What they're saying about Tiger now

Editor’s Note: It’s been 10 years since Tiger Woods burst onto the PGA TOUR scene. On the 10th anniversary of Tiger’s debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open, as it was then known, PGATOUR.com begins a series of stories on Tiger Woods’ decade on TOUR covering everything from his debut to what his fellow pros were saying about him then and what they’re saying now to how he’s changed through the years (both personally and professionally) to a statistical breakdown of his career and to what the future holds for the No. 1 player in the world.

Tiger Woods was a 21-year-old phenom when he made his professional debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open, as it was called back in 1996. Thanks to his brilliant amateur career -- he won three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles -- the start of his professional career was met with hype never before seen for a PGA TOUR debut.

Here’s what’s the players were saying back then about Tiger Woods:

“We were down at the Memorial Tournament and had made a game with (Tom) Watson. He said, ‘I asked Tiger to play.’ I said that was fine. I saw Tiger's name was down there and I put my name beside it. I want to watch the young man play. I think obviously he has got a tremendous future. Maybe (Ben) Hogan wanted to watch me for the same reason, I don't know. I want to watch him. I like to see how he is progressing. Very interested in his career. Very interested in what he does. Because I just think he has got such a future.”

Jack Nicklaus, in 1996 on whether he treats players like Tiger with the same respect Hogan showed him.

Jack Nicklaus gives Tiger Woods some advice during the 1996 U.S. Open. (Getty Images)

“He’s done awfully well. I guess the scariest thing is somebody overheard somebody in the locker room saying he hasn't even shot his A-game yet. He's played nothing short of phenomenal at this point. And if he's got an A-game that he hasn't shown yet, then we're probably all in trouble. The expectations that are going to be placed on him are going to be tremendous. I heard (Jack) Nicklaus say he ought to win at least 10 Masters. Yeah, he could. He could win 25 Masters. He could win every Masters he plays the rest of his life. It's unlikely. And if he in fact brings in his A-game and starts winning every week, then I think the rest of us TOUR players will probably have to work a little harder and maybe it will raise the level of our games a little bit.”

Mark Brooks, at the 1996 TOUR Championship on how things had changed since Tiger joined the PGA TOUR.

“Obviously he's played exceptional. He's earned the respect of all the players. And obviously he had great credentials coming out and so forth, but a lot of the players felt that he hadn't proven himself at the PGA TOUR level. He has more than done that in a matter of seven weeks.”

Phil Mickelson, in 1996 on the way Tiger had performed in his first two months on TOUR.

“I said that he’d win 50 tournaments and 12 majors, and I'm sure when I said it several weeks ago people thought I was nuts. I didn't know he was going to win two out of seven events. But I knew from watching him if he played a normal tournament he could win. He's one of the few golfers where he actually could have a mediocre round and still win. Nicklaus used to do that. There's only a couple of players in the modern era that I could honestly say that could have a so-so game and still win the golf tournament. He's got the capability, with his distance and technique, to blow fields away. He hasn't really done it yet, but he will do it when he gets really on where he's on peak performance at his personal best. It's going to be a pretty awesome future. He could be the greatest player there ever was. You have to think of the fields where you're not going to get 20 majors, and he's probably not going to win 60 tournaments, but he could win 50 and 12, which is probably good or better than Nicklaus' record.”

Johnny Miller, in 1996 on whether Tiger’s successes to date had surprised him.

Tom Watson and Tiger Woods at the 1996 U.S. Open. (Getty Images)

“The majority of the players realize that Tiger has been good for the game. He's been good for the PGA TOUR…I think these players saw it coming. They knew Tiger had these qualities. They realized he was going to be a winner on the PGA TOUR; not necessarily did we realize he was going to win so fast and do so well so quickly. But he's a phenomenon in sports. He's kind of it right now, in all of sports, not just golf. He's probably the most special thing that's happened to anything in the whole worldwide of sports included. And I think the players, if anything, would use that as a motivating tool to try to increase their game and keep bringing it up a notch to let everybody know, hey, we've got some other great quality players out here, too. But I don't think there's a lot of animosity amongst the players. I think most players have been pretty receptive towards Tiger.”

Mark O’Meara, in 1996 on what Tiger had done to push other players to lift their game to a new level.

“I think it's great for golf. I don't think golf was starved for something like this to happen, but I think it's great for the game. He's done something that no other player has done, getting off to the start that he's gotten off to. I think he's a great kid. I don't know him a lot, but I've had an opportunity to talk to him a couple of times. You can see by the people that are coming out here to watch and everything that the public really knows about him -- they're really fired up. And it's kind of fun to see. He's making it look awful easy, that's the only thing I can say.”

Steve Stricker, in 1996 on the hoopla surrounding Tiger.

From left to right, Fred Couples, Tiger Woods and Greg Norman during practice for the 1996 Masters. (Getty Images)

“I firmly believe that Tiger may be pushing us -- that's the way I feel. I feel that guys have worked very hard to get where they are in golf. Greg Norman has worked very hard, Freddie (Couples), Ernie Els, everybody has worked extremely hard to get where they are in golf. And so when you have a new person come along who is an obvious can't-miss-superstar, I think guys work that much harder because they don't want to give up what they've achieved, their spot, what they've earned. Nobody wants to get passed over by a new person. It may come to a point where this new person is just so talented you can't help it, it's unavoidable. Until that happens, I think everybody is going to do their utmost to see that they keep moving forward and improve and stay tough.”

Tom Lehman, in 1996 on if Tiger was chasing other players or other players were now chasing Tiger.

“He's a good player, hits the ball a long ways and straight. Who knows what he's going to do in the future? He's already proven he can win. It may be interesting to see what he does next year.”

Vijay Singh, in 1996 on whether he was surprised that Tiger had taken the TOUR by storm so quickly.

“Tiger is a phenom. He won five tournaments in the last six months or so. That guy is a young superstar. He's a phenom. He's letting his clubs do the talking. And, I mean, the guy is awesome. What can I say? He's getting what he deserves. And, I just hope he continues to stay at the level he's at. It's going to be hard just because of all the attention he gets. I think that's the hardest thing he's going to have to deal with. But, hey, you know, if I won as many tournaments and hit it as long as him and was 21, I'd get a lot more attention too.”

Steve Jones, the 1996 winner of the U.S. Open talking before the 1997 Open on the emergence of Tiger.

“I think it was obvious to all that witnessed (the 1997 Masters) that Tiger Woods was very comfortable playing that golf course. And, I think it will come to pass that we see him to be comfortable playing that golf course for the next decade or so…We're looking forward to how he's going to perform and how we're going to perform against him *at the 1997 U.S. Open ). Because we didn't perform at all against him at Augusta.”

Colin Montgomerie, at the 1997 U.S. Open after Tiger won the Masters that year by 12 strokes.