If Tiger Woods retired today, would he be considered the best golfer ever?

Question

I know he'll be back from his bad injuries though. I was just wondering if you think Tiger could be considered the greatest golfer if he retired today. (In my opinion, I would say yes. All his victories aside, anyone who can win the U.S. Open while playing at around 50% has to be considered the best ever. Without a doubt. Golfers have won a lot of tournaments before, but they have never absolutely crushed the competition like Tiger has done.)

Answer 1

I would say no.  Golf greats are judged by their entire career.  If that wasn't the case Bobby Jones would be considered the greatest ever because he retired at age 28 after winning the "grand slam" of the time.  If you go by winning the most by age 28 Bobby even ranks ahead of Tiger as Bobby had won 13 majors (counting amatuer majors).  But nobody considers Bobby the best ever because he doesn't have the career records, same goes for Tiger, when he passes Jack as Jack did Bobby years ago, he will be widely considered the best ever.  

I have one arguement for the older golfers, back when Hogan, Snead and Nelson played they rarely played in all four Majors in one year, the reason for that was because the British open used to overlap the PGA championship qualifying.  If you look at it, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead rarely played the open, Hogan only played in once and won it the only time he played there.  So I dont feel it is fair to compare their major totals to the guys from the 60's through today because in the old days you had to choose whether you wanted to play the PGA or the British.

Answer 2

No, but he could say he was the best in his time and probably was going to be the best, but in other words, he probably is going to be the best and I don' think he'll stop till he is.

Answer 3

no, he needs to beat jacks record first, but after that and when he has the most wins also, he will be the best golfer ever

Answer 4

he would be considered in the conversation, but I still have to think Nicklaus gets the title

Answer 5

Since I didn't grow up watching Jack, I am reluctant to say that Tiger is the best ever. Especially when he has not eclipsed Jack's record.  But Tiger is the best in today's golf.

Answer 6

Yes.  He is only a young man and has surpassed just about every record possible.  He has another lifetime before he has to retire - can you imagine what else he will accomplish?

Tiger rocks!

Answer 7

I think even if Niklaus had been in his prime with the same technologies available to Tiger via his equipment Tiger would still come out on top.

Answer 8

I beg to differ with the questioner when he says " no golfer never absolutely crushed the competition like Tiger has done ". There was a golfer named Sam Snead who won some 85 official tournaments which had good competition like Hogan, Demaret, Harmon, Lawson Little, and Byron Nelson. There was another golfer by the name of Jack Nicklaus, who rather demolished the competition which included Player, Trevino, Venturi, Casper and Bob Charles. Don't forget Byron Nelson who won 11 straight tournaments, a couple of majors and quit at the height of his career when he had emassed enough money  to buy his ranch and cattle. Tiger cannot be considered the best until he surpasses Jack Nicklaus' stats.

Answer 9

No, forgot his name, but some other guy won like 3-4 more titles  than he has

Answer 10

yes,because he has done so much in his golf career

he also has had more competition in his career

he has also won the us open with a torn acl

Answer 11

Yeah, he will still be the greatest golfer.  In the magazine TIME, he was considered a genius (like Einstein).  In the age of 15, he had won several golf award, who can beat that record?