8/14/2019 The Relativity of Greatness

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Gra DddThe relativity of greatness

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48 Australian Golf Digest march 2008

GRANTHALVERSON/GETTYIMAGES

The terms great and champion have become malleable.

Perhaps it is the proliferation of differing forms of media or

an ever-growing public hunger for heroes, but sporting fig-

ures generally seem to meet the criteria for the previously

exclusive titles more readily than ever before.

Even if the application of these terms is more liberal, individual sports

will always have their defined greats. Every era in sport produces

figures deified by virtue of performance, their places in history and

folklore cemented forever.

Golf in particular has an elite and finite core of past greats. The

performance clauses required to qualify as a true great are largely

unwritten and yet there is a strangely comfortable consensus

about those who occupy the inner sanctum. Entry to that hallowed

world comes through extraordinary achievement, followed by a

glacial, subconscious infiltration of the hearts and minds of the golf

public. The passage of time and our proclivity to glorify the past usually

does the rest.

Last century, the true greats of golf were clearly defined. Bobby

Jones, Walter Hagen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen andByron Nelson singularly qualify to fill the pre and early post-war period,

while Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson are

the consensus picks from the latter half of the century.

In reality, there is no one from either period who can claim exception

to being excluded from this group. Fans of Lee Trevino may well feel

aggrieved, but for reasons unexplained he is only occasionally afforded

the same reverential worship.

Patently, another name already has a place in such company. That

same name could, in time, be viewed as belonging to an echelon of

greatness of its own.

Tiger Woods may eventually be considered the greatest golfer who

has ever lived. At this point in history he rules the modern game in such

a way that it is defined by his presence and persona.

Woods dominance of golf and of those who have competed against

him creates a difficult and rarely asked question. Of his contemporaries,

who can, or will in the future, justly qualify as great?

Further, if true greatness is indeed relative, is it possible that Woods

version of great is so much better than that of his current opponents

that they are considered diminished in stature by comparison?

For all his talent, will Phil Mickelson assume a place in that hierarchy?

What about Ernie Els? Both players have three major championships

to their name and have often been brilliant, if enigmatic competitors.

Pointedly, however, Woods has largely dominated both in head-to-

head battles when an event is on the line, a factor that passes its own

form of judgment when comparisons are being made.

Nick Faldo, with six majors to his name, and Seve Ballesteros (with

five) are possibly the two from the modern era closest to such an

ordination. Yet with both players, it seems that an intangible is either

missing, or lost.

With Faldo, it is what might be described as universal appeal. The

brilliant Englishman had a metronomic, clinical and ruthlessly effective

approach to the game but the warmth that is accorded to other pastchampions of similar (and lesser) achievement was rarely his to share.

His emergence as a commentator of note in recent times is at odds

with his previously fractious media relationship, but he has welcomely

revealed a more complex, faceted personality that may redefine him to

current and subsequent generations.

Ballesteros was undoubtedly one of the most talismanic figures ever

to play the game. His rise to the top was majestic and exhilarating; his

slow deterioration painful and soul destroying to watch. An agonising

demise shouldnt detract from what he achieved but for some it will

be enough to see him denied the metaphorical ascension that might

otherwise have been automatic.

All of this is mere theorising. The machinations of time and a human

predilection for selective memory will eventually decide. But if the

golf world were Woods-less, one suspects that we would have a

completely different perception of the relative merits of many players,

both now and in the future.

The book of history will detail Tiger Woods achievements great and

small, his name both title and postscript as new pages are composed.

Redefining greatness is likely to be included. Ultimately, it will be his

most significant accomplishment.

Grant Dodd has been a member of the Australasian PGA Tour since

1993 and played in the 1997 and 1998 British Opens. To ask Grant a

question, visit winingpro.com.

Lee Trevino knockedon greatness door.