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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3904988, member: 289"] When I was growing up, golf had a "Big Three", (I even recall they co-sponsored a syndicated show by that name where they played matches.). [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZxFE-lrXuY'](1) The Big Three - Palmer, Nicklaus, and Player | Skysports Golf Documentary - YouTube[/URL] The US Amateur was still considered a major when Palmer won it in 1954 and Nicklaus won it in 1959 and 1961 and Jack has always considered that he had won 20 majors. Gary won 9 and Arnold 8 by that measure. Here's tennis with 3 Nicklauses in the same generation. It brings up the question: is it equally hard to win a major in both sports? I could think of two differences, both involving control of what your opponent does - or the lack of it. - Tennis is match play. the gold majors are stroke play. In golf, you are competing against the whole field at once, in tennis, one opponent at a time. You don't have to beat anybody but the person in front of you. there may be someone whose style is troublesome for you - but someone else can beat him and then you can beat the somebody else. In golf you can think you have a solid lead but then hear a roar from another part of the course and suddenly you don't - and there was nothing you could have done to prevent that roar. - There's no defense is golf. Tennis is almost like boxing. you keep throwing punches at the other guy and think "see if you can handle this one". Only it's shot that the other player is going to have a hard time returning. They don't let you chose what shot the other fellow is going to have to make in golf. And you don't get to block his shots, (and it would hurt if you did). So maybe winning 20 golf majors is more difficult than winning 20 tennis majors. [/QUOTE]

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