Look at their patterns. Jack's shows a perfect progression of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Tiger Woods's reads 1, 3, 3, 2, 4, 4,1. The code is simple. Take the Nicklaus line and read it as one NCAA Championship, two US Amateurs, three British Opens, four US Opens, five USPGAs, six Masters and membership of seven winning Ryder Cup teams.

If this is taken as perfection it has to be said Tiger's line is fouled up already by winning three US Amateurs to Jack's two! Everything else can be got back into line except that and the final number because Tiger has played in five Ryder Cups and four of those teams lost.

Jack has won a record of 18 major titles.

Tiger, who will celebrate his 32nd birthday on 30 December, has 13 and years in hand. But he needs to keep going because he hasn't won a Masters since 2005 or a US Open since 2002 and injuries and distractions could deflect his career path enough to make the magical take of 19 majors a struggle. One would say that Tiger's final tally will probably be in the order of 22 majors. Which will make him inarguably the greatest of all time. Meantime, Nicklaus remains the man who has achieved most.

This entertaining line of thought has been prompted by the arrival of Jack Nicklaus . . . Simply The Best, from golf historian Martin Davis giving the Nicklaus figures, though not styling them as DNA-related (one modestly claims that angle unto oneself), and simply inviting any one to dig up the Tiger equivalent.

Meanwhile, this is a book to die for as it covers in great stories and pictures a career which has gone down through the decades. It calls on his great adversaries to write essays and what a thought Lee Trevino presents when saying he never saw Nicklaus get yippy on short putts. That he was a colossus off the tee is certified by Trevino who says, given today's equipment, Nicklaus would be hitting 400 yards and "chipping back to some of those greens".

That he enjoyed the fray is borne out by a story told by Gary Player from the Australian Open where they shared the same car. "In the first round, Jack shot a magnificent 66, but I had a sparkling round where everything just went right and ended up with a 62. In the car on the way back Jack asked, 'How can I shoot 66 and be four shots behind?' Tomorrow I'm gonne whip that skinny butt of yours."

"Well, the next day he went out and shot 63 to my 70. All of a sudden I was at 132 after 36 holes and three shots behind. In the car back to the hotel I, of course, told him that I was going to whip his big butt the following day."

"The next day we're playing and i miss a putt on the ninth for 28, then eagle the 10th. Next thing, Jack's caddie comes over to ask what my score was and I tell him I'm 10 under. He goes away and comes back a little later saying Jack wanted to know what my score was for the day, not for the tournament!" In an age before electronic scoreboards the Golden Bear tried to keep his prey in sight but this one got away as Player shot a closing 62 to win.

Of course, the man's ability to concentrate is legendary and Arnold Palmer highlights this with the story of the 1962 US Open at Oakmont, virtually in Palmer's backyard, where the crowds got behind their man and down on the young Nicklaus. "Things became something of an embarrassment for me, " says Arnie, "as the army became overzealous and went from rooting for me to rooting openly against Jack.

I wanted to stop it, but how do you tell all those people along the fairways and around the greens to mind their manners?"

Nicklaus eventually won in a playoff and insisted he didn't even hear the fans! "I always thought he was being polite, " says Palmer today, "but eventually I came to believe him. I believe he really did shut out the distractions."

Thanks to The American Golfer for a terrific coffee table book which everyone should scramble to purchase. I'm off with mine for a cappuccino and more memories. See you down the fairway.