There is definitely an argument to be made that Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer to have ever played the game, with the 48-year-old winning 15 major titles during his career.
While it is impossible to compare players from different eras, you could understand any golf fan placing Tiger Woods ahead of Jack Nicklaus when it comes to the greatest to have ever done it. Although Nicklaus leads the way for major titles, Woods seemed to completely change the game during his time at the top.
Woods has spent more than 13 years as the world number one across his career. And had it not been for injury and potentially other issues away from the golf course, it seems highly likely that Woods would have gone past the total of 18 major titles.
The question everyone is asking about Scottie Scheffler after his stunning year is how close he can potentially get to Woods as the dominance has not been seen since the five-time Masters champion was the best player on the planet.
Jason Day shares what Tiger Woods told him about staying at world number one
Jason Day is actually one of the players who got to world number one in the years after Woods’ decline began. And while speaking about the sacrifices he made to reach that landmark, he shared on The Smylie Show what he learned from Woods about what it took to set the standard in the game for the best part of two decades.
“To get to the best, it’s a lifestyle choice. Your whole life has to be in on that goal of being the best. It’s very difficult, some of the guys can do it. Dustin Johnson and some of these other guys, they can naturally just get to number one and ‘how do you do it so easily?’ You know how it is, they don’t practice as hard as you or I. They’re just naturally gifted in a way that they can do it, and it just doesn’t look like it affects their life that much,” he said.
“Then there’s people like me and even Tiger for instance, one of his things was, and I always laugh at this because I always say, ‘hey, what kept you at number one for so long?’ He’d look at me and go, ‘I’m not as talented as you so I had to work harder than you’. That is such a load of c–p, he’s way more talented than me. But what did he great was that he matched great technique with unbelievable work ethic, and also a great mental game and when you have that three-prong effect, it’s just going to give success.”
Woods was prepared to be the hardest worker in the room
As Day suggests, Woods’ success seemed to come from a number of factors, including the outrageous amount of talent he possessed.
But golf has seen potential superstars not come close to living up to expectations. Rory McIlroy said this week that Oliver Fisher was tipped to have a better career than him while they were amateurs. Fisher has one DP World Tour title to his name so far. Day himself, will probably feel that he should have won more than one major title considering the heights he got to.
Woods’ belief that he was not as naturally talented as someone like Day was when the Australian was the world number one probably was such a beneficial attitude to have. He clearly felt that he had so much to develop within his game, even when his C or D game was winning PGA Tour events at a canter.
Woods seemed to have more ability than anyone else. But the fact that he was willing to work harder than everyone else in the room made for a lethal combination.
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