Comparing Jordan Spieth to Tiger Woods is an "Embarrassment and Insult," Says Anonymous PGA Tour Player

Tiger Woods dominated the game of golf for over a decade. It goes without saying that Woods is one of the greatest golfers of all time. He’s won 14 major championships, 79 total PGA Tour events placing him second all time behind Sam Snead at 82, and 40 European Tour events placing him third all time behind Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer. Of course now Woods has dropped below 500 in the official world golf rankings and is struggling to find his form after multiple back surgeries so that he can return to the game he once dominated, but he it is unlikely that he will ever be the player he once was.

Enter Jordan Spieth. In his short time on the PGA Tour, Spieth has won seven events, with five of those wins coming in 2015 with two major championships, the Masters and U.S. Open. Spieth is still only 22 years old and could possibly win another three major championships before the age of 23, if he defends his title at the U.S. Open and collects a win at The Open Championship and a PGA Championship win. While it’s not out of the realm of possibility, it is unlikely that he will win all three with golfers like Jason Day and Rory McIlroy also at the top of their games at such a young age. It’s hard though, not to compare young Jordan to Tiger considering both have experienced great success at such a young age.

One PGA Tour golfer doesn’t think this is fair for Tiger. In an interview with ESPN’s Michael Collins, an anonymous player said of the comparison with Tiger:

"Via ESPN: “He was the needle. He’s not around anymore. We don’t know if he’s coming around again. We hope [he will], but we can’t count on that. Now you take the Jordan Spieths, you take the Jason Days, you take these young guns, they’re still not Tiger. Nobody’s ever going to be Tiger. We know that. Lotta people don’t know that. But they’re not going to be. “The great play of Jason Day, the great play of Jordan Spieth, the great play of Rickie Fowler — combined, they’re not Tiger. … They’re just not. Tiger is Tiger. It’s a Michael Jordan. You cannot compare. It’s actually, in my opinion, it’s an embarrassment and an insult to compare those guys to a Tiger Woods. … It’s an absolute embarrassment to say that a Rory McIlroy, a Jason Day, a Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, all these guys are going to compete with Tiger’s records. Combined, they don’t even have half his records yet.”"

The golfer is right in that it is very likely possible that no one will ever do what Tiger has done for the game of golf. It’s also likely that we won’t see anyone dominate the game like Tiger did. There have been more first-time winners on the PGA Tour this season than in recent memory proving that the game is fickle and that on any given week anyone can win, but both Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth won seven tournaments before the age of 23, and Spieth still has some time to improve his win total, which he is very capable of doing.

Could he be better than Tiger Woods one day? Maybe, but for now, instead of comparing the two, how about we just enjoy the amazing golf that we’re seeing this season.

[HT FTW]