It is incredibly difficult to argue with anyone who puts Tiger Woods at number one when it comes to the greatest golfers of all-time, with only Jack Nicklaus winning more majors than the 48-year-old.
For many golf fans, Tiger Woods is probably the reason that they started playing. Woods absolutely changed the game when he burst onto the scene in the 1990s, quickly establishing himself as the most electrifying player on the PGA Tour.
Woods looked to be on course to quite comfortably eclipse Nicklaus’ tally of majors having won his 14th by the time he was 32 years of age, back in 2008. Unfortunately, injuries and other issues away from the course have largely prevented him from hitting those heights again.
That made his win at the 2019 Masters all the sweeter, however. He is also tied with Sam Snead for the all-time most victories on the PGA Tour, having won 82.
Tiger Woods revealed the one regret he had from his golfing career
It will be very interesting to see how Woods is remembered once his career does come to an end. It is inevitable that some will place him above Nicklaus simply because of how much they have seen from Woods over the years.
Some will undoubtedly believe that he should have won even more considering the heights he was able to reach. But it would appear that Woods himself is very pleased with what he has achieved in the game.
Speaking in a 2016 interview with Charlie Rose, Woods revealed that there is only one decision that he would change if he had his time again.
“If you look back, the only regret I have in life is not spending another year at Stanford, I wish I would’ve had one more year,” he said.
“That’s the only regret, I wish I had. In all the things. All the things I’ve learned, all the things I’ve been through are tough, yes they’ve been tough, but they’ve been great for me. But I wish I would’ve gone one more year at Stanford.
“The amount of brilliant people that were there, the things I was learning at that time, was I ready to turn pro? Physically, yeah, because I won a bunch of tournaments, I won the college slam, at the time no one’s ever done that, which is win the conference region and nationals. I won three Amateurs in a row. So I was ready to go, but I wish I would’ve spent one more year learning from everyone who was there, people who were designing their own computers, people who were working at the Linear Accelerator.”
An unbelievable legacy
It would be fascinating to know whether Woods’ perspective has changed at all in the eight years since that interview. Obviously, he had already gone a substantial amount of time without winning a major when he spoke to Rose, but it really does appear that his body is no longer in a position to compete with the best players in the current game.
It may eat away at Woods at times that he should have overtaken Nicklaus and perhaps become the first player to win 20 major championships. And with that, he may reflect a little more on moments which cost him tournaments. He has finished second in seven major championships during his career.
However, the last few years have probably changed little in the minds of those who believe that Woods is the greatest the game has ever seen.
And given everything he has achieved, it really would be dangerous to completely write off the idea of Woods finding a way to steal the show once again in the future.
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