Tiger Woods Vs. Phil Mickelson? Not So Fast

If you’re a golf fan, it seems like you can’t turn your head without reading or hearing about the immanent Tiger/Phil showdown that everyone is so confidently predicting.

Could a Tiger/Phil dual finally take place at Augusta next week?

Of course it could.

Tiger may not yet have shaken all the rust off his game, but he has shown us that he certainly hasn’t lost that ability to take his game to that next level when it really matters.

Mickelson is also playing as well as I’ve seen him play in quite some time, maybe even ever.

After beginning to the 2009 season looking as if he hadn’t picked up a golf club all winter, Mickelson finally appears to have regained his top form over the past month.

Mickelson has re-found his Houdini-like short-game and has actually managed to combine that short-game with distance, and believe it or not, some accuracy off the tee.

Now, I don’t want to come across as grumpy, or rain on the parade of all those fans who are anxiously awaiting the Masters and the possibility of a Tiger/Phil showdown.

But folks, I think we are getting ahead of ourselves.

“A Tiger/Phil showdown”—hmm, now where have I heard those words before?

Oh yeah, just about every time the two of them have both happened to be playing well at the same time over the past 13 years.

It’s clear what we are all looking for here—a modern day Arnie vs. Jack dual.

As a golf fan, I would like nothing more than to see a modern day Arnie/Jack dual.  But folks, it’s just not going to happen, at least not anytime soon and there are several reasons for it.

First and foremost, there is a vast difference in the level of parity seen on today’s PGA Tour compared to the PGA Tour of the 1960s.

Back in the '60s, there were only a handful of players who could consistently expect content at the majors.

Sure, as is always the case in any sport, there were surprises here and there, but for the most part, the same names such as Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Casper, etc. would appear near the top of the leaderboard at most major championships.

What people tend to forget is that Jack Nicklaus turned pro in 1961, and after 1964, Palmer never won another major.

Nicklaus for all intense and purposes completely dominated this dual in major championship play.

Sure, Nicklaus and Palmer went head-to-head in many non-major tournaments, certainly a lot more often than Mickelson and Woods have ever really gone head-to-head.

But, as far as the majors, this illusion of a constant dual was more due to the fact that Palmer’s name would consistently appear near the top of the leaderboard, even if he wasn’t playing his best nor had any hope whatsoever of catching Nicklaus.

There was Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Casper, a few others, and then there was the rest of the pack.

On today’s PGA Tour, there is more parity than at any other time in the history of the game.

Although Woods can sometimes manage remain on the leaderboard while not playing his best, the rest of the top players in the world, including Mickelson, must be playing there absolute best just see their names anywhere near the top of the leaderboard at a major.

This extreme level of parity in it of itself significantly decreases the likelihood of seeing any two players on the modern day PGA Tour consistently battle it out at the majors.

The second reason why we are unlikely to ever see a constant Tiger/Phil showdown is simply because Woods is the most dominant player the game has seen since the days of Bobby Jones.

Woods is winning just under 30 percent of all tournaments he enters and more than 30 percent of the majors he plays in, which is absolutely mindboggling.

Just to put that statistic into perspective, Nicklaus’ total winning percentage was never higher than 16 percent at any time during his career.

Not to sit here and praise the guy, but Woods is the type of player that comes along once in a lifetime in the game of golf.

The stars align, the golf Gods all agree on the matter, and Woods simply goes about becoming arguably the greatest player to have very picked up a golf club.

Expecting someone to compete against an athlete of Woods talent and unwavering nerves of steel is simply wishful thinking.

Did we really expect anyone to beat Mike Tyson early on in his career?

How about the Chicago Bulls during Michael Jordan’s Prime?

Sure, we wanted to see a team knock-off the mighty Bulls during the 90s and we rooted for whatever team they happened to be playing against, but did we really expect anyone to beat them on a consistent basis? 

Tiger Woods is the same. 

We can hope for a competitor to come up and challenge him ever now and again.

But expecting a player to step up and consistently dual it out with Woods, I’m sorry to say, is probably wishful thinking.