The one sportsman who Michael Jordan is 'scared' of received 'biggest compliment' from the NBA legend

Michael Jordan didn't become the greatest basketball player of all time by chance or by talent alone.

The NBA icon was a notorious hard worker who was also arguably the most competitive elite athlete ever seen.

Jordan held himself and his teammates to the highest standards and he wasn't afraid of getting into confrontations to uphold them.

And, it turns out, his competitiveness was not limited to the basketball court. An avid golfer, Jordan once tried to put Ian Poulter off his game at the Ryder Cup.

"Michael Jordan, at Medina, was trying to mess with me and get in my face at the Ryder Cup to try and do what he wanted to do, to try and put the influence, to try and turn our match out so the Americans win that match," Poulter told Matthew Syed and Robbie Savage on the Talent Takes Practice podcast.

"It was Michael Jordan. I watched the piece on Netflix, The Last Dance, and it gave me goosebumps the whole way through it. I thought it was absolutely remarkable – who he is, the character he is, what he gives for his teammates and what he gives for himself to be able to pull out the shot at the right moment.

"I'm like, Michael Jordan is messing with me. The biggest compliment anyone could have ever given any individual is from one of the greatest in sport today that's ever lived, he was trying to mess with me.

"He didn't have to say anything. It was what he did in his own right which actually inspired me to play even better and bring out the best in me.

Michael Jordan celebrates winning the NBA championship. Image: Getty

"I asked him to write a quote on the back of my autobiography, which he did.

"Without saying anything, that's the most inspirational thing anyone has ever done, giving me that level of respect in trying to mess with me."

Jordan feared no foe on the basketball court. But the six-time NBA champion has admitted that Poulter is the one sportsperson he is scared of.

"I'm not scared of anybody but Ian Poulter," Jordan told Steph Curry in an interview in an interview for the golf-obsessed NBA star's YouTube channel..

"I used to go and watch him all the time. If I'm in any of his matches or walking down, he finds me after he makes a good putt, and it's like, 'Man, I didn't do anything. I like you. I support you'.

"I stay away from him when I'm walking. I won't go watch him."