Padraig Harrington says what everyone gets wrong about Tiger Woods after he ‘got bullied’ in the early 2000s

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There is a strong argument to be made that Tiger Woods played the greatest golf ever seen at the start of the century, with the 49-year-old holding all four major titles at the same time at one stage.

Tiger Woods is perhaps the best golfer the world has ever seen. Of course, his cause is helped by the fact that there is so much more footage of Woods than the likes of Jack Nicklaus or Ben Hogan.

But no one has won more events on the PGA Tour than Woods. He is also only behind Nicklaus when it comes to major victories.

However, there was one part of his game which was seemingly not quite at the elite level at the peak of his powers.

Padraig Harrington suggests what many completely misunderstand about Tiger Woods

There is a perception that Woods could be erratic off the tee with his driver. A number of his most iconic shots came when he was in a bunker or blocked out.

But one player from that era is adamant that those who believe that Woods was not a good driver of the golf ball are completely wrong.

Speaking on Skratch, Padraig Harrington explained why Woods’ driving did not get the credit that it deserved, with the three-time major champion suggesting that the American was actually one of the very best.

“Back in my day, none of the long hitters could play good golf. They were bullied, really bullied. Rory McIlroy was the first long hitter to hit his driver and keep hitting his driver,” he said.

“You think of how much Tiger got bullied. Tiger, the greatest player in the game, was the best driver of the ball in the game in the early 2000s. He just hit it 30 yards past everyone and hit it so straight.

“Now, this is a bit like on the Champions Tour. I’m not far off last in fairways hit on the Champions Tour. Because Tiger every time he hits driver – bar the par fives because all the par fives he used to hit it straight down the middle – most par fours, he’s cutting the dogleg. So he’s hitting it 30 yards past where the driving area is. It’s narrower, it’s awkward, you’re cutting across the angles. So if it’s a right to left dogleg and you’re going over the corner, five yard pull is in the rough, five yard push is in the rough. It’s a much smaller area.

“Tiger was a brilliant driver. And think about it, the world convinced him later on that Tiger’s a bad driver. Most kids think Tiger was a bad driver of the ball. He was brilliant and really straight.”

Tiger Woods’ driving statistics between 2004 and 2007 tell a very interesting story

It is remarkable looking into some of Woods’ driving statistics from 2004 – where the PGA Tour started to keep strokes gained data – to 2007, the year before he missed much of the season following his US Open triumph.

In those four years, Woods was never higher than 139th on tour for driving accuracy. That certainly speaks to the idea that he was not a good driver of the ball.

However, the perception completely changes when you consider that Woods was inside the top 10 for strokes gained driving in three of those years.

He was missing a lot of fairways. But, as Harrington suggests, he was frequently leaving himself in a very good position to set up a genuine birdie or eagle chance.