Posted on 09/21/2015 6:43:52 PM PDT by jazusamo
Not much doubt remained that Jack Nicklaus would retain his record for victories in major golf tournaments.
But any lingering thoughts of Tiger Woods possibly supplanting him were snuffed for good last week.
What once seemed inevitable has transitioned to impossible.
Stuck at 14 major victories since capturing the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods will not win five more majors. Woods will not win four more majors to tie Nicklaus‘ mark of 18.
He would do well to win another tournament, period, something he last accomplished at the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational. He has teed off in 23 PGA tournaments since then and missed the cut in seven of them.
With his 40th birthday arriving in December, Woods will miss reaching the first tee for several months. He announced Friday that he had back surgery on Sept. 16, breaking the news on his website, sounding like the same ol’ Tiger, vowing to defy age, injury and the Tour’s pride of young lions.
“This is certainly disappointing, but I’m a fighter,” he said, according to the website. “I’ve been told I can make a full recovery and I have no doubt that I will.”
He’ll come back because he’s a compulsive competitor who has been obsessed with overtaking Nicklaus forever, but the landscape and his body are headed in opposite directions.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Nicklaus has always supported him publicly, but says they have never said more than a few words to each other.
I think Woods may seriously consider retirement very soon. He’ll end up being a course designer like Robert Trent Jones, Jr.
After his several back surgeries, that's a big "if". I've never taken up golf. I started to a few times, but never got past hitting balls at the driving range. It seems I would always throw out my back. Golf is really hard on the lower back. I have since had back surgery myself and had two pairs of vertebrae fused. I would not dream of swinging a club now, as I would imagine I could do all sorts of damage to what has been repaired.
I really doubt Tiger will ever be healthy enough to overtake Jack, unless he develops an entirely different, less power-driven way to play.
If he has any sense at all that’s exactly what he should do in my view. With the earlier knee and neck problems and now the back surgeries he better start thinking of staying out of hospitals.
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