Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time, but it wasn’t a steady trajectory into greatness for the 15-time major winner.
He burst onto the scene in the 90s, becoming the youngest-ever Masters winner, and went on to win everything all the time. Woods held all four majors at the same time and was world number one for 281 straight weeks in the early 2000s.
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This dominance came to an abrupt end in 2008. Injuries and off-course controversies forced Woods to step away from the sport, and he came back as a shell of himself. He split with his caddie and didn’t win a major championship for 11 years.
Then, he won the 2019 Masters, becoming perhaps the most popular winner of a Green Jacket ever. After years of rebuilding his body and his relationship with the golfing world, he’d finally climbed back to golf’s summit. Now, Woods is nearly universally loved.
But NBA legend Charles Barkley slammed Woods in 2022, as he said there was something about the golfing legend that never sat right with him.
Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Charles Barkley named the key difference between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson
Woods and six-time major winner Phil Mickelson shared a heated rivalry that spanned two decades. Mickelson was on the receiving end of Woods’ dominance for years before turning the tables and stacking major victories in the 2010s.
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They’ve long been compared, and while Woods’ peak was far greater, Mickelson beat Woods with his longevity. In 2021, he became the oldest ever major championship winner, winning the PGA Championship at 53 years old.
And Barkley had a theory as to why his career stood the test of time, while Woods’ didn’t. In a biography of Mickelson called “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar”, Barkley was quoted:
“One of the reasons Phil has lasted so long is because he’s had a joyful life. Tiger won a bunch of tournaments, but there wasn’t much joy in it.
“Sure, Tiger is a better golfer. You’re just in awe of his talent. But it’s not fun to be around him. Everyone in his world is uptight and s–t, afraid to say or do the wrong thing.
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“Tiger himself has always acted like he’s under siege. Gimme a f—–g break — you’re just a golfer, dude. When you’re with Phil, you’re guaranteed to have fun. He makes people feel good. Everyone around him is always smiling. That’s a huge difference, man.”
Why Charles Barkley is no longer friends with Tiger Woods
Barkley was once friends with Woods, and the pair played together frequently. But according to the former NBA MVP, Woods’ singular drive to become the greatest ever cost them their friendship.
He said in 2014, “We’re not friends anymore. Well, I think that when you’re as great as he has been, and this probably is a negative at some point, like he was so consumed with being the greatest golfer ever, he wasn’t a very sociable guy.
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“Even when he was a friend of mine, he wasn’t a very sociable guy. He just had a one-track mind. He just wanted to break Jack Nicklaus’ record.”
This goes some way to explaining Barkley’s comments on Mickelson. Woods was too laser-focused on golf to maintain friendships away from the course, whereas Mickelson truly values those relationships. And it’s helped Mickelson on the course in the long run!
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