Opinion | Tiger Woods wouldn’t have dominated the likes of Bryson DeChambeau the way he did in his pomp
- Tiger Woods dominated golf to an unprecedented degree between 1997 and 2008
- He surely still would have been a great, but perhaps not so dominant
As we watched the Arnold Palmer Invitational weekend leader boards that included some of the top young players in the world, including the hulked-up, bulked-up tournament winner Bryson DeChambeau, it should be increasingly clear that there will never be another Tiger Woods.
In fact, if tournament fields were as young and deep a quarter-century ago as they are today, not even Tiger Woods would have become the Tiger Woods as we now know him: the transcendent golfer who has racked up 15 majors and 82 PGA Tour victories in his career. Of course, it’s all just speculation and I’m certainly not saying Tiger in his prime wouldn’t still be the best player in golf; I’m just saying that maybe he would only have nine majors and 50 PGA Tour victories.
Obviously, we could say the same thing about any iconic athlete of the past playing in today’s game. Would 2.08-metre centre Bill Russell, a dominant defender who was challenged offensively, have won 11 NBA championships in today’s bombs-away NBA game? Of course not.
Would Babe Ruth have dominated baseball if he had played in the days after the game integrated? Not a chance.
