The Golf Blog: Is Tiger Woods done at forty-one?
If anyone deserves a birthday swing-a-long, it's this guy.
Happy birthday, @TigerWoods. pic.twitter.com/DB7jXMW2zO
— Skratch (@Skratch) December 30, 2016
The Golf Blog says: First off, happy 41st birthday to Tiger Woods. He’s accomplished so much as a professional golfer. Yet everyone knows there’s one big question left in his career: is his quest to beat Jack Nicklaus’s 18 major victories done? As noted here last year, for the first time since early in his career, Tiger has fallen behind Jack’s pace of winning majors. Unless he wins one this year, Tiger will be 2 majors behind Jack’s pace. For most of his career, Tiger’s been ahead of Jack’s pace. Not anymore.
Bob Harig of ESPN poses an excellent question today: does it even matter to Tiger’s legacy?
Harig compiles the statistics that suggest it’s very unlikely that Tiger can catch Jack:
Only four players — Tom Morris Sr. (3), Harry Vardon (2), Julius Boros (2) and Mark O’Meara (2) — have won multiple majors after their 41st birthday.
Only 29 majors in total have been won by players who are 41 and older, including the likes of Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Payne Stewart, Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, and, of course, Nicklaus, who at age 46 won the 1986 Masters, his 18th and final major.
Yet Harig suggests that Tiger has already cemented his legacy in golf. The rest is gravy, says Harig.
Maybe so. But if Tiger Woods fails to at least match Jack’s 18 majors, Tiger can’t be called the GOAT. Jack owns that accolade and he won’t relinquish it until someone at least matches his record of 18 majors.
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