Jack Nicklaus – Insane Stats

Nish: 0:05

This is a public service broadcast. We had a lot of interest in our little segment that we did about Tiger Woods stats and how we found them absolutely astonishing and we had a lot of comments just about how astonishing they were. But a really, really strong theme that kept coming out during that whole post-Christmas period was, uh, comparing Jack Nicholas’s stats to Tiger Woods. And I have to admit and I’ve got Jim with me and obviously we were both sat there and Chris was here and we were sort of running through some of the tiger stats and I’ve got to hold my hand up to a little bit of recency bias there because you know we grew up tiger woods being the absolute alpha in in this sport and some of the stats that he had were it were incredible and you could see the dominance and names like gary, like Arnold Palmer, like Jack Nicholas they’re there, you know the guys are still around, you know of them, but it’s enough in the past where you don’t really it’s a different era, you know you’re not really counting that towards your perception of golf and I suppose then there’s all this media influence as well in how influential Tiger Woods was.

Nish: 1:26

Now I think, impact wise, nobody beats Tiger for me for what he’s done to this sport and how he’s sent it to Spheric, and the fact that we’re even talking about this kind of stuff. It is a testament to him. But the the public service we wanted to do today. So me and Jim are going to run through some frankly insane stats about Jack Nicklaus. I’m so glad I’ve done this, and it’s been about three, four days of just trawling through the internet for different reasons, but landing upon Jack Nicklaus’ stats as well and finding out some of the stuff that he achieved in the game. It was truly eye-opening and I saw a quote from it was Gary Player, and he’s a guy I follow on Instagram.

Jim: 2:28

You know Gary Player is Donny Jim he was the first non-American to win the US Masters, wasn’t he?

Nish: 2:33

there you go. Yeah, I mean absolute legend of the game, obviously at a time when Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus are ripping it up. So you’ve got to try and find your little niche in there somehow. And I follow him on Instagram and I kind of, you know, really respect his opinion on golf as well. Like he’s really forthright Classics Africa. Just says it as it is.

Nish: 2:56

But he had a quote and it’s kind of it just touched the nerve of me a little bit, I suppose Because he said, obviously, having grown up in that era with Jack Nicklaus, he said Jack was unbelievable and he was head and shoulders above everybody in our era but nobody dominated the game like Tiger Woods has dominated it now. And because I was embroiled in finding all of these stats and things about Jack, I was like I don’t understand how he’s saying that, having played against Jack Nicklaus, it didn’t sort of ring true when I ran through some of his statistics and I thought it would be really great to share that actually for a bit of balance. I mean, I don’t want to, I don’t want to dwell too much on a whole like it’s jack versus tiger. I mean I’ve said in the comments on our instagram post about tiger woods that look, there’s definitely room in this game for two, three, four, five absolute legends. Because, number one, this game’s been going for hundreds of years. Um, yes, we don’t have statistics from that, but and it will carry on. You know, there’s so much interest in this game at the minute, primarily because of tiger woods, but there’s so much interest in this game it’s just going to keep growing and growing and growing and records are there to be broken, so there’s going to be somebody else coming up. There’s room for all of them.

Nish: 4:20

But it’s a great healthy debate. I mean, what’s been fascinating is it’s never really got nasty. No one’s ever, you know, really insulted anybody or anything like that. It’s just you’ve got an opinion, you back up your opinion. You know some people are very gracious and go yeah, fair point, I understand it. Uh, people don’t. But you know, you’ll see, you’re not there to win any arguments. We don’t really want to do a whole lot oh, who’s better? And ultimately we’re going to score everyone and say at the end of today that we think subjective, isn’t it?

Jim: 4:48

you know? Everybody’s got their own opinion based on their own experiences of watching and following the game and their own research.

Nish: 4:56

That’s the smallest glass of red wine ever that is this I know it’s port this is my last bit of festive port. It is yeah, or you’ve just grown over Christmas. I mean to be honest, mate, I have eaten my body weight in chocolate this Christmas.

Jim: 5:12

You’re not the only one. The diet starts tomorrow.

Nish: 5:16

I mean, I keep saying that, what are we on now? We’re on the 5th of January, so I’ve got away with it for four days.

Jim: 5:24

I’ll be nil. Yeah, my gym’s got flooded so I can’t go, so I’ll just sit at home and eat chocolate instead.

Nish: 5:31

If you’re going to do it. That’s almost, I think I read again when I was going through the internet just kind of trying to find these stats I heard that you get the same endorphin release from eating chocolate that you do from going to the gym. So that’s basically science has said you can eat chocolate. So don’t, don’t argue, science, mate.

Jim: 5:50

That’s the standard. Don’t argue with statistics either. Come on, you speak to a mathematician here.

Nish: 5:55

Yeah I know what’s the probability?

Nish: 5:58

um, yes, let’s not go there um, so, yeah, so we’re, we’re here to. I’m hoping we will probably educate quite a lot of people about jack nicholas and yeah, like I say, giant in the sport, you know about him. He’s obviously still alive. Uh, you know, and very well, and tigerwood speaks about him in amazing, glowing terms and they both have a great mutual respect for each other. And the headline stat which I’ll just give now is that Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors to Tiger Woods’ 15 and obviously the whole chat with Tiger was he was on such an upward trajectory he’ll smash through that and it didn’t work out and that’s how the game is.

Nish: 6:44

But when you scratch beneath the surface of just that achievement, there is so much more to it and it’s so layered and and also it’s difficult because they only really started collecting all these major statistics that we rely on now from about 1980 and it’s obviously getting more and more detailed. So we’re kind of victims of our born in 1980, so we’re kind of victims of that recency bias and all the stats, and you can’t I mean it could always statistically argue something, can’t you? Um, so let’s delve into it, jim, and I’m gonna set your face to stun because these are stunning facts.

Jim: 7:27

I think I know, I know the headline figure and that’s about it.

Nish: 7:30

So, um, yeah, the 18 and the 15 right. So I mean, what’s that? That’s a 20, it’s 20 better, isn’t he? Is that right, just under.

Jim: 7:40

I suppose you know when you look at the stats and you see how many tournaments that he played, how many majors he played, and yada y, yada yada.

Nish: 7:47

Yes. So I haven’t got any order in this. There’s only three sections I’ve necessarily got and that’s big headline stats I’ve got which were unbelievable. I’ve got one amazing stat about the Open. That’s our Open, the original Open, claret Jug, all that kind of thing, and some about Augusta like august is a mythical course and everybody understands it, but some of the some of his play there was unbelievable. So, um, I’d say no, no particular structure, so it’s just reading what I’ve written down. So we know I don’t measure Nicholas Trump’s anybody, but Jack Nicholas had 55 further top 10 made finishes All right, with 19 of them second place, sorry. So he had. So he won 18 majors. Separate to that, he finished in the top 10 55 times and then, separate to that, 19 times he was in second place oh yeah it’s insane, absolutely insane how many majors did he play?

Nish: 9:03

sorry, just I don’t actually know. I couldn’t find how many majors he played. Play. I don’t actually know I couldn’t find how many majors he played in, but I’ve got another one here actually about the number of majors here From the age of 22 to 58. So what is that? That’s 36 years, right? He never missed a major. 36 years he didn’t miss a major, like four majors in a year. Didn’t miss one. No injuries, nothing, just 36 straight years he played major competitions. That’s mind-blowing, I mean.

Nish: 9:40

I suppose now I mean you can’t say that there’s more repetitions. I know the players play more, I get that, and I suppose now I mean you can’t say that there’s more repetition. I know the players play more, I get that, yeah, and I suppose there’s more like, but they also they access now more biomedical science and they can get swings that are supposed to be low impact on their body, all that kind of thing. But there’s, you know, tiger Woods has had obviously plenty of very famous injuries, but players, you know, do when they’re sort of suffering fatigue. I mean he’s just 36 years, from the age of 22, just kept playing every single major. Now then there was another thing that I read where it was like they compared them up to the ages of 48, because they said Tiger Woods’ prime was up to the age of 48. I think that was when he last won the Masters. So they took it up to that age. Up to that age. Up to that age, jack Nicklaus, when he was playing a major, finished first, second or third, 36% of the time, which again is just Blimey. Like a third of the time he’s going to be in the top three. Not just that, I’m in the top ten already. Top three, I mean that’s full-on dominance. That Added on to that, so that’s the top three. So he’s going to finish 36% of the time in the top three, the top five, which is still pretty mega.

Nish: 10:58

Over that, up to the age of 48, at majors he was going to finish in the top five. He finished in the top five, 53.8% of top five, like he was just unbeatable. Who’s like? His big thing was close matches. He’d win close matches on the last round, all that kind of thing. I mean the mentality that you’ve got to go and have to win close matches at that kind of rate. That is absolutely unbelievable. There’s another one here about the majors. So he’s obviously done this big run. He’s done 36 years of never, never missing one. And he went 15 years without missing a cut in a major. So he’s playing all four rounds in all four majors for 15 consecutive years. I don’t have a comparison so I don’t know if anybody else has got anything near it.

Jim: 11:59

Well, I think the main comparison really, I suppose as part of this podcast, is in relation to what was Tiger Woods’ record.

Nish: 12:08

What was his record? I don’t think that’s come out anywhere of how many I know he had 142 consecutive weeks or tournaments. I think it was where he hadn’t missed a cup. Now what does that equate? Let’s say, obviously that’s not all majors, is it? But I think it’s 142 consecutive rounds, he hadn’t missed a cup. I don’t know, I’m guessing, because this only tells us about the majors and 15 years of majors. Maybe there were some tournaments in between. Jack did, but I mean from both of them. That is just their behemoths of the game there. That’s just if you’re playing them. That is just consistency. Consistency, because it’s like, how do you beat them, madness?

Jim: 12:54

Can you imagine he’s in the last round, pairing with Greg Norman or Rotary?

Nish: 12:59

Faldo didn’t did Greg Norman, didn’t he? I was going to say Faldo, faldo did Greg Norman. I remember watching that. I was glued to the TV for that what was that?

Jim: 13:07

96, 96, it was even my mum watches the masters. The final round anyway, um, and certainly getting down to the you know the latter stages of that, of that round, and it was just absolutely thrilling tv. I was just recounting it just as we were talking, thinking, oh, I do remember that you know that competitive element, and was it? Was he? Six shots in the lead? Yeah, I had a foul there. He was second, and then there was an 11 shot swing and he lost but and found the one by five and I don’t know where norman finished absolute collapse on it, that I mean, it was like that was the worst capitulation, I think.

Nish: 13:45

But that was my vivid, real memory of watching golf and I wouldn’t couldn’t even tell you why I necessarily decided to tune into that particular year, like but 96, yeah, it was so vivid like he had his hat on, didn’t he? And yeah, it was just like faldo was just on a mission. I know we digressed, but what a moment that was absolutely um, what time of year is augusta is? Is it like around May time, may June, something like that? I can’t remember slightly earlier, isn’t it? Is it?

Nish: 14:17

April April should have been revising for exams really at that point in 1996, late night.

Jim: 14:25

I was just doing my AS levels, so it didn’t really matter, right?

Nish: 14:28

okay, so I’m going to give you this other one here. So highest levels, so it didn’t really matter, Right, okay, so I’m going to give you this other one here. So for Jack, they did a thing where the first ever time he finished in the top 10 in a PGA Tour tournament so the last time he finished in the top 10, how many years, would you guess that gap was the first time he ever finished in the top 10 and the first time he ever finished in the top 10 and the last time he ever finished in the top 10.

Nish: 14:56

Chuck a number out at me.

Jim: 14:59

So I’m going to say that he I don’t know how old he was when he won his first major, probably 25?.

Nish: 15:07

Yeah, probably hovering around about that, yeah 25.

Jim: 15:14

I’m going to go late 40s, so I reckon 25 years, go 25 years 25.

Nish: 15:20

Okay, so Tiger Woods was 22 years, okay, from his first ever top 10 to his last ever top 10. I mean, so he’s still going for change, but that was the last time. Jack nicholas was 38 years. That, I mean, that’s longevity defined, isn’t it? 38 years, wow, finishing in the top 10. So he’s probably obviously finishing the top 10 a bit earlier. I think he did it just as he was amateur, I think, and then it went into, then going pro, but yeah, his first ever tour event finishing the top ten to last 38 years.

Jim: 16:00

I’m sorry, I thought we were talking majors there, no no, yeah, sorry, I mean 38 years.

Nish: 16:03

I mean, that’s you know.

Jim: 16:05

Otherwise I would have gone longer, obviously.

Nish: 16:06

Yeah, he’s nearly as old as I am, right, what else? So we got now here. Here we go. In the 1970s. That whole decade he played all 40 major tournaments and he finished in the top 10 in 35 of them. So we were talking about Tiger Woods’ 12 year period of dominance and, like this huge body of work that he’s put together, I mean top 10. 35 out of 40 majors that’s mad, absolutely mad. And this is another one here. They had so in a little bit of Tiger versus Jack sort of thing, and a lot of people will then shove this stat out little bit of tiger versus jack sort of thing. A lot of people will then shove this stat out. So jack played in, has played in 586 pga tour events, of which he’s won 73. So that’s a 12 and a half percent win rate. Okay, tiger woods play yeah really good.

Jim: 17:06

Yeah, I’m gonna say you you win one tournament in every eight that you play.

Nish: 17:09

Wow, amazing Tiger Woods. This actually does put Tigers into even more perspective. He played 350, or he has played so far 358 PGA Tour events, winning 82 of them. His win percentage is 23%. Pga Tour events Insane, absolutely insane. That’s testament to both of them. One’s done it over that period of time and the other one’s just gone. You know, this is where my candle burns and I’m going to absolutely blitz everyone in that period, one in four tournaments I’m going to win. So jack. And this again, it’s a bit of a testament and a nod sort of thing to Tiger Woods. Jack ended the season with a scoring average of below 70 for a round on three occasions in his career. So pretty, you know that’s solid. Well, not solid.

Jim: 18:05

I was going to say I think it’s pretty incredible compared to watching me play last week.

Nish: 18:09

I’ll tell you something. You become a bit numb to superhuman statistics. You go three, hurry. He’s been playing for 50 years. You kind of go three. Three times in his whole career he’s gone an average below 70. That’s insane. That’s unbelievable Average. Tiger Woods has done that on 17 occasions. His scoring average has been below 70. Which is just. I mean, I’ve not even considered that stat before.

Jim: 18:43

That’s amazing horses are easier now nowadays, aren’t they? And I think Jack’s got something to do with that as well. But bearing in mind, he’s made a made an absolute fortune of building golf courses, so you probably feel sorry for them in the fact that he’s. That, you know he’s, he considers himself the goat and he’s like oh you plebs, I’ll make the course easy for you guys absolutely.

Nish: 19:03

Yeah, yeah, I’ll put the bunkers at 180 yards. You could easily out drive that um right. So this this is a bit of a longer one, but the PGA Tour only really started recording full on stats from about 1980 for the very first time, and hence why there’s less available about Jack, so you don’t know about his putting and things like that.

Nish: 19:28

Anecdotally, I read somewhere I think it was Gary player actually he just always said that, you know, jack didn’t have the most perfect swing, he didn’t have the most perfect technique, but what he could do was play badly, really well. So he would adapt his swing, he would steer clear of danger and he he very much issued course management. That was his style, style of play. So it was like get me on the green safely, keep it in the short stuff, get me on the green safely and then the putting is where I’m going to do it. And he was known as an absolute demon putter. So it’s a shame we can’t get his stats. I mean, somebody probably does have them somewhere and if they do, they can feel free to. I’ve never said this before, but drop them in the comments. I’ve never got a chance to say that I’ve got a chance to say it now.

Jim: 20:18

It’s little things in life, isn’t it? It brings you so much joy. Who would have thought a year ago?

Nish: 20:23

That’s all you do it for Like and subscribe. So that was the first time they did it. Jack Nicklaus was 40 years old by um, so that was the first time they did it. Now, jack, jack Nicklaus was 40 years old by then, so he, you would consider, potentially he’s past his prime. What?

Jim: 20:37

He’s just coming into his own there, I think, oh yeah, the way he’s going.

Nish: 20:43

But um, certainly, physically anyway, his prowess would be dipping at that point, especially before we got into full on sports, science and everything, um. So in that year, um, he ranked um 10th for driving distance, with an average of 269 yards, which is pretty impressive, and he ranked 13th on driving accuracy. Okay, now, that gave him a combined score of 23. Those are the two things added together. That is still the finest recorded season of driving all round on the pga tour, a combination of distance and accuracy. Still, that was in 1980 when they first started recording this stuff. So what was it with previous to that? And like nobody’s ever come close to it. But that just I just couldn’t believe it. I was like hang on a minute. And again, I suppose we’re used to not recently, but maybe media biased we see the highlights, real, don’t we? With the footage, the coverage is on. When you see people, rory pumping it 350 yards right down the fairway, you don’t necessarily see it when he’s gone way right or, you know, unless it’s a really massive thing like speed on Robert Dale, you know that kind of thing. It’s just like you can’t get it. You just can’t understand how this 40 year old guy just goes yeah, whatever, best driver in the field, and that record still stands to today. Which is now what, 45 years later? Absolute madness. So those are the general ones.

Nish: 22:28

Now I will give you. I’ll give you the open statistic, I think. First, the reason I’m going to do that is because Some of the Masters ones they’re pretty, pretty epic, but there’s only one for the open, so I’ll sandwich the Masters with the others. So for the open, for finishing consistently Jack Nicklaus, the open, so I’ll sandwich the masters with the others. So for the open, for finishing consistently, jack Nicklaus finished in the top six for 14 consecutive years at the open, 14 consecutive years. Now, the open is the toughest test of your golf. You’re playing in some of the most rugged terrain ever, some of the most, you know, naturally, tough conditions in the british summer in our summer, which is horrific.

Nish: 23:19

Um, you’re getting wind, you get rain if you’re in scotland you might get midges, like just there’s. You’re battling everything. Um, you know, you’re also battling people who are going to scoff at you if you eat your sandwiches in the incorrect manner and all that kind of stuff. This guy’s come over and 14 consecutive years he’s finished in the top 6. The next closest consecutive runs in the top 6 is 3 3. So the next closest number of consecutive runs in the top six is three Three. It’s nearly five times the number of them. No one’s going to touch that record Ever. They’re just never going to do it.

Nish: 24:01

He’s 14 years in the Open. That’s madness, mind-blowing. It was mate, absolutely mind-blowing. So that was an Open stat. Right now we get into the Masters. I mean, this is this guy’s domain. So out of his 18 majors he won six Green Jackets, which just tells you how much he owned that place as a professional in his first five starts. I think he’d played a couple before he turned pro at Augusta, but in his first five starts as a professional at Augusta he won it three times. How do you do that? I finished his winner won it three times.

Jim: 24:53

That was fine people say you know it takes ten years to master. You can’t play on it any other time either, can you, unless you?

Nish: 25:01

Rory McIlroy’s still looking for one. You know three in the first five. He’s like, yeah, whatever, right, great, I’ll do it, he’s had 44 in. Great I’ll do it, he’s had 45 repeated twice, he’s started there 45 times, so he’s won it 6 out of 45 attempts. He’s finished in the top 10 22 times, like half of the time he’s in the top 10. He’s finished in the top five 15 times, and then, apart from his six green jackets, he’s finished second four times. It’s just mad.

Jim: 25:40

You’re most gracious, like Nadal at the French Open, isn’t it?

Nish: 25:44

I mean, that’s the nearest to it, can’t you?

Jim: 25:46

Yeah.

Nish: 25:47

Yeah, rafael Nadal winning. What is it?

Jim: 25:48

13 he won 14 times or something. Yeah, Roland Garros, wow.

Nish: 25:53

The number is just stunning, absolutely stunning. And then this, like this, capped it off for me. So this is my last stat now and I was like what am I going to end with? To say how good he was, and then how good he was at Augusta. So we see now players finishing regularly at 10, 12. It’d be Tiger Woods when it was 12, 13 or whatever. So they’re knocking in birdies left, right and centre. Jack Nicklaus still holds the record for the most birdies around Augusta. Now, ok, obviously he’s played 45 times and done very well 45 times, but he’s got 506 birdies in that time. So each tournament he’s averaging more than 10 birdies. Take that across the four rounds 2.5 birdies a round. He’s averaging insane.

Jim: 26:46

I don’t know what it feels like because I’ve never had one, so it’s never mind 500. Oh, you didn’t do the dance in you last week.

Nish: 26:55

Did I get a birdie? No, that was short.

Jim: 27:01

You had a provisional, didn’t?

Nish: 27:02

you. Oh yeah, I had a provisional, I couldn’t claim it. And then he’s also still got the most eagles at that tournament with 24 on that course as well on that course like, and he didn’t have the equipment advantage yeah, of course players do now, where they can take a lot of the stuff out of it. You know he’s just relying on his accuracy distance that he’s got anyway. And then and then placement, and then putting on that course is what everyone says is impossible.

Nish: 27:32

So yeah, I mean, that’s me done. For stats, honestly, I know there’s not that many there and particularly the really detailed minutiae ones you can get with Tiger Woods, but those headline stats and win numbers and percentages and things like that, I was like man, I was gobsmacked, absolutely gobsmacked, and I messaged Chris because you know you were coming on today. They couldn’t make it today, sadly, but I was like some of these Jack Nicklaus stats are insane, absolutely.

Jim: 28:07

Absolutely insane. The second place is one for me. I mean, it was just truly incredible. I had no idea 19 second places, goodness gracious 19 second places. The longevity is just incredible. I think you know the physical aspect to it is one thing, but it’s the mental aspect and once you’ve done it 18, you know however many times you’re thinking do you need to do it anymore? But the passion for it there yeah, motivation to keep going.

Nish: 28:36

Um, I think the other thing you sort of um, you forget, I mean, I know, like players, obviously now they travel a little bit more because they’re around the world a little bit more. But look, they’re travelling in private jets and they’re travelling with jets and they’re travelling with a physical conditioning team and everything is let’s get you in your height of your physical condition, and we’ve got so much science behind us now, in those days there would have been something, but it would be very rudimentary compared to what we’ve got so much science behind us now. You know, in those days there would have been something, but it would be very rudimentary compared to what we’ve got now. You know it had been going on commercial flights probably, um so, and there probably wouldn’t have been as much research around jet lag and things like that. So he’s probably just getting over, doesn’t know. I feel terrible, but I’m just gonna go out and play. I’m just pulverizing everybody consistently for 40 years. You know just, uh, it was.

Nish: 29:32

I did not expect and I will, I will have said it at the start I’ll hold my hand up to this. Um, I, a massive, massive tiger woods fan, like I will, I will back him against all the haters as much as I can, and I don’t generally like the whole getting into the debate about who’s better, who’s not. It’s difficult to compare. However, I was not expecting to read the stats and go I mean, is it really even close between the two of them? You know, because those numbers some of them, are crushing, like absolutely crushing. There’s extenuating circumstances for all of them, both ways. We don’t know what the workload on Jack was in between majors, do we?

Jim: 30:27

No, no, no, there are different eras, and I think that’s why it is very difficult to compare. Everybody’s going to have an opinion on it. I don’t think you know. I do particularly. They were just both legends of the sport, and why do you have to have one GOAT? Why can’t you have just a number of legends, as you said earlier on?

Nish: 30:46

A field full of GO Jim, a field full of goats. But I think where we’re coming from is we’re not staunch Tiger Woods defenders and fans and whatever. We’re not Jack Nicklaus fans. We just like the game of golf and you know, you know maths and statistics and things like that.

Jim: 31:07

You can see from those numbers like wow, they’re amazing and you know, you think of the, the win percentages at something you know 12 and a half percent versus 23 percent. You know and these. But if you, if you know the sport, then you think how incredible that is, given the complexity and the number of different elements to the game, whereas if you’re playing tennis I don’t know why I always use tennis as an analogy or football teams or something like that the win ratio is usually a lot higher, for the best of the best.

Nish: 31:38

That’s because you support Everton. I support Aston Villa, mate. So we just keep falling out of it, don’t we? What other is that? As I was saying that, it just occurred to me why you do bring up tennis.

Nish: 31:49

It might not be this reason maybe I’m putting words in your mouth here, but tennis is also a solo sport. You’ve got no one else to blame. You know you’re hitting that ball. It’s your own physical conditioning. It’s your battle against man on man, woman on woman, person on person against that other player. Golf is similar isn’t it?

Jim: 32:08

Four majors a year, plus the tour as well. So I think they’re similar in that respect.

Nish: 32:13

Of course they are, yeah.

Jim: 32:15

So you can compare them closer than quite a lot of other sports, particularly those of the highest profile, and those two are the pinnacle really.

Nish: 32:23

These debates rage in tennis, don’t they all the time?

Jim: 32:26

Oh yeah, djokovic, Federer, nadal, jimmy Connors, whoever you know. It’s beyond board Again, you know, but I think it was just great over the years to see the I mean, it’s always that fascinating debate. If they were both in the prime and they played the Masters together, who would win? Well, you know, it depends on the conditions you can get it. You know it depends on the conditions you can get it. You know there’s a lot of good fortune as well. You need luck in in in golf. I mean, I suppose a lot of people say, well, you make your own look, but um, but there is.

Nish: 32:55

There’s a big element of that, isn’t there. You know the role of the ball, how it’s all um how you’re competitive, finding it as well. That’s the other thing yeah, of course yeah, I mean, there’s no debate. To be honest, mate, in my mind about tennis, the GOAT is very easy. I think as soon as I say it you’ll be like ah, how have I missed it?

Jim: 33:15

Andy Murray.

Nish: 33:16

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oof, he wishes For playing a lot of his career in a wig. Andre Agassi, I mean, come on, and I didn’t know. That game is hard enough as it is than wearing a full-on wig while you’re trying to play Grand Slam tennis. Well done, andre. Have you read his autobiography, andre Agassi?

Jim: 33:39

No, no I haven’t.

Nish: 33:40

Well worth a read. Well worth a read. It’s really good.

Nish: 33:45

Yeah, a little anecdote from that was his dad used to restring rackets to that need to be colors, really, really well, please, whenever he’s in Vegas he would him. Comes in skin is records restring, so on. Drags used to be the rudder to deliver the records. A little things like to be commas my hero seems like it brash and all this kinda stuff. He said, um, one day jimmy was like when he was, it was always a diner that he’d go and drop the rackets off to. He was always, he’d always hold in court. You know four or five people around him and andre came to like andrex, because he dropped the rackets off and he must have said something to him or I don’t know, whatever it was. And so and jimmy connors humiliated him in front of all of his friends.

Nish: 34:27

I can see that was the day I made it my absolute mission. One day I’m going to beat this guy on an actual tennis court. He said when it happened. I tried to remind him of that day and he had no clue that he’d said it. That was brilliant. What a great anecdote that was. There’s your motivation.

Jim: 34:46

That’s what you need, don’t you know? Some people are motivated by money, some people are motivated by the the thrill of winning, and others by somebody being rude to them so we’ve been rude to them absolutely. But so always be nice to everybody people I mean, that’s just a good life oh actually, no, you can’t be nasty, because then then you might create champions, but just make sure you take a percentage of the winnings.

Nish: 35:07

Take a percentage of the winnings. I like it ever, always thinking of the angle a jim. I love it always thinking of the money and because I don’t have any, yeah, I don’t know you and me, both you and me both.

Nish: 35:20

Um, well, jim, thank you. Thank you for that. Um, it was honestly, it was truly eye opening that, uh, that episode like did not, did not understand what the fuss was all about a little bit. Yeah, I certainly know the fuss now. Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, obviously, people can make their own minds up about where they fall on that debate. If they want to have that, I get it For me. You know, just two giants of the game. I think there’s a lot of stats that the two of them would love to have off each other. Just two giants of the game. I think there’s a lot of stats that the two of them would love to have off each other, definitely, and I think there’s a lot of stats in there that they both hold. I think they’ve got to stand for a long, long long time, but the player that does come along and beat them, that’s going to be something worth watching, isn’t it?

Jim: 36:08

Nishant Agarwal.

Nish: 36:10

I think I’m past my prime.

Jim: 36:11

No, it’s Chris, actually Sorry, he’s going to. It’s Chris. Yeah, Sorry, Chris.

Nish: 36:14

Now he’s got his coach yeah.

Jim: 36:17

Is that where he is today? He’s plotting world domination.

Nish: 36:20

He was like I don’t want to be sitting, sitting, wasting half an hour of my time talking like that.

Jim: 36:26

Nicholas. He’s in the putting green In the snow in his garden.

Nish: 36:30

He’s writing his own page in history somewhere. Yeah, actually he can’t even do it. There’s nothing open. It’s a rarity, but a lot of things are closed. Snowing in the UK Some of the American viewers and listeners are going to be like, yeah, of course it’s wintertime, but we don’t get snow much here now, do we?

Jim: 36:49

We don’t know when we do. We know about it because the whole country grinds to a standstill. It’s bad in some parts. I just live in a city centre so it never really affects me. What’s all the fuss about? I still walk to Tesco’s or the pub.

Nish: 37:00

That’s it. Mild frost this morning is how I would have described it. But there you go, um. But yeah, I think you know he is. I didn’t think about that. Maybe I’ll message him in a minute and just say you know, happy practicing Chris uh, coach says I’m not allowed to hang around with you anymore.

Nish: 37:17

Yeah, you’re a distraction actually, yeah, I mean, if I get my own coach, what happens then? You know about all they’re going to instruct, to take these challenges seriously. Then they’re like oh no, don’t, don’t, don’t give him honor if to t your first.

Jim: 37:32

If he’s not got it, you know we’ll make him do it first he’s got me in a car so I will be able to be bribed and not enough kind of for her for fixing the challenges yeah, well your challenges, not anything else you’re gonna be there, mate oh well, you know I’m finance, so the bribery act is something that I take particular attention to, and we never do anything immoral.

Nish: 37:54

What’s a bribe? And on that bombshell, yeah, thanks, mate, I really appreciate it.

Jim: 38:02

No, thank you, it was really interesting.

Nish: 38:04

Yeah, listening to me ramble on about Jack. But, yeah, really interesting, for, yeah, listening to me ramble on about jack, but, yeah, what a phenomenal man. And, uh, I think we ought to raise a glass of us. But long may he continue, because it allows us to have good, positive chats about it and hopefully everybody can spell his surname right.

Jim: 38:20

I’ve got a beamer bonnet, but people spell my surname wrong, so niclaus thanks, mate, uh thank you next time on an official episode of the top 100 in 10 golf podcast.

Nish: 38:33

Until then, adios.