Tiger Woods beat a bunch of stiffs to win most of his majors, says Dan Jenkins

Tiger Woods may be toning his typing fingers to bang out another Players Tribune rebuttal to his favorite critic after Dan Jenkins said ahead of the PGA Tour’s upcoming mini-Texas swing that Woods earned many of his 14 major championships against a bunch of ciphers.

“There’s much more talent at the top (and the bottom) than there was during Tiger’s peak years. Tiger beat a lot of nobodies to win most of his majors,” Hall of Fame sportswriter Jenkins told the Star-Telegram about the state of competition on tour during Woods’ heyday and now. “Yeah, there was Phil [Mickelson] and [Ernie] Els around, in and out, but go back and look who was second to him in those majors and tell me where they are now.”

Fighting words from the guy who penned a relatively unfunny and otherwise unnoticed parody of Woods in Golf Digest in November? Will Tiger be moved to reignite the feud with Jenkins that he sparked when he responded publicly on Derek Jeter’s player-friendly website to the satirical interview?

We’re guessing (and hoping) Woods, who has fixed his short game only to have his wobbly tee shots let him down, has enough on his to-do list without engaging in another war of words with his antagonist. So we took a look at the “nobodies” who came in second to Woods over the years and will have to take issue with Jenkins’ characterization of most of them.

We’ll give Jenkins Bob May, Chris DiMarco, Woody Austin, and even Shaun Micheel, but it’s not as if Tiger beat a bunch of stiffs, as this roster of “where are they now” runners-up to Woods in his 14 major victories can attest:

1997 Masters

Tom Kite — 19 PGA Tour wins, 1 major victory (1992 US Open)

1999 PGA Championship

Sergio Garcia — 8 PGA Tour wins, 11 European Tour victories (no majors, of course, but the former El Nino has six more PGA Tour Ws than Rickie Fowler and five more than Masters champ Jordan Spieth)

2000 U.S. Open

Ernie Els — 4 majors, 19 PGA Tour and 28 Euro Tour wins

Miguel Angel Jimenez -- 21 European Tour Ws, and he has that whole “most interesting man in golf” thing going for him

2000 British Open

Els

Thomas Bjorn — 15 Euro Tour wins

2000 PGA

Bob May — 3 PGA Tour second-place finishes

2001 Masters

David Duval — 1 major, 13 overall PGA Tour wins, former world No. 1, and he’s on the TV screen in your living room for almost every tourney as a Golf Channel analyst

2002 Masters

Retief Goosen — 2 majors, 8 overall PGA Tour and 14 Euro Tour wins

2002 U.S. Open

Phil Mickelson — 5 majors, 42 PGA Tour wins.

2005 Masters

Chris DiMarco — 3 PGA Tour wins (as many as Spieth and one more than Fowler)

2005 British Open

Colin Montgomerie — 31 Euro Tour wins, 2 senior majors for Mrs. Doubtfire, a legend in his own mind

2006 British Open

DiMarco

2006 PGA

Shaun Micheel — 1 major (one more than Fowler)

2007 PGA

Woody Austin — 4 PGA Tour wins

2008 U.S. Open

Rocco Mediate — 6 PGA Tour victories and he’ll forever be known as the guy Tiger beat on one leg for what may well be his last major trophy

Oh yeah, Jenkins believes (and he’s no contrarian on this count, since many in the golf community share his opinion) that his ’08 W will, indeed, end up being Woods’ final grand slam title.

“He [Tiger] won’t break Jack’s record, and he’ll be lucky to win another major,” Jenkins said of the 39-year-old Woods.

“Every golfer hits a wall eventually. Tiger has hit his, in more ways than one. He’s lost his game and putting stroke and his head. It happens. And I’ve only seen one player lose it all and come back. That was [Ben] Hogan, who damn near died in the car wreck. He came back and won six more majors. Tiger seems more confused about it than anyone I’ve ever covered. Maybe that’s partly because it came so easy for him in the beginning,” said Jenkins.

“He’s a few months away from turning 40, which means he will only have five good years left to do it. In all of history, only four players have won a major beyond the age of 44,” he said.

Tiger, your rejoinder?

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