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23 Jun 13
17:04
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22 Jun 02
...Phil Mickelson, or Ernie Els?
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Ernie for me, so far.
More wins, and also his major wins mean more, IMO. The Open, and The U.S. Open are the two biggies, and the most difficult to win. I find The Masters a bit of a joke, really. Always great to watch, but such a limited field, a lot of which are geriatrics with no chance. Not really that much between the two, though. Both all time greats of the game, and decent fellas to boot. |
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good question
i thought phil was better when they were at their best but perhaps they were good in different ways which makes comparison difficult els won opens, mickelson the other two majors i dont remember them head to head that often and neither seems ready to give up just yet !!! |
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ernie has won the two majors which are hardest to win but phil will be remembered more.........i cant reacall any "ernie" moments but phil defo has some with his shot from the trees on 13 and his eagle on back nine of masters the year he won.
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Phil Mickelson
Age 43 Major wins 4 WGC wins 2 Other PGA Tour wins 36 Other European Tour wins 1 Major Runner-up finishes 8 Major Top 5 finishes 23 Ernie Els Age 43 Major wins 4 WGC wins 2 Other PGA Tour wins 13 Other European Tour wins 22 Major Runner-up finishes 6 Major Top 5 finishes 23 Remarkably similar!! |
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A tough one KR. If lefty had taken 1 or 2 of those US opens I would go for Phil, but I can't split them. Love watching both of them.
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Masters a joke event ffs... they have had remarkably familiar careers and not buying that one major is easier than another to win c rap
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Great question KR. Genuinely surprising how similar their stats are. I'd just about go for Ernie myself.
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i like ernie because he played all over the place, also wasn't ernie would number 1 for a bit ?
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Very similar careers but I'd go for Ernie too. Great question though KR
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Phil best to watch, feck Ernie, unless u backed him.
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phil has more pga wins..........they are a lot harder to win than the micky mouse euro events.
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if i had them play head to head for my life i pick ernie. phil a little mental at times. for my life ernie.
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since they have similar stats in terms of wins and thus 'career',
how one separates/rates them will be individual and arbitrary. my method is as above. ps: who is to say ernie wouldnt have won in the US if he wasnt playing in europe? |
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nowt between them...at least phil has never gone down the belly/broom cop out.
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phil for me, great to watch, always backs himself, and a true gent. A lot of this applies to Ernie too of course, but Phil the best player in the world to watch for me
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dlarson, hes quite correct whn he says th masters is easier to win the the two opens as its a smaller field with some total no hopers in,im not decrying the value of the masters but I totally agree with maggot on this one
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Phil for me. He did it in the States. Ernie very well could have, and probably would have, but he didn't, so we will never know. Talent wise, Phil is probably the 3rd best player I've ever seen behind Tiger and the Shark. It's very close, but Phil by half a length.
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Well you are quite entitled to sickoflayinwinners that's ok :) I don't agree
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Case for Molly
Tend to think over a period has been slightly ahead in terms of consistency(year to year wise). Ahead in terms of inventiveness(array of shot-making). *Visually on his own and against the course designer, meaning visually he plays the courses 'mirror image' due to been Left-Handed. Case for Ernie Along the lines of 'Jack' has a better Worldly resume. Gives the impression(game wise)more highly consistent, considering the variation of European&Rest-of-World courses played. Who do i want from 50 yards and in(money-zone)? Molly,even with his short green carpet brain freezes. Who do i suggest would have a lower scoring average after playing Courses all over the planet ? Ernie. But overall I give the photo finish to Molly, due to having to contend with the Mirror-Image effect courses(nothing to do with a draw or fade shot target). |
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mickelson better bottle under pressure
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After the US Open's he has blown??
They did go head to head in Phil's first Masters win,that was Ernie's best chance of a Green Jacket.Fantastic Sunday shoot out that was,had Ernie backed but was delighted for Phil.If Ernie had won that the answer to the OP's question would have been easy  . |
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phil wouldnt stick a 2nd shot in the lake twice in a row to blow tournament like els did
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If the Masters is so easy to win as some suggest, it does beg the question of why Ernie hasn't managed to win one?
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Feel free to point out exactly where anyone on this thread has said that The Masters is "so easy to win".
My view is that it's the easiest to win, as the venue is the only constant venue, and the field is limited and consists of a higher percentage of no hopers than the other majors. The fact that Ernie hasn't managed a green jacket is not really relevant. The fella finished 2nd, 6th, 5th, 6th, 2nd, in a five year spell from 2000 to 04, so it's not as though he has a poor record at Augusta. Many other greats couldn't manage it. Norman, Trevino, Price, Stewart, to name a few. |
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If The Masters is so easy to win then Ski-Wiz should be a pro golfer and hopefully qualify for next year.
The layers would be offering odds @1000, no doubt. I like Ernie's swing as it does looks very effortless, but i like Phil's short game better. |
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Ernie has been a serious contender in all 4 majors throughout his career.Can't say that about Phil.
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Phil for me.
Only 8 players have won more PGA events than Phil and he has played in the era of Woods and Vijay. PGA tour wins are much harder than worldwide wins. Els won a decent euro event this week but there were 50% more ranking points on offer in Transitions an indication of the relative field strengths. Both have been unlucky to play in Woods era. |
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yep its a shame for Phil, if it wasn't for Tiger he would have been considered up there with the greats im sure, who knows how different it would have been for him and his confidence. Oh well
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Tiger makes than both look like double digit handicappers
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*them
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How many times has Phil lost out on a Major to Woods?
I cant think of too many. If Mickelson had half the mental strength of Tiger he'd have 10 majors. Phil has plenty of talent but his mental game is simply not on the elite (Tiger,Faldo,Jack) level. |
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but with tiger not about his confidence and possibly mental strength could have been much better rather than knowing deep down you are nowhere near as good as your closest rival.Could have changed things a lot.
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Maggot I know what you are saying, but my point is that it's a zero-sum game. If one major is indeed easier to win than another, then any bonus points you get for winning the harder major are surely negated by your failure to win the easier one?
Eboue - interesting question. Winners of majors where Els/Mickelson were runners up: Ernie Els 1996 Open - Lehman 2000 Masters - Singh 2000 US Open - WOODS 2000 Open - WOODS 2004 Masters - Mickelson 2004 Open - Hamilton Phil Mickelson 1999 US Open - Stewart 2001 PGA - Toms 2002 US Open - WOODS 2004 US Open - Goosen 2006 US Open - Ogilvy 2009 US Open - Glover 2011 Open - Clarke 2013 US Open - Rose |
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Good question ! id go for ernie becuase hes done it all over the world although very close also i heard quite a few times phils a bit of a dick of camera where as some of my family members have meet ernie and said he a really nice guy
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Met him years ago after a round at the Irish Open,had pint of Guinness in hand......been a fan ever since
 (Ernie that is of course). |
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Both seem great individuals, both supremely talented. Very difficult to choose. If you are going to push me, I would go with the BIG Easy, purely and simply because he has the two open majors and won worldwide?
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Phil's win on the P.G.A tour as an amateur must be worth some bonus points
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having read this thread those who are pumping for ernie have some sort of delusion that winning oustide america makes your resume look superior.........this totally wrong........the european tour consists of obscure events held in various parts of the word where no fans turn up.........the fields are weak and the money is poor. the pga tour is the heart of golf and has much stronger events. so it has to be phil.
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It's not that winning outside the US is superior or even equal, which it isn't. It's winning on different courses, different climates in different cultures, that's superior. Winning at home is easy compared to winning away.
It's easy to stay in the US on courses you know and return to your favourites in comparison |