Exactly 19 months ago. Yes a team of trainers and Dr's that can heal an injuried athlete because you know it's what they do. He had the longest drive on 14 today over 400 yards, not bad for someone that had "smashed both legs into a half-dozen pieces"

Not offended, feel free predict whatever outcome of Tigers future you would like. But its stupid to think you know better than he does how much golf he should be playing prior to the tournament.

That's golf, doesn't mean it's not fun to predict. BTW in this thread don't you have him near the leaderboard then crashing and burning in the 3rd round?

PGA should do a little mini "Tiger Tour" once he retires. Top x number of players + Tiger, guaranteed money, no cuts, players can use carts so Tiger's not out there hobbling around the course like a vietnam vet. Schedule it during Liv's biggest events...make sure there's a live cam on Greg Norman's face when it's announced.

Brilliant.

Hello, world.

Tigahhh is the Goat of Goats.

not sure i'm qualified to claim he's the GofG, but i do know he was equivalent to Secretariat at his peak.
watching him compared to other players at the same time just wasn't the same

gretsky is the goat of goats but tiger is very close, those two are several tiers above whomever would come in 3rd place

I wonder how a 97-2002 Tiger would compete consistently against the best over the last decade or so as the golfing field in general is a lot different to what it was back then (average quality much better) and feel that the way Tiger played he was a pioneer similar to how the Shark was back in the 80s.

Sounds like the rehab is moving along nicely. 2023 the year of the grandslam?

prime tiger would still be the clear cut best player today. like any sports, the athletes (golfers today) are significantly better then the average athlete 20 years ago. but tiger was so far and away dominant back then that the gap other golfers have made up still wouldnt be enough. plus the parts of his game that were the best: putting, scrambling and irons would still translate today.

Tiger revolutionized the sport in much the same way that Michael Jordan did basketball. Golf and all the players now owe him so much more than they could ever give back to him. He pushed it to a worldwide competitive sport and showed what someone with skill, determination, and an athletically fit body could accomplish in the sport. Before him it was mostly viewed as an old white man's game where fitness didn't matter much at all. He blew that narrative out of the water and inspired athletes all around the world to view all the possibilities in the sport differently while also making it way more enjoyable and exciting for the average spectator which brought in the money. Tiger's Pebble Beach run back in the day was one for the ages. He was so far ahead of the field and game at that time just in just his fitness and it showed with how much distance he hit from the rough compared to all the other competitors. There is a reason he just crushed everyone during that time and during that time he set the blueprint for all the guys out there now.

I don't agree he'd be the clear cut best player today even in his prime but I do believe as I said in the post above that he had a huge part in making the sport what it is today. Would the game had taken off all over the world if not for him? Would guys that may have pursued other sports in HS or college taken up golf if not for him?

If you grew up in the 90's in your teens, what top athletes or kids you hung around with were really taking golf seriously? I mean, I played it on weekends for fun sometimes but nobody I knew in my area was really taking the sport seriously until Tiger came along and started crushing and I can only imagine what it is now across kids and teenagers around the world. I live in Asia now and plenty of young kids are taking up lessons now, etc. The sport became the sport that it is today because of Tiger. Maybe someone else would have come along eventually but he was the perfect ambassador to push this sport to audiences that would otherwise never have given it a second look.

I dont think anyone would disagree that the two biggest people/events that have increased the popularity of golf over the course of the last 60 years has been tiger coming on the scene and covid.

Tiger grew the game on levels beyond his ability.

Imagine a guy like Koepka winning 18 majors. It might actually shrink the game with his near zero appeal/charm.

Turning down the money from LIV definitely makes much more sense in light of LIV saying these insane contracts are basically advances and they don’t get paid on tourney winnings til after they’ve recouped the contract value

Tiger woulda had to win, what, $700 million in prize money before he saw a penny?

But of course he also could win nothing and still gets the money.

This is the first golf thread I saw.

Rory making a move.

Sure but, weird as it is to say, a one time payment of 700 mil and the likelihood of it hitting your future endorsement value isn’t life changing enough to Tiger who already as more than that either made already or lined up. There’s no sense rocking the boat for that

+1 Rory is the best player of this generation and the only thing hes better than tiger at is driving. They are in completely different leagues from 150-in. Tiger also played the majority of his career with inferior Nike equipment, if prime tiger had the equipment these guys have now he would still dominate

I don't put a lot of weight in the equipment argument. His clubs were made to his specs. Phil made that assertion years ago, probably more for gamesmanship purposes.

Here is a good read on the equipment Tiger used and how they were customized for his superior talent:

http://https://www.pgatour.com/long-...ournament.html

Although Nike eventually got out of the club making business, Rory used Nike thru 2016.

But a 25 year old Tiger transported to today would clearly dominate golf IMO.

the GOAT is currently court side in Serena Williams' team box at Arthur Ashe

Superbook has him at 150 to 1.

should be 10,000 to 1

Well Tiger is the host of the event so it was probably already a given he would play.

Hopefully Genesis has arranged a full time driver for Tiger this time.

I'm shocked that Tiger is playing in his own event. Looking forward to hearing him in rhe booth on the weekend