Tiger’s Dominance and Lack of Respect
Call me a little to sensitive on this one, but from my perspective, it appears that most of Tiger’s fellow tour professionals aren’t giving the man credit where credit is due. Most of the comments regarding his current major streak are along the lines of “yeah, he’s playing well, but he’s getting all the breaks too”. That’s not to say that his peers should be treating him like someone that walks on water, but at least acknowledge the accomplishment of what he’s done. It’s been said that Tiger reads everything that’s said or written about him and he uses this as necessary to motivate him as need be. So, if you’re one of his peers, why on earth would you give him even more reason to bury you? Also, consider that he know could care less if you outdrive him, he’s still going to beat you from further back in the fairway. Ouch, that hurts.
When Nicklaus was King, there was mutual respect on both sides, however even his top competitors knew that ultimately they were a notch below him. Nothing wrong with that. I remember Lee Trevino saying (even in his prime) that Nicklaus was the best golfer in the world and he considered it an honor when he could challenge and beat him (and he did). Now, if you know anything about Trevino, he was the ultimate competitor and even resorted to gamesmanship (much to the chagrin of Nicklaus) sometimes. However, Nicklaus knew he was in a fight whenever he teed it up with these guys. Remember that Watson dominated the British Open in the late 70s, and Jack gave Watson his due respect.
There’s been a lot of debate about Tiger’s peers vs. Jack’s peers, and who’s had the toughest competitors. I grew up watching Nicklaus play and I would say that Nicklaus had more consistent competitors. You could always count on Watson, Trevino, Player, Palmer, Weiskopf, Miller to challenge Jack. I think the talent field of today is much deeper, but every year or so, it’s someone new that’s challenging Tiger. There hasn’t been anyone of today that has sustained as Tiger’s competitor.
This is an old school thought, but I firmly believe it’s more about the money today. And not that I’d be motivated any differently if I was good enough to play on the PGA tour. There’s a great book called “A Good Walk Spoiled” by John Feinstein that gives a real insight to tour life (granted, it’s probably 10 years old), and it’s eve-opening to read what it was like back in the day to struggle and make a living on tour.
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