Gary Player is no stranger to controversy or being outspoken. A recent interview that discussed his thoughts on Tiger Woods is no different.
Player sat down with the German KW Golf YouTube channel recently, and gave a candid and no-holds-barred interview about Woods and where he went wrong in his career.
Woods is arguably the greatest player of all time, with only Jack Nicklaus being the other one who is even remotely in the same realm as the Big Cat.
However, Player believes Woods would have had the opportunity to go down as the greatest athlete of all time, regardless of sport, if he would have done one thing differently: chosen his swing coaches more wisely.
Player went on to say (via SB Nation):
“Tiger Woods had his career ruined, completely ruined. He won the 14th major at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He won by 14 shots. The next week, he’s having a lesson from a man who, I don’t know if he played in the Masters, couldn’t break 80, but he’s having a lesson from this guy.
Then he goes to another guy who couldn’t break probably 85 in the Masters, with the pressure or the British Open or the PGA on the final day, and he’s having lessons from them.
Why did Tiger do that? He was so good, but I understand he wanted to get better. If he went along and never changed, he would have won a minimum of 22, maybe more.
He would have gone down as the greatest athlete the world has ever seen, man or woman on the planet, but he made the wrong decision.”
He also believes that Woods’ chances of winning another tournament or not “is not debatable.”
Gary Player is no stranger to controversy or being outspoken. A recent interview that discussed his thoughts on Tiger Woods is no different.
Player sat down with the German KW Golf YouTube channel recently, and gave a candid and no-holds-barred interview about Woods and where he went wrong in his career.
Woods is arguably the greatest player of all time, with only Jack Nicklaus being the other one who is even remotely in the same realm as the Big Cat.
However, Player believes Woods would have had the opportunity to go down as the greatest athlete of all time, regardless of sport, if he would have done one thing differently: chosen his swing coaches more wisely.
Player went on to say (via SB Nation):
“Tiger Woods had his career ruined, completely ruined. He won the 14th major at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He won by 14 shots. The next week, he’s having a lesson from a man who, I don’t know if he played in the Masters, couldn’t break 80, but he’s having a lesson from this guy.
Then he goes to another guy who couldn’t break probably 85 in the Masters, with the pressure or the British Open or the PGA on the final day, and he’s having lessons from them.
Why did Tiger do that? He was so good, but I understand he wanted to get better. If he went along and never changed, he would have won a minimum of 22, maybe more.
He would have gone down as the greatest athlete the world has ever seen, man or woman on the planet, but he made the wrong decision.”
He also believes that Woods’ chances of winning another tournament or not “is not debatable.”
As far as golf goes, Woods was nearly untouchable from 1997 to 2008, putting on one of the most dominant displays in professional sports. While Player may have some validity in terms of who was teaching Woods, it is hard to say whether Tiger would have done anything differently in his career.
He has 82 wins on the PGA Tour, tied for first all-time with Sam Snead. However, some of Snead’s wins came within team events, which has been the major debate point for some.
