record relative to the periods before and after. A regulation par for both players as Woods retains the lead.
4th hole (Par 3) – The glory days revisited
Nicklaus aged 31 to 35: 20 majors played, six wins, four seconds, three thirds (thirteen top-3s), seventeen top-5s, nineteen top-10s (he was tied for 13th in the other major).
Woods aged 30 to 34: 18 majors played, six wins, five seconds, one thirds (twelve top-3s), thirteen top-5, fifteen top-10s.
Just like that, we’re back into ‘are you serious?’ mode. Between the pair, across 38 majors they won almost one-third of the time, finished in top-3 almost two-thirds of the time, and only missed the top ten on four occasions. Nicklaus tees off first and hits a towering long-iron to within five feet of the hole, after which Woods steps up and knocks his tee shot to within six feet. Do you even need to ask whether the respective putts dropped? A pair of birdies keeps Tiger one up.
5th hole (Par 5) – Consistency over first fifteen years
Nicklaus to age 35: fourteen major wins, twelve seconds, seven thirds (33 top-3s), 39 top-5s, 44 top-10s.
Woods to age 35: fourteen major wins, six seconds, three thirds (23 top-3s), 28 top-5, 34 top-10s.
Waxing lyrical about the two greatest players ever won’t add much to the story here – the records stand for themselves. In a square-up for the second hole, the ten extra top-3 finishes see Nicklaus’ piston-like putting stroke deliver the goods on a long-range eagle attempt to trump the tap-in birdie of Woods and bring the match back onto level terms.
6th hole (Par 4) – Quality of opponent
This is often an extremely subjective topic and one that can never be supported by proof or lack thereof, so objective measurement tools have been recruited to try and lend some support to a subjective argument. It has been said that winning one major title can sometimes be a fluke, but that a second win is a sign of a high quality golfer. The lists below show the total number of majors won by players who won at least one of their titles between the 1962 US Open and 1986 US Masters (Nicklaus' first and last major titles respectively) or between the 1997 US Masters (Woods' first major title) and the present day.
Nicklaus
9 majors – Gary Player
8 – Tom Watson
7 – Arnold Palmer
6 – Lee Trevino
5 – Seve Ballesteros
4 – Raymond Floyd
3 – Hale Irwin, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Larry Nelson
2 – Fuzzy Zoeller, Tony Jacklin, Johnny Miller, Dave Stockton, Hubert Green, Andy North, David Graham
Woods
4 – Phil Mickelson
3 – Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh
2 – Angel Cabrera, Retief Goosen, Mark O'Meara
Obviously the figures are loaded in Nicklaus' favour by virtue of the longer period that the analysis spans for, but if the Woods list was revisited in a decade or so from now, it's still unlikely to be comparable to Nicklaus. Going a step further, let's add a second objective test here – how many times did Nicklaus and Woods win a major where a multiple major winner ran second, and how many times did they run second to a multiple major winner?
Nicklaus
Seven of his eighteen major wins came with a multiple major winner in second place: Palmer (x3), Player, Miller, Floyd, Casper.
Thirteen of his nineteen second placings were behind a multiple major winner: Trevino (x4), Watson (x4), Palmer (x2), Player, Miller, Ballesteros.
Woods
Four of his fourteen major wins came with a multiple major winner in second place: Els (x2), Mickelson, Goosen.
One of his six second placings were behind a multiple major winner: Cabrera.
Given that Nicklaus lost to Trevino in an 18-hole playoff in the 1971 US Open, lost by a shot to Watson in the 'Duel in the Sun' at Turnberry in the 1977 British Open and fell foul of a Watson chip-in at the 71st hold of the 1982 US Open, it's not a huge stretch to suggest that if Watson and Trevino had never taken up golf, Jack Nicklaus would have finished with 26 major victories. That's right – it took two of the all-time greats to prevent Nicklaus from achieving 26 major victories. You can't make a remotely comparable statement for Woods. Nicklaus wins the sixth hole comfortably with a 20-footer for birdie on the demanding par-4 to go one up in the match.
7th hole (Par 3) – Impact on the game and its standing in the community
Another subjective topic, but one that I think has a pretty clear cut winner. In terms of impact on public perception of golf and exposure of the game to the public and media, Arnold Palmer was more of a trail blazer than Nicklaus was. Nicklaus won the admiration of golf fans over time through his success and humility, but never really caused a media avalanche.
How about Tiger? Well, he appeared on the Bob Hope Show as a toddler, garnered record TV ratings for a US Amateur coverage when attempting to win his third title, announced his turning professional with the famous ‘hello world’ comment and immediately went into an extremely lucrative partnership with Nike. He commands multi-million dollar appearance fees for a number of tournaments worldwide (including the Australian Masters). “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 20xx” has been an annual feature of the EA Sports video game releases for the better part of a decade. And that’s before we get to the issue of race – for all of its positive qualities, golf does have a somewhat ugly past when it comes to racial and gender-driven prejudices. Tiger Woods has had an immeasurable impact on how the game has been promoted to cultural groups who for many decades were shunned to various degrees. The “I’m Tiger Woods” campaign was comparable in impact to the “I want to be like Mike” campaign featuring Michael Jordan as the face of basketball. On reflection, this hole isn’t even close – an easy birdie for Tiger to bring the match back to all square.
8th hole (Par 4) – Adherence to the spirit of golf
A third consecutive subjective topic, but again I think the winner is fairly self-evident, even when you ignore all of the off-course issues and focus solely on the conduct of each man on the course. In the last couple of years in particular, Woods has frequently put his temper on display with plenty of swearing and the occasional moment where the head of a 7-iron gets buried into the adjacent turf after a wayward shot. That’s not to say Nicklaus kept a perfectly clean sheet on this issue over his career, but his indiscretions were far fewer and further between.
The bigger issue: the parallels between Woods and Michael Jordan do not stop with advertising campaigns – both are hyper-competitive men whose sole focus is victory, and that doesn’t always co-exist well with the best interests of the sport. Whilst Woods is respectful and polite in both victory and defeat, he can’t match the warmth Nicklaus displayed towards Tom Watson when beaten by a single stroke in the 1977 British Open, the magnanimous gesture of conceding a two-foot putt to Tony Jacklin on the 18th hole of the final singles match in the 1969 Ryder Cup that led to the first ever tie in the event, or the humility shown when with son Jackie caddying for him, Nicklaus dug into his then 46 year-old bag of tricks and flushed out a back nine of 30 at Augusta to come from nowhere and win the 1986 US Masters. Nicklaus isn’t just a better advocate of the spirit of golf than Woods – he may well be its greatest advocate ever. The eighth hole goes to Nicklaus with a birdie and he resumes a one-hole lead with one to play.
9th hole (Par 4) – Denying Father Time
Nicklaus aged 36 to 40: 20 majors played, three wins, four seconds, two thirds (nine top-3s), twelve top-5s, sixteen top-10s.
Nicklaus aged 41 and above: one win, three seconds, no thirds (four top-3s), five top-5s, thirteen top-10s
Woods aged 35: four majors played, no wins, no seconds, no thirds (no top-3s), two top-5s, two top-10s.
Nicklaus has played this tough final hole and was unlucky not to make birdie, instead having to settle for a par and leaving the door slightly ajar for Woods, who in 2011 stands waiting on the ninth tee. Woods is 6-under through eight holes and yet amazingly he needs a ‘birdie’ here to extend the debate about the greatest golfer of all time to a sudden death playoff.
While the halcyon days of Nicklaus were before my time, it has been a pleasure to see someone go toe-to-toe with him historically over the past decade and a half, and I cannot wait to see how this final hole plays out for Tiger. Here’s hoping he gives himself the best possible chance to extend the argument to extra holes.
Thanks to Stephen Dunn/Getty Images North America for use of the photo
