Tiger Quotes
"There isn't a flaw in his golf or his makeup. He will win more majors than Arnold Palmer and me combined. Somebody is going to dust my records. It might as well be Tiger, because he's such a great kid. He has the finest, fundamentally sound golf swing I've ever seen."
- Jack Nicklaus
"When Tiger was 6 months old, he would sit in our garage, watching me hit balls into a net. He had been assimilating his golf swing. When he got out of the high chair, he had a golf swing."
- Earl Woods
"Years ago, somebody told me that when Tiger was a kid, he taped a list of my golf accomplishments on his closet. Well, if he's making a checkmark every time he matches me in something, he must have his pencil out pretty darn often."
- Jack Nicklaus
"One thing that makes Tiger Tiger is that he's more willing to bring a shot from the practice tee onto the course than any golfer I know."
- Butch Harmon
"That's Tiger's biggest strength -- he can play in Jack's style, waiting for his chances, and he can play in my style, attacking all the time. That's some combination."
- Arnold Palmer
"He's much better now than a year ago. His ability to control the distance on his short irons has improved dramatically. I don't know if I ever did that -- made such a substantial improvement in one part of my game in one year's time."
- Jack Nicklaus
"I realized for the first time that he was like Michael Jordan, that he wanted the ball with the game on the line, no matter the outcome. Very few players in the history of golf have felt that way, have wanted the pressure."
- Peter Kessler, host for The Golf Channel
"Tiger sees things differently. He sees the line -- not just of his putts, on all his shots -- more clearly. I'd like to know how he does it. I know this: The next time he's standing over a 45-footer, I'll be expecting him to make it."
- Ernie Els, after losing the Mercedes Championships to Tiger when Tiger made a 45-foot putt.
"Tiger didn't do anything the last nine holes [of the Masters] except stay out of harm's way. Nobody challenged him. Piece of cake. I did that a dozen times. It was exciting to watch a mature, smart player ... somebody who had total command of himself and what to do.
- Jack Nicklaus, following the 2002 Masters
"Tiger has the ability to make people feel uncomfortable, but not because he's not a nice guy. That's the mark of a truly phenomenal player. You can just feel he's better than you, and he knows he's better than you. That just widens the gap, though he doesn't say anything."
- Johnny Miller
"One thing people forget is that Tiger is a dedicated player. When you are the most talented and the strongest and the most dedicated, it doesn't surprise me what he's done."
- Lee Trevino
"He can shift to grind gear any time he wants. Like today, he was on cruise control. He was not on fire. Not on his A-game, going out there aggressive and trying to make birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie. If he had been threatened, he would have switched gears and gone into his attack mode. He can do that any time he wants. It's called talent."
- Earl Woods
"He doesn't need a challenge, I think that is the worst misconception going. That the No. 1 golfer needs a No. 2 golfer to push him. Tiger is pushed by history and by records and by his own goals. He doesn't need anybody pushing him."
- Earl Woods
"I have seen Tiger play every year since he was 14. And I've never seen a player at the age of Tiger -- when he was 14 or 16 or 20 or 22 or 26 -- who was as good as Tiger the age he was. Whether or not he is going to beat Nicklaus' major record, I don't know, and I'm sure he doesn't know. But I'll tell you this: He's working on it. He has a great desire to accomplish things, and I think he's doing a remarkable job of that."
- Byron Nelson
"He is something supernatural."
- Tom Watson
"I've played with just about everybody, and I think I can say now that Tiger has hit virtually every truly great shot I've ever seen."
- David Feherty
"He is the best student I ever had. He is like a sponge -- he soaks up information, and he always wants to learn and get better."
- Butch Harmon
"I told him, 'I promise you one thing: You'll never meet another person as tough as you.' He hasn't. And he won't."
- Earl Woods
"Tiger is the greatest thing that's happened to the tour in a long time. He has brought incredible attention to golf at a time of year when football and the World Series always take precedence. Everything I've heard about him seems to be true."
- Payne Stewart after Tiger's win at the Disney Classic (10/20/96)
"Tiger is like John Daly but with total control. If that's not a scary prospect for the rest of us, I don't know what is."
- Paul Goydos (Reuters, 10/24/96)
"Golf, as we know it, is over. It came to an end on a chamber-of-commerce Sunday evening in Las Vegas when Tiger Woods went for the upgrade: He's not just a promising young Tour pro anymore, he's an era."
- Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated (10/14/96)
"There was a time, when Woods first turned professional, when people wondered if he had the game to win an Open, whether he had enough accuracy off the tee, or enough control with his short irons, or enough patience. Those questions have been silenced. Woods can win on any golf course that has tee boxes, fairways and greens."
- Clifton Brown (The New York Times, 6/19/00)
"What's a good tournament for him? Winning it. He's good enough."
- Greg Norman
"He's in the mold of a Tom Watson in that he'll hit the ball in the trees and, undaunted, go in there, flail it out and make something out of it. He's got an overall flair for the game. It looks to me like he really loves what he does and he can't wait to get up in the morning, go hit some balls and go play."
- Gary McCord
"He came out into this golf world under a tremendous amount of expectation and pressure and performed. And has performed at the highest level every single time he's come out. He's proved himself human, where he can make a double bogey, like everybody else can, and he'll recover from that. And I think he wants to win. And winning is his objective every time he turns out."
- Jack Nicklaus, (5/27/97)
"The first time I ever saw Arnold Palmer, I said, 'There's a star.' The first time I saw Jack Nicklaus, I said, 'Superstar.' I feel the same way about Tiger Woods."
- Gary Player
"In many years of coaching, he is the most focused in terms of the important aspects of his life and his goals. He is a giver, not a getter, and a product of two amazing parents."
- Wally Goodwin, Stanford golf coach
"Like all great champions, Tiger has the ability to raise his game when he has to. He's not going to burn out because he plays for his own joy and passion."
- Jay Brunza, Woods' sports psychologist
"I would be walking along, carrying his bag, and with those long legs of his, he was gone. He'd say, 'Hurry up, Dad.' I said, 'Are you at your ball yet? No. Are you ready for another club? No. When you are, I'll be there.'
- Earl Woods on carrying Tiger's bag in junior tournaments
"I knew better than to caddie for him. I felt it important that he had the correct support inside the ropes, and that was a professional caddie."
- Earl Woods on why he did not caddie for Tiger in PGA events
"When you are on the golf course, you're the boss."
- Earl Woods