- Michael Jordan praised Tiger Woods for helping golf evolve as well as being a sport for “white kids” only.
Speaking to 2017 Cigar Aficionado, Jordan was arguing over who Woods was and Jack Nicklaus was the greatest golfer of all time.
- “Obviously Jack won more during the time he played,” he said. “But Tiger has evolved [golf] where he crossed many different borders, where it’s not just the sport of a white boy. “
- Jordan and Woods enjoyed a friendship dating back to the mid-90s, after Woods had signed an agreement with Nike, which Jordan had been sponsoring since 1984.
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Michael Jordan praised Tiger Woods for evolving golf from a sport for “white kids” only.
Speaking in a recently released interview with Cigar Aficionado from 2017, Jordan was arguing over who Woods was and Jack Nicklaus was the greatest golfer of all time.
“Obviously Jack won more during the time he played,” he said. “But Tiger has evolved [golf] where he crossed many different borders, where it’s not just the sport of a white boy.
“Now, does this make him the biggest? Does that mean he’s less than Jack? I think [the sentiment] it’s unfair “.
Jordan added that comparing Woods and Nicklaus is like confronting Bill Russell, who has won 11 NBA championships during his career with the Boston Celtics in the 1950s and 1960s.
“I have won 6 championships, Bill Russell has won 11,” said Jordan. “Does this make Bill Russell better than me or does it make me better than him? No, because we played in different eras.
“So when you try to equate who is the greatest of all time, it’s an unfair parallel. It’s an unfair choice. I think it’s those demons that obviously Tiger has had to live with and will be challenged, he will be evaluated on that but for me I think they are both fantastic. I would never say that one is bigger than the other. “
Jordan and Woods enjoyed a friendship dating back to the mid-90s, after Woods had signed an agreement with Nike, which Jordan had been sponsoring since 1984.
“We can count on so many different levels,” said Woods after he and Jordan played together in the Wachovia tournament, now the Wells Fargo tournament, according to Golf.com. “Not too many people went through the same things we had to go through.”
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