NPR: Tiger Woods Is Just Playing the Numbers Game Now

Tiger Woods Is Just Playing the Numbers Game Now

All summer long, I've been hearing one number -- 755, the number of home runs that Hank Aaron hit and that a certain San Francisco Giants player needed to pass to become baseball's all-time leader. Now that this number has passed us by, get ready to hear a lot more about the number 18.

I've always felt fortunate that I've been alive to see some of the world's great professional athletes play during the prime of their careers: Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr in hockey, Michael Jordan in basketball, Alex Rodriguez and Pedro Martinez in baseball, Peyton Manning and Joe Montana in football, Roger Federer in tennis and Annika Sorenstam in golf.

But few of these superb athletes come close to Tiger Woods.

Bob Ryan, The Boston Globe's great sports columnist, writes that Woods may turn out to be the greatest athlete of all time, in any sport. For instance, since the 2006 British Open, Woods has won 11 of the 19 tournaments he has played in, including three majors. He also finished second in two majors. He now has 13 victories in golf's big ones: the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA.

The record is 18 victories in major tournaments, held by Jack Nicklaus. Playing at this rate, Woods will probably pass him by 2010. So get used to hearing that number 18 a lot over the next couple of years.

10:51 AM ET | 08-14-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Woods raises the question of what qualifies as the 'greatest' in athleticism. Is greatness determined by shattering historic records? Or does the sheer difficulty of the sport weigh more heavily? What are our criteria?

I have long maintained that Tiger Woods can be considered the greatest athlete, but with Lance Armstrong certainly vying with him.

Why Woods? The nature of golf forces performance solely onto the individual--Woods triumphs not as a member of one team against other teams, but as one golder against thousands of other individual golders. Woods masters the triangulated competition of golf unique to the sport--man vs. man vs. environment. Golf also requires the careful fusion of brain power and muscular finesse. And finally, golf demands longevity, both in terms of a weekend-long tournament and of potentially decades-long career.

Another consideration is audience. How many people who would normally shun watching golf gather around the screen to watch Tiger play? I think Woods is responsible for reviving public interest in golf at a time when the major franchises tend to dominate our attention.

Sent by John K. | 11:32 AM ET | 08-14-2007

totally outrageous. You would have to play in an actual athletic event to be an Athlete.

Golf and Nascar are not Sporting events

I am 51 years old and I am a gym rat. I would destroy Tiger Woods in basketball

Sent by Dennis Thompson | 11:53 AM ET | 08-14-2007

This discussion is as mindless as the question. Who is the most beautiful women ever. You guys need to get a life.

Sent by Tom | 12:26 PM ET | 08-14-2007

As an individual as opposed to a team sport, golf is easy to figure out the best player. The recent performance by Tiger of making the cut in all four majors and shooting one under par when the closest person was plus fifteen and the next person was plus 27 says it all.
But most important is his capacity to handle his success, wealth and celebrity flawlessly. It should give all Americans a great deal of pride.

Sent by David Rosenberg | 1:06 PM ET | 08-14-2007

If the participants in an activity can wear slacks and a belt, they are surely not athletes and the activity surely is not a sport.

Sent by Eric A. | 1:11 PM ET | 08-14-2007

The author doesn't seem to recognize his own limited perspective a/k/a/ bias. First, each era produces the greatest athletes "of all time." 30 or 50 years ago, any writer could have made the same claim, and just substituted other names. 50 years from now it is very possible that a writer will be talking about a different golfer, and give passing mention to Woods in his blog (or whatever the next technological medium is then called), just as this writer barely mentions Nicklaus. Second, it's obvious this writer has an extreme male bias in evaluating greatness in sports. (It appears he may only have mentioned Sorenstam -- at the end --to avoid a clean sweep by the men). This, in itself, is absurd.

Sent by John M | 1:53 PM ET | 08-14-2007

Trying to compare athletic achievement in different sports to determine who is the "greatest of all time" is whimsy. The gifts that allow Tiger to excel in golf are different than those that permit Lance to set a cycling record that may never be broken. The skill sets and demands for an athlete differ based on the requirments of the game or contest played. So trying to compare one against the other is chosing an apple over a pear while pretending two apples are before you.

Sent by Jack | 1:56 PM ET | 08-14-2007

Ask Michael Jordan if golf is an athletic endeavor and whether Tiger is an athlete. Also ask him if he thinks Tiger would kick "gym rat's" butt.

Sent by Mike Fleissner | 4:20 PM ET | 08-14-2007

One can expostulate about the validity of naming the "greatest athlete of all time", but the fact remains that when one exerts physical and mental greatness, above everyone else, the term "athlete" (A person possessing the natural or acquired traits necessary for physical exercise or sports, esp. those performed in competitive contexts--THE AMERICAN HERITAGE COLLEGE DICTIONARY-THIRD EDITION) certainly applies to Tiger Woods. So therefore, opinions that the game of golf is not an athletic event are groundless and biased. Tiger may very well be the greatest athlete in his field now and possibly 100 years from now. Does it really matter?

Sent by Anna M | 4:32 PM ET | 08-14-2007

For a good example of GREATEST ATHLETE means, go to Google and type in "Jim Thorp".

now there is a real greatest !!

Sent by Don Smith | 1:41 PM ET | 08-19-2007

Golf! next thing you know you'll be trying to add bowlers, poker players and hotdog eaters as athletes.

Sent by Jack Patton | 10:46 PM ET | 08-19-2007

Michael Jordan is great! Lance Armstrong is great! Tiger Woods is even greater!! For the reasons you have listed above, I believe, Tiger Woods is the greatest athlete of all time.

Sent by B. Dillard | 8:49 AM ET | 08-20-2007

Golf is not a Sport. Neither is Racing or Archery. A Sport need to show resistence of an opponent to induce physical fatigue and resist preventing one from scoring. Tiger is a credit to reviving Golf considered a older man Gentlemen sport played eloquence. The only thing that beat You in Golf is You.

Sent by C. Boyd | 8:09 AM ET | 01-28-2008

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