Reading Comprehension 20 - Understanding Text 2

Greatest golfer in history.

Is the jury out on whether Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer in history, even better than Tiger Woods?

Ever since Tiger Woods burst on the golfing scene and started winning Major golf tournaments, golf enthusiasts began to wonder whether he would be the one to outdo Jack Nicklaus. Long before Tiger Woods won his first Major Jack Nicklaus had won 18 Majors. Tiger Woods has won 14 Majors since his first win in 1997.

Tiger Woods was cruising smoothly in the 11 years between 1997 and 2008 when he won 14 Majors and it was just a matter of time before he would race past the Golden Bear. Unfortunately for him, it was not to be. Since his scandal broke out in late 2009, he has not won a Major and it appears that he is unlikely to catch up with the Golden Bear, especially in the light of his injuries that have plagued him over the last few years. Interestingly, he was competing with another great in another sport, Tennis, where he matched Roger Federer Major for Grand Slam. Even Federer has gone past him and has won 17 Grand Slam titles.

As of now, Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer in history, ahead of Tiger Woods, and statistics are in favour of Jack Nicklaus, especially in regard to Major titles. While Tiger Woods won his first 14 Majors in 11 years between 1997 and 2008, Jack Nicklaus took 16 years to win his first 14 Majors between 1962 and 1978. In terms of the number of individual Majors, Jack Nicklaus is on par with Woods in winning 3 British Open titles but is one up on Woods both in PGA and US Open titles and 2 up in Masters Titles. Both have won at least two Majors in the same year 4 times with Woods also winning three in one year. But the defining feature of Jack Nicklaus’ career is his longevity. Just imagine, he won his first Major at the age of 22 in 1962 and his last Major at the age of 46 in 1986. The manner in which he won the 1986 Masters title is the stuff reserved for legends. During his career he was the epitome of perfection, winning on all kinds of courses and beating the best players.

One factor in favour of Tiger Woods is his age. He is only 41 years old and if he gets over his traumatic personal life issues and disciplines himself to maintain his body, there is no reason why he cannot surpass Jack Nicklaus and be crowned the greatest golf player in history. He has already surpassed Jack Nicklaus in terms of PGA tour wins by winning 79 titles to Jack Nicklaus’ 73. His overall PGA tour record is awesome, far superior to that of Jack Nicklaus.

There is no player other than Tiger Woods who can measure up to Jack Nicklaus. While Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson showed some promise, they fizzled out. But a new exciting star is on the horizon in the form of Rory McIlroy who has notched up his fourth Major title at the young age of 25. So, Jack watch out, if the Tiger does not roar there is always Rory.