Six-time major winner Lee Trevino spent years competing against Jack Nicklaus and came away convinced of one thing: the Golden Bear could have won even more majors than he did.

According to Trevino, a single flaw in Nicklaus' game prevented him from reaching an even greater level of dominance.

“If Jack had had a wedge, no doubt in my mind, he would have won 30 majors. I mean, he was so good at everything else,” said Trevino to Golf Digest.

Interestingly, Nicklaus himself knew about the missing piece in the jigsaw, as reported by Jaime Diaz of Golf Digest. 

“Because I didn’t have a real good short game, my philosophy became I’m going to hit 14 or 15 greens, I’m going to hit at least a couple of par 5s in two, and I’m going to make every putt inside 10 feet,” Nicklaus said back in 2010.

The Golden Bear became overly reliant on other aspects of his game to lessen the need to use his short game.

However, he soon realized that it was significantly costing him on the biggest stages, where every stroke counts.

In 1979, Nicklaus finally approached Phil Rodgers for help with his short game, and that partnership immediately reaped benefits for him.

He proceeded to win the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in 1980 and then lifted the Masters title in 1986.

While there’s a lot of debate regarding who’s the greatest in the game, Trevino had his answer ready.

Who is the GOAT according to Trevino?

Jack Nicklaus is considered by many to be the GOAT, while others argue that it’s Tiger Woods. Trevino had a very organized answer, as reported by Antony Martin of HITC.

“Golfers are like an orange tree. There’s always a top orange, and then there’s another orange almost touching it. And then there’s a circle of oranges. I think the top orange, in my opinion, is between 3 golfers. I think it’s Nicklaus, Snead, and Bobby Jones, and Tiger is touching them. Tiger’s got a hold of them a little bit,” said Trevino.

Sam Snead and Woods are tied at the top for the most wins on the PGA Tour. On the other hand, Bobby Jones never turned pro but lifted four U.S. Open titles and three Open Championship titles.

Similarly, Snead had seven major titles to his name, and Woods sits right behind Nicklaus with 15.

It’s hard to pick the best of the lot, but Trevino really crafted a beautiful answer that fits them all into the GOAT conversation.

What are your thoughts on Trevino’s statement on Nicklaus? Share them in the comments.

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav