Jack's Era vs. Tiger's Era Options

[BackNine59]

A lot is said about Tiger competing in an easier era than Jack Nicklaus. They try to compare the best players in Jack's era against the best players in Tiger's era. Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player........vs. Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els...........

Your thoughts? Was Jack's era more competitive or better yet - was the competition Jack Nicklaus played against better than the competition Tiger is playing against?

[umslglfr]

I really do not know how you are suppose to compare different eras like this in sports. Yea, Jack played against some legends of the game in his time and had stiff competition. But Tiger is also playing against some great players too, and who knows, they might end up being legends like Watson, Trevino, and Player. Why do we as golf fans need to compare Jack and Tiger in the first place? They are both amazing golfers who have accomplished things that most pros only dream of. Instead of trying to compare them and attempt to figure out which one is better or whatever the case might be, why not celebrate their accomplishments and realize that we were able to watch history being made with Jack and now we are fortunate enough to be watching Tiger attempting to make his own history.

[AdamF]

For a while now I believed that Jack had tougher competition by far because there were more 'great players' in Jack's era, but I am realizing with guys like Phil Mickelson and Ernie Else playing in the Tiger Era that there would have been a few more 'great players' if they did not have Tiger. Time will only tell if Tiger's foes end up to be comparable to Trevino, Watson, Player, Palmer, Irwin, etc... I would bet that in 10 - 15 years if Tiger is still playing that there will be quite a few more multiple major winners which is how I am defining the great players of the Nicklaus era.

Current Multiple Major Champs (by memory)
Els - 3
Mickelson - 3
Singh
Retief
O'meara - both in 98 still counts as tiger era

One Major - Furyk, Z. Johnson, Immelman and Ogilvy should win more. And of course Todd Hamilton and Ben Curtis will win more, NOT!

[Van V]

Nicklaus by far had tougher competition, take a look at some of his fellow players major wins with at least 3:

Gary Player 9 majors
Tom Watson 8 majors
Arnold Palmer 7 majors
Lee Trevino 6 majors
Seve 5 majors
Peter Thomson 5 majors
Ray Floyd 4 majors
Billy Casper 3 majors
Julius Boros 3 majors
Larry Nelson 3 majors
Hale Irwin 3 majors

Let's take a look at Tiger's competitors

Phil Mickelson 3 majors
Ernie Els 3 majors
Vijay Singh 3 majors
Padraig Harrington 3 majors

I left Nick Faldo off the list since he was kind of between the two.

If Nicklaus would of been playing against the poor quality of golfers Tiger is who knows how many Major victories he would of had, the total would of been uncatchable though. The golfers in the old days were tough and did not choke in the final round like Tiger's opponents do when he is lurking off the lead.

Tiger is great, but playing against a lot weaker field than Nicklaus, and will go down in history as the second best golfer ever.

[Van V]

Nicklaus by far had tougher competition, take a look at some of his fellow players major wins with at least 3:

Gary Player 9 majors
Tom Watson 8 majors
Arnold Palmer 7 majors
Lee Trevino 6 majors
Seve 5 majors
Peter Thomson 5 majors
Ray Floyd 4 majors
Billy Casper 3 majors
Julius Boros 3 majors
Larry Nelson 3 majors
Hale Irwin 3 majors

Let's take a look at Tiger's competitors

Phil Mickelson 3 majors
Ernie Els 3 majors
Vijay Singh 3 majors
Padraig Harrington 3 majors

I left Nick Faldo off the list since he was kind of between the two.

If Nicklaus would of been playing against the poor quality of golfers Tiger is who knows how many Major victories he would of had, the total would of been uncatchable though. The golfers in the old days were tough and did not choke in the final round like Tiger's opponents do when he is lurking off the lead.

Tiger is great, but playing against a lot weaker field than Nicklaus, and will go down in history as the second best golfer ever.

Jack has 19 runner up finishes in the majors, if he played against Tiger's competition he would of have probably at least 12 or more titles.