Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are undoubtedly the two greatest golfers to ever walk the earth but just who was the better player in the different elements of golf is open to debate.
As we’ve seen over time, both Woods and Nicklaus had that killer instinct when it came to winning and with 155 PGA Tour wins and 33 majors between them, they are very much the dominant duo in golf history.
However, the sad thing to digest with these types of player is that we never get to see them head to head.
In their prime, seeing Tiger v Jack would have been quite the spectacle but all we can do now is speculate how it might have gone down.
| Player | The Masters | US Open | The Open | PGA | Total |
| Jack Nicklaus | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| Tiger Woods | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
Nevertheless, the duo themselves will be asked questions on such a battle and when pressed previously on who was better, Nicklaus revealed his opinion on what Woods did better than him.
Jack Nicklaus says if Tiger Woods was a better driver of a golf ball than him
Jack Nicklaus is always up for answering the tricky questions when it comes to Tiger Woods and he’s always brutally honest as well.
The Golden Bear very much backs himself against most but he is also humble as well.
However, when it came to who was the better driver out of him and Woods, Nicklaus admitted that he was backing himself over Tiger.
“Well, I don’t know. I think I was a better driver of the golf ball than Tiger,” Nicklaus responded when asked who was better at golf’s fundamentals.
“I think we were both good iron players and I think he had a better short-game but we were both good putters. It’s really kind of funny because I didn’t think about this until right now but I sit next to Tiger every year at The Masters dinner and we’re sitting there and he says ‘how many senior tour events did you win?’. And that question only came out for one reason…because he wanted to know what his goal is.”
What Tiger Woods said when asked if he was better than Jack Nicklaus
As mentioned, Woods and Nicklaus will have been asked on more than one occasion for their opinions on each other.
And while Nicklaus is confident in his own game, when Woods was pressed previously on if he was better than Nicklaus, he also seemed confident.
“I think I’m pretty good too,” Woods replied when asked if he thought he was better than Nicklaus.
“I think he and I would have a hell of a duel. Jack has always been one of my heroes, I looked up to him, looked at his record…I wouldn’t say lusted for his record, I just think it was the gold standard. He had won the most majors, and second most tour events.”
When pressed on if he thought he’d have more than Nicklaus’ 18 majors, he simply replied ‘correct’, before admitting if he didn’t get there, he’d simply say ‘I didn’t get there’.
Of course, we will never see it happen. But in terms of fantasy golf, you can’t think of two titans of the game you’d rather see go head to head.
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