Tiger's greatness hailed by past giants

Tiger's greatness hailed by past giants
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

ST ANDREWS (SCOTlLAND), JULY 24: The sun came out. The wind eased. The Old Course's last line of defence -- mother nature -- hoisted the white flag.

The 60-year-old Nicklaus admitted that he cannot see any of the present crop, including two-time US Open champ Els, World number two Duval and Masters champion Vijay Singh, that can mount a regular challenge to Woods.

``He's so far above them that he's making everybody else not look very good,'' said Nicklaus as he bowed out of the Open for probably the last time after having failed to make the cut.

``I enjoyed the challenges of each guy that came along. Watson came along, Trevino came along and Miller and always there was somebody that came along and posed a challenge. Tiger hasn't had that yet, but he will. He hasn't really had any challenges,'' added Nicklaus.

``There's going to be young guys that are going to come along in the next three or four or five years,'' he forecast.

Tom Watson, a five-time winner of the Open, wonders simply what planet Woods is from.

``He is something super natural and the young man displaying golf supernaturally. He has raised the bar to a level that only he can jump. Someone is going to have to use some flubbes ever played the game. He had dreams as a kid. I had dreams as a kid but he is starting to make his dreams come true,'' he added.

Three-time Open champion Nick Faldo could only watch in awe as he saw his record breaking 18-under par victory here ten years ago, being surpassed by Woods.

``The guy is simply in a different league,'' said a generous Faldo.

``All credit to him. He's thrown out all these old myths out the window, that you can't physically train for golf, you can't be strong or you are going to lose your touch,'' he added.

Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 Open champion, stood outside the Royal and Ancient clubhouse to watch Woods on his victory March up the 18th.

``He is the chosen one. He is the best player who has played the game right now and he is only 24. If Jack Nicklaus was in his prime today I don't think he could keep up with Tiger,'' said Calcavecchia. Even Wood's contempories hold him in awe.

Ernie Els, who collected his third second place this year in the Majors, admitted Woods was a world apart from the rest.

``I'm playing a different tournament. I play the regular Tour event and Tiger plays his own event. I don't think I've ever done that in my life before. Even if I really played as good as I could I don't think I could have got to 19-under like Tiger,'' said the South African.

``It is incredible to watch a guy play so much better than the rest of the world,'' added Els.

European Ryder Cup star and joint second with Els, Thomas Bjorn accepts that he is not in the same league as Woods.

``The way he's playing he is a different class. Sometimes somebody will keep up with him because they're playing the best golf of their life. But he's definitely a step ahead of everybody. He's just playing phenomenal golf,'' said Bjorn.

``I think people have to get their act together because I don't think players like Ernie Els, David Duval and Colin Montgomerie are very far off him. I think they just get a bit intimidated by the way he does things because he does it week in and week out,'' added the Dane.

And Sunday was another of those weeks.