Player: A careful comparison of Woods, Nicklaus.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

PRINCETON, N.J. _ Gary Player says Jack Nicklaus is still the best golfer he ever saw. And he should know, since their careers paralleled. Player also says Tiger Woods is the best 24-year-old golfer there has ever been. There is a difference.

"That's the way I word it," Player, 65, said earlier this week at the Tournament Players Club at Jasna Polana, a course he designed. "I don't necessarily say that he's a better golfer than Jack Nicklaus (yet) because it's not a fair comparison.

"One man's using a ball that goes 30 yards farther. He's using a metal-head (driver), which is so significant. He has grooves on his (irons), which when we played were illegal. The courses he plays are in 10 times better condition. He has his own jet. It's another world. If you put Nicklaus in this position at 24, he would've been just as good."

How great Woods can become boggles the imagination. Player, who was in the area to host an outing to support a school for underprivileged children on his ranch in Johannesburg, South Africa, sees no limits. Especially from the competition. Once again, it's a different era.

"When Nicklaus played, he had to beat many superstars," Player said. "Johnny Miller, Hale Irwin, Raymond Floyd, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, myself, Billy Casper. You tell me one superstar playing today, other than Tiger Woods. It's interesting, isn't it? There's a lot of very good players.

"I haven't seen the players around him, when that big pressure's on, as of yet, get it done. I'm not saying what will happen in the future. But when he's around them, and it's getting down the line in a major, they always fold. And it happens every time."

Well, at least in the last four majors, and five of the last six, for those keeping score at home. Nicklaus won 18 majors over a quarter-century. Woods, who's in his fifth full season, is 33 percent of the way there. If this keeps up, the quest will become a walkover.