There is arguably no debate which has been more widely discussed among golf fans than whether Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods is the greatest player of all-time.
It is the debate which is destined to never go away. Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors during his illustrious career, while Tiger Woods is only three behind. The next best male player, Walter Hagen, has 11.
Nicklaus also finished second in 19 majors. But Woods seemed to completely change the game with what he achieved between 1997 and 2008.
Had injuries and issues off the course not impacted the 49-year-old, it would not have been a shock to see Woods overtake Nicklaus’ tally at some stage.
The part of Jack Nicklaus’ game which was not in Tiger Woods’ league
Hal Sutton is one of the players with a better insight than most when it comes to choosing between the two. One of Nicklaus’ runner-up finishes in a major came at the 1983 PGA Championship which Sutton won.
Meanwhile, it was Tiger Woods who finished second when Sutton won The Players Championship 17 years later. Sutton would also captain Woods at the 2004 Ryder Cup.
Understandably, Sutton was reluctant to pick between the two. However, speaking on Subpar, the 67-year-old did admit that there was one area of the game where Woods was far superior.
Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Payne’s Valley Cup
“We’re talking about two different eras here. They both managed their ball incredibly, they were both one of the longest players of their time. Big drivers, both of them, great long iron players, metal irons, short irons,” he said.
“I would say Jack’s pitching the ball and chipping the ball weren’t in Tiger’s league. I’m just being honest. He hit the shot when he needed to. But what Jack did so well was he played into his strengths and away from his weaknesses.
“Tiger did that as well, but he was fearless. I’m not sure that he would lay up as much as Jack did. Jack was an unbelievable three wood player. Three wood’s not even in the game anymore. I’ve done a little bit of designing and I’ve worked with a couple of guys, three wood’s not in the game. They don’t have shots where you use three woods anymore. And Jack used three woods all the time for a thing called position.”
The skill Tiger Woods had that Hal Sutton did not see in another player
Sutton experienced something of a career revival around the time that Woods was taking the game by storm. Remarkably, Sutton went more than nine years without a victory after winning The Memorial Tournament in 1986.
So he would have got a great opportunity to see what Woods did differently to many of his peers. And he suggested that there was one attribute Woods had which he never saw in anyone else.
“I’ll tell you this about Tiger, the one thing I’ll always say about Tiger, he’s the only guy that I ever played golf with that did not fear where the ball was fixing to go,” he added.
“He knew he had the next shot. He’s the only guy I ever saw play that way. Everybody else, they knew what their strengths were, they knew what their weaknesses were and, like Jack, they played into their strengths and away from their weaknesses.”
The margins are so small at the very highest level. Anyone on the PGA Tour is among the best golfers to have ever played the game. So it is fascinating when players such as Nicklaus and Woods manage to separate themselves from the rest.
Many of their rivals will possess a lot of the same skills. But there are those final ingredients that only a handful of players are blessed with. And many of us simply cannot put our finger on what those ingredients really are.
In Woods’ case, according to Sutton, it was his knowledge that he could produce a moment of magic wherever his ball ended up.
