ShareThisBy KYLE RINGO and RYAN THORBURN
Scripps Howard News Service
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Ryan Thorburn: Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time, but he'll never win the Masters five times in a row.
Federer already has 11 Grand Slams compared to 12 majors for the 31-year-old Woods. And soon he will be the one in the Nike commercial challenging his friend to catch up. The only thing Tiger has working in his favor when it comes to this friendly trophy challenge - besides the fact that golfers can compete into their 40s while most tennis stars fade by 30 - is that his main rival (Phil Mickelson) is inferior physically and mentally to Federer's main rival (Rafael Nadal).
Woods is usually a solid bet over the field in every major golf championship, but Federer is easy money in the Grand Slam event (Wimbledon) that is contested on grass courts each year. He has won 34 consecutive times at the All England Club and the last 54 matches he has played on grass.
Federer is well on his way to topping Pete Sampras' record seven Wimbledon titles and because Nadal is the "King of Clay," he will always be very motivated to accomplish something the great American never did - winning the French Open.
Woods' goal since he was a child has been to break Jack Nicklaus' record for major wins, which stands at 18. Federer could easily win 10 more Grand Slams in the next five years to bring his total to 21.
Advantage Mr. Federer.
Kyle Ringo: Tiger Woods will win more major championships in his career than tennis star Roger Federer will in his sport.
Both are dominating their respective games. Woods has won 12 majors and is 31 years old. Federer has won 11 Grand Slams and is 25.
This is really a question of simple math. Woods is already ahead in the race, and he's going to have many more opportunities to win major tournaments than will Federer. Golfers last longer than tennis players do.
In the modern era of men's singles tennis, most players lose the ability to compete at a championship level in their early 30s. This isn't 1909 when Arthur W. Gore won Wimbledon at 41 years, 182 days old.
Meanwhile, Woods could still be competing in major tournaments 20 years from now. His skills will surely diminish over time, but we're talking about a guy with a lot of room for erosion here.
Another factor working against Federer is that he's nowhere near as dominant on clay courts and one of the four Grand Slam events each year is played on that surface. Woods has no such problem.
There is already evidence that Federer may be starting to come to the pack a little. Rafael Nadal, the No. 2 ranked player in the world, has beaten Federer in eight of their 13 career matches and has become more competitive against his nemesis on grass.
