Tiger & Jack & the Majors

So, like many, I have just spent some part of the last four days both watching Rory McIlroy show us what the future of golf looks like and watching to see if Tiger Woods can resurrect the recent past and give the ghost of Jack Nicklaus a chase.

He couldn't.

One of ESPN's golf commentators just pointed out (it's "common knowledge") that Tiger is now, for the first time, behind Jack in the pursuit of 18 majors.  Jack won his 15th at an age a month earlier than Tiger's current age.  Remember (I do) Jack's last at age 46?  Pure muscle memory and reflex.

The problem is, I don't think Tiger has any muscle memory anymore.  Yes, he probably remembers the shots he hit, and how, to win.  But he's not that Tiger.  He's on his third swing (I'm not going to act like I understand the technicalities) change.  So what muscle memory does he have?

I know this: he and I neither can put our driver in play effectively.  I watched Friday as he hit more than one driver (what he hit on Friday) and hit it all over the yard.  The one hole he pulled what I do often enough -- hit the first OB on the right and then in the rubbish was left with the second.

More than one analyst has pointed out he can't do that and hope to compete with guys like McIlroy, who was bombing it 350 down the middle with his driver.  Even Tiger's 300 yard drive on 18 with his 3 wood pales in comparison to what McIlroy, Adam Scott, Sergio, Dustin Johnson do regularly.

There are other missing parts.

He doesn't make the putts he used to.  As one of ESPN's on-air voices said "he used to make a couple 30 footers a round."  He doesn't anymore.  It's the difference between being 6 over and being 2 under.  Add eliminating drivers OB or in a gorse bush (the Saturday spray) and you are getting close to a contender.

Here's the other thing: his body.

Yes, I'd like to have his body.  He's sculpted.  But his swing has always been full of torque and violence and the injuries from pre-2008 and since have all been about that torque -- he stresses everything from his achilles through the knee up into the back with that swing.   No less of an expert than my physical therapist says that he'll never avoid injury again with that swing -- something else will break down sooner rather than later.

So, as for catching Jack, I will repeat what many before me have said: winning 5 majors after you are 38 (Tiger's age) has never been done, with the exception of Ben Hogan, the late bloomer.  5 majors is Phil Mickelson's career.  In other words, you have to have Phil's Hall of Fame career AFTER you are 38 to catch Jack.

It was never certain. But now it looks terribly unlikely he can get there.  Can he/will he win another major?  Probably.  Like Jack at 46, you can imagine he'll catch magic in the bottle again.  Maybe a couple more times.  But 5?   Unlikely.

But it won't keep any of us from watching.  It's fascinating to see the changes in the perception, and the game, of the greatest golfer of this generation, the greatest since Nicklaus and one of the handful of greatest to ever touch a club.

But he's no longer THAT Tiger Woods.  And that's still fascinating.