"Tiger Woods just would finish them off" - Golf insider says the 49-YO put Phil Mickelson & other competition "in a nap"

Tiger Woods enjoyed one of the PGA's most dominant runs. He was the number one ranked golfer for over 683 weeks, showing that he was unmatched at that time. Woods' dominance in the golf world was recently a hot topic on the Fore Play Podcast. There was debate over whether Woods was that good or if the other golfers were simply bad.

In response to these speculations, Samuel Riggs asserted on the Podcast that there were many great golfers at that time. Despite Woods' dominance, golfers such as Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh enjoyed a successful run. Mickelson went on to win 43 PGA Tour events and was widely regarded as one of the greats. Thus, the golfers of the time were likewise very good; but Woods was particularly good.

Riggs also revealed how Tiger Woods' game used to overshadow and put other golfers to sleep. He stated:

"Thing was, dude, Tiger put all of them like in a nap. He just would finish them off so consistently. But you look like Bill was out there before Tiger by a couple of years, and Phil still has six Major championships, has won three of the four. He's got 46 or something, PGA Tour wins. As good as Rory is, he's under 30 I believe PGA Tour wins still, and like he's unbelievably wins all the time. It feels like Bill still was able to win a ton, and Ernie Els was able to win a bunch of Majors. "

He continued:

"VJ Singh got the number one of the world and won quite a few majors. So it's like there were other guys that were really, really good during that stretch. David Duvall was like number one... This is hotly contested, people are wondering if like Tiger's competition just never like lived up to what that era should have or if Tiger was that dominant."

Tiger Woods has won 82 PGA Tour events despite facing such great opposition. This also included 15 golf Major victories.

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Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods' friendship took a significant turn following the 2016 Ryder Cup

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Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods were archrivals for many years. Although they shared mutual respect, they never had a strong bond but that changed during the 2016 Ryder Cup. That year, Woods was the assistant captain for Team USA, so he spent a lot of time with Mickelson deciding which golfers to pick and which not to.

While talking about it, Mickelson revealed (quoted by Golf.com),

"I think our relationship turned around in 2016 when we worked together for the Ryder Cup. He was an assistant captain... we ended up spending a lot of time on the phone... talking about players, picks, statistics, alternate shot, course setup..."

The six-time Major winner continued:

"Getting an idea to see how prepared he was and how meticulous with each little thing, I had a new respect for him. But when we worked together for a common goal, which was to win the Ryder Cup... I think that was kind of the turning point."

Mickelson and Woods' efforts paid off, as Team USA won the 2016 Ryder Cup.

Edited by Luke Koshi