Having said that about the peerless Tiger, I still love watching and hearing about and reading about rivalries, especially one-on-one rivalries. The one between Arnold Palmer-Jack Nicklaus is one of the best of all time, right there alongside Wilt vs.Russell.
Ian O'Connor definitely does more than do it justice in the new book, "Arnie & Jack" (with the title going in alphabetical and chronological order, not in order of achievement). It is worth looking at the fascinating, complex relationship the two men have had for 50 years, and still have.
Both of them realized that they were, in a sense, business partners. The better each of them did, the better both of them did--and the entire sport of golf benefited. In their day, a person didn't get rich just by staying on Tour. There was no Stewart Cinks, earning millions while flaming out every time he got near the top.
At the same time, each of the two megastars simply hated losing to the other. O'Connor's reporting is impeccable--he has incredible details of an exhibition match in 1958--and his insight true. I liked the way he showed how the Arnie-Jack relationship was part big brother/little brother and part Ali/Frazier.
It was poignant, reading about Palmer holding off Nicklaus to win the Hope in 1973, figuring he had cleared a psychological hurdle--only to never win another PGA Tour event.
You can't go wrong writing or reading about those two guys, and O'Connor certainly got it right.