There have been a lot of debates about whether or not Tiger Woods is the best golfer of all time. While many big figures around the world agree on this, surprisingly, NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is not in Woods’ corner. The famous NBA legend appeared in an interview with SportsGrid on Demand on September 12 and discussed the best golfer he has ever known.
Charles Barkley began to answer this question by appreciating Tiger Woods first, stating that he is undoubtedly one of the hardest-working golfers in the industry. Barkley claimed that when he used to call Woods in the morning, the golfer would generally respond by saying he was out practicing and would call him later. The NBA star then went on to claim that, while Woods is the best, Phil Mickelson is the most talented golfer he has ever been around.
According to the SportsGrid on Demand, Barley explained,
“Tiger is the hardest-working golfer I have ever seen. I would call him sometime in the morning, and he was hitting balls, and I would be like I will call you back later. Five hours later, I would call him back, and he was still hitting balls. I was like damn, you should be hitting balls for an hour or two, max! Tiger is the best golfer I have ever seen, but the most talented golfer I have ever been around is Phil. He was incredible.” [H/T: 48:04]
Interestingly, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have always been arch-rivals. When Woods became pro in 1996, Mickelson had already established himself as one of golf’s most prominent figures. The two had completely different game plans: Woods was a percentage playing golfer, whereas Mickelson was a risk taker who thrived on innovation and chaos.
Despite their conflicts during their peak years, Mickelson has frequently praised Woods over the last decade, even calling him the greatest of all time.
Phil Mickelson once claimed Tiger Woods the greatest golfer of all time
While the two golfers were not on the same page early in their careers, they have become great friends in recent years. During a press conference interview, Phil Mickelson praised Tiger Woods, claiming that he is unquestionably the greatest golfer of all time, and Mickelson has witnessed Woods perform feats on the golf course that were never conceived of before.
According to Breitbart, Mickelson stated,
“[Tiger is the] greatest of all time. That’s an easy one for me. I’ve seen him do things with a golf ball that’s never been done; the performance at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach is the single-greatest performance in the history of the game of golf, and possibly all of sports, and he continued to play that way for a number of years.”
Interestingly, Mickelson has won six golf majors in his career, but he has finished second in 11 other majors, most of which were won by Tiger Woods. They even competed in a TV Showdown program called “The Match” with a $9 million prize pool.
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