Tiger tracking the Bear

Tiger Woods has yet again changed the landscape of golf. After winning the British Open it’s no longer about whether anyone can beat him but whether he can beat Jack Nicklaus.

More specifically, with the like of Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen once more left trailing in his dust, it seems the biggest talking point in golf for the next few years is whether the Tiger can top Nicklaus’ (previously thought to be unassailable) number of 18 majors.

Woods now has won 11 professional major championships, tying him for second place with Walter Hagen and it seems almost a foregone conclusion that he will get the nine more titles he needs to set a new mark.

Woods in now 30 and will play the year’s final major, the U.S. PGA Championship at Medinah starting on August 17, at that age before his 31st birthday on December 30.

If you take that Nicklaus was 46 when he won his last major, the U.S. Masters at Augusta, it is easy to postulate that Woods has 15 more productive years in the majors.

This means that, counting this year’s PGA, he has at least 61 more majors to come and if he were to keep up his current rate of success he will not only beat the record but demolish it.

Golf is the most unpredictable of games but as Woods’ desire seems to exceed even that of Hogan and Player, he maintains the most rigid of fitness regimens and he seems to possess a mind that will not permit the burnout suffered by Seve Ballesteros and, to a lesser extent, Nick Faldo and Tom Watson, of the modern champions. Funny things can happen – we never thought the fire would go out for Seve – but Woods seems almost God-like in his domination of golf – small wonder that a website exists for the “First Church of Tiger Woods, dedicated to exploring the possibility that Tiger Woods may actually be God.” Seriously, it exists!

Woods has won 11 majors in 39 appearances, three more than Nicklaus had at the same age, so while his main contenders continue to run for cover when the Tiger growls it seems a foregone conclusion that the Bear’s record, which Woods used to have pinned to the wall of his bedroom, will be his in the not-too-distant future; especially as history shows golfers reach their peak in their mid-30s.

Statistics, provided by Sal Johnson of Golf Online, prove Woods’ supremecy.

· Once again, Woods proved unbeatable when he got the lead. He has won all seven times that he has either held or had a share of the 36-hole lead in majors, and he has won all 11 times he has had the 54-hole lead in majors – in other words he led the field into the last round for all his major victories. He has won 35 of the 38 times he has had the 54-hole lead in PGA Tour events.

· Woods opened up the championship with two rounds in the 60s (67-65). He has shot in the 60s the first two rounds six times in the majors and has won all six times. The other five came at the 2000 U.S. Open, 2000 British Open, 2000 PGA Championship, 2002 U.S. Open and 2005 British Open.

· Woods is the first golfer to successfully defend his title in three different professional majors. He won the PGA Championship in 1999 and 2000, the Masters in 2001 and '02 and now has won the British Open in '05 and '06. Only Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen had previously defended their titles in two different professional majors. Jones did it by winning the 1926 and '27 British Opens and 1929 and '30 U.S. Opens. Hagen did it by winning four consecutive PGAs from 1924-27 and the British Open in 1928 and '29.

· Tiger now has won the British Open three times, matching Jack Nicklaus, and is the 19th player to win the championship three or more times.

· He is the first back-to-back winner of the British Open since Tom Watson in 1982 and '83.

Johnson, incidentally, believes Ernie Els’ best hope of adding to his tally of three majors is in the British Open where in 16 starts, he has nine top-10 finishes with seven being top 5s, including one win, three runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes.

The most prolific winners of majors have been:

18 – Jack Nicklaus (6 Masters, 4 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens, 5 PGAs).

11 – Tiger Woods (4 Masters, 2 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens, 2 PGAs).

11 – Walter Hagen (2 U.S. Opens, 4 British Opens, 5 PGAs)

9 – Gary Player (3 Masters, 1 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens, 2 PGAs)

9 – Ben Hogan (2 Masters, 4 U.S. Opens, 1 British Opens, 2 PGAs).

9 – John Ball* (9 (1) British Opens).

8 - Tom Watson (2 Masters, 1 U.S. Opens, 5 British Opens, 0 PGAs).

7 – Bobby Jones* (9 (4) U.S. Opens, 4 (3) British Opens).

7 - Harry Vardon (1 U.S. Open, 6 British Opens).

7 – Gene Sarazen (1 Masters, 2 U.S. Opens, 1 British Open, 3 PGAs)

7 – Sam Snead (3 Masters, 0 U.S. Opens, 1 British Open, 3 PGAs).

7 – Arnold Palmer (4 U.S. Masters, 1 U.S Open, 2 British Opens, 0 PGAs).

7 – Harold Hilton* (1 (1)U.S Open, 6 (2) British Opens)

6 – Nick Faldo (3 Masters, 0 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens, 0 PGAs).

6 – Lee Trevino (0 Masters, 2 U.S. Opens, 2 British Opens, 2 PGAs).

5 – Seve Ballesteros (2 Masters, 3 British Opens).

5 – James Braid (5 British Opens).

5 – Byron Nelson (2 Masters, 1 U.S. Open, 0 British Opens, 2 PGAs).

5 – J.H. Taylor (5 British Opens).

5 – Peter Thomson (5 British Opens).

4 - 7 golfers. Willie Anderson, Jim Barnes, Ray Floyd, Bobby Locke, Old Tom Morris, Young Tom Morris, Willie Park snr.

3 - 17 golfers: Jamie Anderson, Tommy Armour, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Henry Cotton, Jimmy Demaret, Ernie Els, Bob Feguson, Ralph Guldahl, Hale Irwin, Phil Mickelson, Cary Middlecoff, Larry Nelson, Nick Price , Denny Shute, Vijay Singh, Payne Stewart.

2 - 32 golfers: Jack Burke jnr, Ben Crenshaw, John Daly, Leo Diegel, Olin Dutra, Doug Ford, Retief Goosen, David Graham, Hubert Green, Harold Hilton, Jock Hutchinson, Tony Jacklin, Lee Janzen, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, John McDermott, Bob Martin, Johnny Miller, Greg Norman, Andy North, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark o’Meara, Willie Park jnr, Henry Picard, Ted Ray, Paul Runyan, Alex Smith, Horton Smith, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Craig Wood, Fuzzy Zoeller.

* An asterisk indicates players who won “majors” as amateurs. For example Bobby Jones won five U.S. Open amateur titles when those titles were considered majors and four U.S. Open professional titles. Additionally, he won one amateur British title when that title was considered a major, and three British Open professional titles, making his arguable total number of majors 13.