In the light of Tiger's PGA victory and Roger's Masters series defeat at the hands of Novak Djokavich, KPC asks: Who is the greatest, Federer or Woods?
Here is the tale of the tape:
Federer: 26 years old, 11 majors (with one left to go this year, the US open, where he is the defending champ). Number one since February 2004. Looking to break the all time record in his sport of major wins in his sport held by Pete Sampras at 15. 49 Career titles. Has never won the French Open
Woods: 31 years old, 13 majors. Number one since July 2005 (and several times before that). Looking to break the all time record of major wins in his sport held by Jack Nicklaus at 18. 60 Career titles. Has won all four of the major tournaments at least once.
I personally got Eldrick. 31 is younger in golf years than 26 is in tennis years (think about it relative to the ages where people's performance starts to fall off in the two sports) and Federer has Nadal (who is younger) breathing down his neck having beaten him in the last three French opens (including the last two finals) and Rafa took Fed to a 5th set in the Wimbledon final this year on Roger's favorite surface.
So Eldrick has more time and less of a nemesis, but the factor in Fed's favor is that, other things equal, IT IS SO MUCH HARDER TO WIN A GOLF TOURNAMENT THAN A TENNIS TOURNAMENT. In tennis, you gotta beat 7 people to win a major. In golf, you gotta beat everybody in the field. That is a big big difference.
Bottom line for me: I think Fed will tie Sampras at best, while Woods will go north of 20 majors.
1 comment:
...i can't put my finger on it precisely, but there's something different about the nature of competition in tennis vs. golf. Tennis is a zero-sum game. Golf's not, unless it's match play. So, the fact that you only have to beat 7 players to win a major in tennis is a moo point (cow's opinion--doesn't matter).
Essentially, it doesn't matter if tiger's playing against 7 or 700 people, because only a few are really going to challenge him, and it's an individual game.
With that said, though...Tiger's the better champion. Your age point is the winner (pun intended?) for me.
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