People will tell you it’s impossible to compare athletes from different eras. I say it’s entirely possible and people who would tell you otherwise simply have difficulty letting go of the past.

With apologies to Kathy Whitworth and Brazilian legend Marta, I offer you, the golf fan, the 2022 Men’s Golf and Football GOAT Comparisons. There are only three men in the discussion for both golf and footie, so that makes this a fairly clean exercise.

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The GOATs

Tiger Woods and Lionel Messi
Say what you will about blood spinning, surgery, rehabilitation, infidelities or any of the other obstacles Tiger Woods has overcome, he is the greatest golfer to ever walk on this planet. His statistical dominance in a wildly competitive era is staggering. No, he hasn’t won the most majors, but … he still might? And let me say this: Amateur golf at the absolute highest level matters. And no man has dominated that arena like Tiger Woods.
Lionel Messi has just become a World Cup champion for the first time. He didn’t need to for this exercise because was the GOAT before the 2022 final. On the pitch, Messi is a talisman that not only dominates play but also makes those around him notably better. While his goal-scoring totals are astounding, it is the art, pace and tenacity with which he plays that separates him from all the others.
Tiger and Messi are the GOATs of golf and football, respectively. They are two of the most popular and important athletes of our time. Both possess skills that leave even their most accomplished peers in awe. We are incredibly lucky to witness their greatness.

Jack Nicklaus and Diego Maradona
Both Jack and Diego were somewhat short and rotund athletes. They used their bodies very differently. If Nicklaus possessed skills that left you saying: “Wow.” Maradona’s gifts had you wondering: “How?”
Eyeballing Jack in his prime, we’re talking about a 5’9”, 215-pound powerhouse who was longer, more dedicated and intense than anyone who had come before him. He was hitting persimmon McGregor woods with wound balls well over 300 yards before the Beatles first came to America. There was no one like Jack before he hit the scene.
Diego was a street kid-turned-tornado who was impossible to get off the ball. He left his native Argentina as a teenager and went on to dominate in Europe and on the world stage. And he did all this battling addictions. We are left to wonder what might have been if he had stayed clear of his many vices (as is the case with Woods).
Nicklaus would dig deep to win 18 major championships — more than any other player. It was as if he could summon shots when others couldn’t. Maradona also had a rare will that seemingly would not be denied. He would lead his team to victory by any means necessary, to include ‘divine’ intervention. Two great champions, and for a period of time of their lives, the GOATs, but no longer.

Bobby Jones and Pelé
The final players who can enter the GOAT discussion are Bobby Jones and Pelé. There are still people who feel Jones and Pelé are GOATs. Sorry, they are not. I’ll list them out of respect for those of you who feel that they are seminal figures in their respective sports.
Let me start by pointing out that both Bobby Jones and Pelé played in an era when athletes would cross the Atlantic Ocean by boat. In the Jones era of golf, there were golf professionals, but no real place for professional golfers. Jones, who was considered an amateur, was the game’s best and brightest star, even if he didn’t play that much by today’s standards, or face quality competition.
Pelé was a revelation to football. He is the only player to win three World Cups. Granted, there were only about 16 teams that competed, but good for Brazil! A win’s a win. In 2000, Pelé was named the FIFA co-Player of the Century (alongside Maradona) as a nod to his importance.
Jones quit playing competitively fairly young due to health issues. Pelé never played in the great European leagues of his era for political reasons. For all of their legendary greatness, the world was left wanting.
That’s it. That’s the list of GOATs in golf and football. There are others who may not be GOATs, but we’ll call them “Greats but Not GOATs.” An “honourable mention” list, of sorts.

Greats But Not Quite GOATs

Johan Cruyff. David Cannon

Ben Hogan and Johan Cruyff
Who knows what Hogan would have accomplished had he not suffered a horrible car accident, or what Cruyff would have done had he not retired extremely young? Their influence on other players who followed them also binds these two giants.
Hogan is almost mythical to many top players who followed, and Cruyff’s impact is still seen today in the greatness of Barcelona.

Arnold Palmer and David Beckham
Flamboyant, creative, popular with men and women alike. Two GOATs in their own right. Arnold Palmer and David Beckham were the rare champions who caught the attention of people who didn’t follow sport.
England struggle on the world stage, but Beckham’s run at Manchester United is legendary. Palmer’s place in golf is cemented forever and extends beyond his greatness as a player.

Lee Trevino and Ronaldo
Much like Jack and Diego, a portly duo. Also extremely entertaining. Two great champions who delivered on the highest level and brought tremendous joy to their respective sports.

Seve Ballesteros and Zico
Magicians who were adored by fans but likely left a little too much meat on the bone to be considered in the “all-time great” discussions of their respective sports.

Phil Mickelson and Cristiano Ronaldo
A lot of championships and a healthy dose of ME, ME, ME, ME, ME with these two. And also a massive chunk of money as Phil helped launch the LIV Golf league and Ronaldo has spent his career making big-money transfers and is currently looking for a new club and pay cheque.

Gary Player and Franz Beckenbauer
Two giants of sport in the 1960s and 1970s who have found themselves in suboptimal ethical and legal scenarios of late.

Rory McIlroy and Diego Forlan
Both have been relatively quiet on the major world stage since 2014 yet seem to be on television quite often.

Who’s Next?

Some 35 years passed between the time Bobby Jones won the Grand Slam and the 1965 Masters when he said of a young Nicklaus: “He plays a game with which I am not familiar.” It was 32 years after that when Tiger Woods changed professional golf forever after his dominant win in the 1997 Masters.
Similar gaps occur in soccer, it seems. Pelé in late 1950s, Maradona in the1980s and Messi debuting in about 2004 with Barca.
Technology and competition in any era are what they are. There are many great champions, but very few transcend. GOATs just don’t show up that often. Let’s enjoy them while they’re here.

The post Who are the GOATs of golf and football? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Jack Nicklaus had won 18 professional major titles in his peerless career, and Woods made it clear that he wanted to surpass Nicklaus before he was done dominating the sport. The only doubt—at least in my mind—came when I had dinner with Woods in February 1998 and casually mentioned he needed 17 more majors to tie Nicklaus.

“Sixteen,” Woods corrected. “Jack won 20 if you include his two [U.S.] Amateurs. I won the Amateur three times, so I’ve got four.”

That notion never took hold with the public. The number most associated with Nicklaus is 18 and always will be 18. The number associated with Woods is 15—not 18.

Regardless, the bar has never moved for Woods. The minute he broke his major drought of almost 11 years at Augusta National last April, people began bringing up 18 again. Can he win three more? How about four?

On Sunday, Novak Djokovic won his 17th major tennis title when he came from behind to beat Dominic Thiem to win his eighth Australian Open. The victory left Djokovic three majors behind Roger Federer and two behind Rafael Nadal. Here’s the difference between golf and tennis: Nicklaus was 57 and all but retired when Woods won his first pro major. Jack did make a remarkable run at Augusta in 1998 before finishing T-6, but Nicklaus was 11 years removed from his last major victory when Woods beat the field by 12 at Augusta in ’97.

Nicklaus was already predicting that Woods would blow away all his numbers before Woods won that first title. After Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer had played a Tuesday practise round with Woods in 1996, Nicklaus came into the interview room and declared, “This kid’s going to win more Masters than Arnold and I did combined.”

Nicklaus and Palmer won 10 Masters. Right from the start, the bar was set very high for Woods. But at least Woods knew exactly where the bar was, and who had put it there.

Tiger and Jack share a chat during the award presentation at the 2001 Memorial. (Andy Lyons)

Djokovic doesn’t have that luxury. He had to beat Federer in the semifinals in Australia last week. Nadal, who has had more trouble winning in Australia than anyplace else, was beaten in the quarterfinals by Thiem. A year ago, Djokovic beat Nadal in the final. Two years ago, the winner Down Under was Federer—then 36.

On the women’s side, Serena Williams has been trying to pass Margaret Court on the all-time major list since 2017, when she won her 23rd major title—also in Australia. Williams was pregnant when she won that title, and even though she has reached three major finals since the birth of her daughter in September 2017, she hasn’t been able to equal Court’s 24 major wins.

But like Woods, Williams knows the bar isn’t going to move on her. Court is 77 and in the news these days only because of her controversial politics.

Many believe that Federer, now 38, isn’t likely to win another major. But they believed that when he went four years without a major title from 2013 to 2016. Then he won in Australia and at Wimbledon in 2017 and again in Australia in 2018. Last year, Federer had two match points in the fifth set against Djokovic at Wimbledon before losing in the final. Never say never with Federer.

In golf, there are no true head-to-head records to help judge who might be better. Battles in the final round of a major are rare: Nicklaus beat Palmer in a U.S. Open playoff in 1962; Lee Trevino beat Nicklaus in another Open playoff in 1971; Tom Watson stared Nicklaus down in late-major duels at Augusta and Turnberry in 1977, and Pebble Beach in 1982. Only once—at the 2002 Masters—did Woods go head-to-head with Phil Mickelson and David Duval in a final-round showdown. Mickelson and Duval were contemporaries and stars, though not equals or even near-equals.

In tennis, you can look up the head-to-head records of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic anytime you want. Nadal leads Federer, 24-16—including 11-2 on clay, the surface where he is almost unbeatable. Djokovic also leads Federer, 26-23, and leads Nadal, 29-26.

There’s no doubt that Djokovic has been the dominant player of the last 10 years. When he won his second major (Australia in 2011), Federer already had 16 majors and Nadal had won nine. Each had completed the career Grand Slam—Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open. Since then, Federer has won four majors; Nadal, who turns 34 in June, has won 10—including two last year. Djokovic, who will be 33 in May, has won 15—including three of the last four.

Tennis’ next major is the French Open, at Roland Garros, where Nadal has won an astounding 12 times. Anyone want to pick against him? Federer, as he proved last year, might have one more Wimbledon in him—he’s won eight. And Djokovic just keeps trying to climb the mountain. Among active players, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray are next in major victories—with three apiece.

Right from the start, the major bar was set very high for Tiger Woods. But at least he knew exactly where the bar was, and who had put it there.

It’s worth noting that Roy Emerson became the all-time leader in men’s singles titles when he won his 12th in 1967. That record stood for 33 years, until Pete Sampras broke it. Sampras won his 14th and final major at the 2002 U.S. Open. Seven years later, Federer went past him. Now, Nadal and Djokovic have also shot past Sampras—even though the three great champions have had to face one another constantly during their careers.

Nicklaus and Woods have no real challengers at this point for the top two slots in golf. Walter Hagen is third in professional majors won at 11—the last coming in 1929. Then come Ben Hogan and Gary Player with nine and Watson with eight. Watson was the most recent to win a major in that group—in 1983.

Phil Mickelson is the only active player other than Woods with five major titles—and he’s almost 50. Ernie Els, who just turned 50, has four. Rory McIlroy, 30, and Brooks Koepka, 29, have four apiece. Jordan Spieth, who is 26, has three.

If you set an over-under at 10 for McIlroy, Koepka and Spieth, most people would take the under. But you never know. Djokovic certainly didn’t appear to be a serious challenger to Federer or Nadal as recently as five years ago.

Chances are, though, that when the next challenger to Nicklaus or Woods comes along—if one comes along—he will know exactly where the bar is set. It might be a very high bar, but at least it won’t be a moving target.

The post Chasing GOATs: How Tiger’s major pursuit of Nicklaus differs from what’s going on in tennis appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

You’re probably thinking how is there a secret to club twirling? You just twirl the darn club after a shot! And you’re mostly correct. But as Woods shared with Ahmad Rashad (Man, I miss him on NBA Inside Stuff), there’s a surprising way to get a little more oomph into those twirls. See for yourself:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlD5BFKh8Oz/?utm_source=ig_embed

The right thumb?! For a left-handed twirl?! Even a surprised Justin Thomas can be overheard in the clip. But that’s why Tiger’s the twirl GOAT. Although, for some reason, Ahmad calls it “spinning.” C’mon, Ahmad, you’re better than that. Anyway, here’s a look back through the years:

And here’s one from earlier this season:

The club twirl should have given it away. ?

Wow. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/vuKjRfOcWi

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 8, 2018

Yep, he’s still got it.

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