Fred Couples, Masters champion in 1992 and the oldest player to make the cut in tournament history at 63 last year, revealed his take on who golf’s greatest champion is
Tiger Woods is undoubtedly the best ever to play golf, according to 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples.
Like Couples, Woods is still strutting his stuff on the PGA Tour – albeit nowhere near the level he used to dominate and handpicking events to compete in – comfortable in the knowledge he is widely regarded as his sport’s greatest ever.
Tiger Woods has been dubbed the greatest by former Masters winner Fred Couples (Image: Getty Images)
Following endless on and off-course battles, including back surgery and a 2021 car accident, Woods is due to launch his indoor golf league come 2025. And he continues to act as a pioneer for the sport, despite not playing in as many competitions as he once did with his career slowing down.
Now, despite the many greats that have come before him, fellow star Couples believes none shine as brightly as the enigmatic Woods.
Speaking in 2022, when Woods was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Couples posted to X: “I’m so excited to tune in and see Tiger Woods inducted into the Hall of Fame by his daughter Sam tomorrow – just another accolade for the best I’ve ever seen.“
Woods’ achievements speak for themselves – his 15 major wins, a tally bested only by another icon of the sport, Jack Nicklaus, often sees Couples’ opinion as a very popular take.
Nicklaus is the most notable opposing party when such a debate is had about golf’s greatest, given his 18 majors, and the two trade blows when statistics are concerned.
Aside from the aforementioned wins, Nicklaus’ performances in major tournaments outshine Woods’. He recorded 55 top-10 finishes aside from his 18 victories, and was runner-up in 19 of those.
Couples has declared Woods as golf’s greatest ( Image: David Cannon/Getty Images)
In fact, during the 1970s, Nicklaus was so dominant that in all 40 of the major tournaments he contested, he finished in the top 10 in all but five of them.
Woods, on the other hand, has only registered 26 further top-10 finishes and just seven second or tied second-place results. The 48-year-old gets an edge in terms of tour wins, however.
His 82 PGA Tour successes are tied for first all-time and beat out Nicklaus by nine, but his win percentage adds a certain potency to this accolade. Nicklaus played a staggering 584 times on tour, with a 12.5 strike rate – Woods, however, has played 378 to date, with a win percentage of 21.7.
The debate has raged on for some time, with various statistics and stylistic points used to back up claims, but one current superstar agrees with Couples.
Rory McIlroy and Woods have recently partnered on the upcoming TGL indoor league ( Image: Getty Images)
“He has been the greatest that I’ve ever seen,” said four-time major winner and one of Europe’s most successful golfers, Rory McIlroy, in 2017 after Woods left the tour to deal with a back injury.
“I didn’t see Jack Nicklaus play. I know he has a better record, but I don’t know if he played better golf. I don’t think there’s been a single figure who’s done more in terms of bringing different groups into the game – different ethnicities and different age groups. He made golf cool when it really needed an injection of something.“
McIlroy, who partnered with Woods to launch the upcoming TGL indoor league, also revealed earlier this year his iconic colleague was once one of his 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood idols.
“I always say this, and it sounds cliche, but I don’t take it for granted that I can wake up every day and try to live out my 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood dream. One of my 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥hood dreams was to meet Tiger Woods, but not only that but to compete against him and to, you know, befriend him and become close to him. I still have to remind myself of that a lot.”
