He is the greatest champion of all time, so why does he feel the need to grouse about how he could have been better? Tiger Woods will eventually eclipse The Golden Bear's accomplishments on the golf course. Woods has won 50 times in his first ten years as a professional golfer (compared to 73 career wins for Nicklaus), and he's already amassed 11 major victories (seven shy of Nicklaus' professional major record). Now Nicklaus feels the need to qualify his milestone by saying he has attempted to lead a balanced life in deference to trying to win more tournaments. Maybe he's bitter because his career tournament winnings are a fraction of Tiger Woods'. For example, Nicklaus earned $15,000 for his 1962 U.S. Open victory compared to Tiger's $1.4 million for his recent win at the British Open. Thank God that Nicklaus Design has built over 200 courses worldwide (most of them exclusive or very expensive or both), otherwise he'd be in the poorhouse. Arnold Palmer designs expensive courses too, but he is a lovable ambassador for the game of golf with an affable personality. Sometimes The Golden Bear seems more like a mean old Grizzly.
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