They said it: Icons, analysts and others on Tiger Woods' game

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The best of golf have long praised Tiger Woods' greatness. (Courtesy PGA of America)

A sampling of notable quotes about Tiger Woods from coaches, legends, competitors and other observers:

"When Tiger was 6 months old he would sit in our garage, watching me hit balls into a net. He had been assimilating his golf swing. When he got out of the high chair, he had a golf swing." - Earl Woods

"Golf, as we know it, is over. It came to an end on a chamber-of-commerce Sunday evening in Las Vegas when Tiger Woods went for the upgrade: He's not just a promising young Tour pro anymore, he's an era." - Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated, after Woods' first PGA Tour victory in 1996

"Tiger is like John Daly but with total control. If that's not a scary prospect for the rest of us, I don't know what is." - Paul Goydos

"There isn't a flaw in his golf or his makeup. He will win more majors than Arnold Palmer and me combined. Somebody is going to dust my records. It might as well be Tiger, because he's such a great kid. He has the finest, fundamentally sound golf swing I've ever seen." - Jack Nicklaus

"That's Tiger's biggest strength: He can play in Jack's style, waiting for his chances, and he can play in my style, attacking all the time. That's some combination." - Arnold Palmer

"One thing that makes Tiger Tiger is that he's more willing to bring a shot from the practice tee onto the course than any golfer I know." - Butch Harmon, Woods' former swing coach

"I realized for the first time that he was like Michael Jordan, that he wanted the ball with the game on the line, no matter the outcome. Very few players in the history of golf have felt that way, have wanted the pressure." - Peter Kessler, The Golf Channel

"There was a time, when Woods first turned professional, when people wondered if he had the game to win an Open, whether he had enough accuracy off the tee, or enough control with his short irons, or enough patience. Those questions have been silenced. Woods can win on any golf course that has tee boxes, fairways and greens." - Clifton Brown, The New York Times

"Tiger sees things differently. He sees the line - not just of his putts, on all his shots - more clearly. I'd like to know how he does it. I know this: The next time he's standing over a 45-footer, I'll be expecting him to make it." - Ernie Els, after Woods sank a 45-foot putt to beat him in the 2000 Mercedes Championship

"Tiger has the ability to make people feel uncomfortable, but not because he's not a nice guy. That's the mark of a truly phenomenal player. You can just feel he's better than you and he knows he's better than you. That just widens the gap, though he doesn't say anything." - Johnny Miller

"I have seen Tiger play every year since he was 14, and I've never seen a player at the age of Tiger - when he was 14 or 16 or 20 or 22 or 26 - who was as good as Tiger at [that] age." - Byron Nelson

"He doesn't need a challenge. I think that is the worst misconception going, that the No. 1 golfer needs a No. 2 golfer to push him. Tiger is pushed by history and by records and by his own goals. He doesn't need anybody pushing him." - Earl Woods

"Like all great champions, Tiger has the ability to raise his game when he has to. He's not going to burn out because he plays for his own joy and passion." - Jay Brunza, Woods' sports psychologist

"I've played with just about everybody, and I think I can say now that Tiger has hit virtually every truly great shot I've ever seen." - David Feherty

"He is something supernatural." - Tom Watson

August 22, 2006