if Tiger for some reason ties Jack at 18 majors...

I was just thinking, after watching Top 10 last night.

• Does the number of runner-up finishes become the tie-breaker in the arguement of best golfer?

• What do you think Tiger would say? (Majors are most important to him)

• and what would Jack say?

• If it was Jack chasing Tiger, knowing the number he needed to beat to take the record.. think he would break it?

Sorry, but "don't know" and "who cares?" applies to all those questions..

Just looking for people's opinions. If you don't have one then why would you bother repying?

My momma taught me that if I have nothing nice to say, its better to just say nothing at all.

1. No. Second sucks and third is even worse. Why would anyone want to finish 2nd that many times when they could win? Why should being "first loser" determine "best golfer"?

2. I think he'd say something similar.

3. I think he'd say something similar.

4. I have no idea.

-mini

This is not something we really need to worry about. Tiger will beat Jack because that is his goal and always has been. He has had plenty of setbacks and sidetracks in his career and he still moves towards that goal. At his present rate he will have Jack tied in 3-4 years. Then we can start discussing his retirement from golf and his campaign for PRESIDENT.

If they do end up tying on 18 professional majors I would think the tie breaker would be US Amateurs. Tiger has 3 and Jack has 2 - giving Tiger (hypothetically) 21 majors and Jack 20.

I don't care if Tiger never plays again. He's the best golf that ever lived.

Couple quick words and this is just my .02 cents....



BEN HOGAN!

If they tie on the majors, then the tie breaker to me would be victories in non-majors. Why would you look at his amateur record before looking at other PGA wins?

You can't use money unless it is adjusted for inflation, at a minimum.

Looking at second place finishes, na. That means nothing. Second or 144th is the same when you are looking at victories.

I never said I didn't have one - I just stated what mine is.

Well, good for you and your "momma".

Merry Christmas.

You'd have to go with Woods for the simple reason that he has won 3 US Amateur titles, one more than Jack.

if they both had 18 majors, than people will still have their own opinions, i guess you could look at a lot of other things, total pga tour wins for example

what would tiger say "it's a pleasure to be considered in the same class as jack nicklaus"

what would jack say "it's a pleasure to be considered in the same class as tiger woods"

if jack was chasing tiger? like if he had 14 majors and tiger had already retired with 18? if would depend on how old jack is, we'll say he's tiger's age(32 i believe), than i will say yes he would catch him

If they tied for major wins, instead of trying to figure out who is better, I would just appreciate some of the things they did differently and how good they both are. I don't think it would be fair to say "Jack was better", "Tiger was better", even if one had more PGA wins/US Am wins. There are too many variables to even try to figure stuff like this out.

If you dont have a standard i.e. majors. Then why not Byron Nelson? He beat Hogan all the time. Tiger is the man!

definitely agreed that total victories would separate the "best" if tiger and jack tied in total majors.

second place just means you're the best loser. second does suck no matter what.

I don't think for a second that Tiger will not get to at least 19, I'm not a massive fan but have massive respect for the guy, and after his performance at Torrey Pines there is no way that for the rest of his career he won't cross the line at least 5 times.

If it did happen I think Tiger would privately be quite annoyed that he set himself a goal and didn't reach it, but in public he'd be very gracious, saying how honored he is to be one of only two people to have won the most amount of majors. I don't either would enter the debate about how to determine which one is the greatest, they would just let the media do their thing and ignore whatever conclusion they draw. They'd both agree that they were no doubt the most successful players in the world in two very different golfing eras.

The interesting thing for me is to see how many majors Tiger finally ends up with, after he gets to 19 will he think, 'I just took Jack's record, someone else could come along and take mine, had better win some more'. Or will he call it a day and enjoy the fruits of his labor? Unfortunately this will probably be decided by the state of his health.

I wouldn't worry about Tiger tying Jack at all. Tiger will SURELY surpass Major wins, it's only a matter of time....and, I predict that he will come back with a vengenace very soon.

Ummmmm NO WAY. Not even close. He isn't even close to the majors and total tournament wins Tiger or Jack has. For that matter, Sam Snead and Byron were better than Hogan in my opinion.
As for the tie breaker, I feel like you have to go with total PGA wins and Tiger is going to break Sam's record too.

Wow, seems like you might be just a tad bit cranky! Go get yourself a nap!

If you ain't first your last!

I vote Tiger even without 18 majors yet. He is breaking all the records and he is only playing 12 events or so a year!

Not arguing for either side but what about winning percentage and taking into account how few events Hogan could play after the accident including only playing in the Open once and not play the PGA Championship after 1948 which many would argue was his prime as far as winning was concerned. So that means he only played in 2 majors a year during his best playing years during which he won 2 masters and 3 US Opens. In the 5 seasons he played 1948-1953(not counting 49) which was 67% (8 of 12) of the majors he played in during that time. It would be only logical to assume that if you could have played in the PGA and British Open during those 5 years he could have had at least 6-8 more majors assuming the same winning percentage. Granted Tiger is phenomenal but nobody in my opinion dominated a 5 year stretch in modern history more than Ben Hogan. If a player played every major in a 5 year period he would have to win over 13 majors to equal the same %

I don't really think you can figure in the coulda shoulda woulda stuff! Otherwise Tiger would have won at least one major and maybe two more and would have ended up winning 12 tournaments based on what he did through the US Open.

I really think that if Tiger toes the mark of Jack, and then goes dry, it will come down to a generational thing. I have a hard time comparing Bobby Jones to Jack or Arnie to Tiger because of the differences in equipment, golf courses--both maintenance and lay out, travel, and training. I also can't say for sure who the better player is because I'm too young. I've seen the highlights on TGC, and during tournaments, but it's not the same. Seeing four days of a major, and watching the charge from 3 back on the second nine on a Sunday is something to behold. I've seen that from Tiger--I've never seen it from Jack. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Jack never did it, but I've never seen the whole broadcast, if you know what I mean.

Well how about saying it this way...tiger's best major run was 8 in 5 years matching hogan while hogan played in 8 less majors. Hogan's winning percentage is higher than anybody elses I believe

Yeah you could probably say that for a certain period of time, but you really got to look at it as an entire career of work imo. For me right now it is Jack=1, Tiger=2. and Snead=3. Tiger will be 1 in a couple more years and I have Snead at 3 because he won the most tourneys ever over his career. Had Hogan not had the things happen to him that he did he might be number 1, but unfortunately he did. There have been countless athletes over the years that "might" have been the best but for one reason or another something happened and they never reached that level.

The only thing that is certain is that Jack has set the record. Tiger hasn't eclipsed it - yet.
Who knows what the future of golf majors will bring? There will always be the suprise winners along the way.
It'll be interesting to see what the next 10 or so years bring. As long as Tiger stays fit, he always stands a chance of winning. Can't wait for the Masters to start....

They tie. There is no tiebreaker. We could debate this forever and it's pointless.

"If..."

If my aunt had balls, she would be my uncle.