Start Counting: Tiger Still Has a Ways To Go

Nice going, Tiger.

Now do it again. And again.

And then some.

Woods, 24, became the youngest player to claim all four major championships, winning the U.S. Open and British Open five weeks apart by a combined 23 strokes.

Where does that leave him?

Two more Grand Slams and 14 majors shy of the standard established by Jack Nicklaus in a career that still ranks as the greatest in golf.

Woods departed St. Andrews with a silver claret jug. Nicklaus owns three of them.

A 12-stroke victory in the Masters made Woods the youngest player to wear a green jacket. Nicklaus slipped one over his shoulders six times.

Nicklaus won a record four U.S. Open titles, as many as Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones. Woods’ victory at Pebble Beach gave him as many as Lou Graham and Steve Jones.

Next month at Valhalla Golf Club--a course Nicklaus designed--Woods will try to win his second PGA Championship. Nicklaus won five of them.

One thing Nicklaus never had is the level of expectations placed on Woods. Not even five years into his career, the countdown is under way.

When Nicklaus won the British Open at St. Andrews in 1970, he walked into the press room and was told, “Only three to go.” He had no idea what they were talking about.

It was his 10th major, including two U.S. Amateur titles, leaving him three shy of the record set by Bobby Jones.

“It never entered my mind until that day,” Nicklaus recalled. “From then on, that was the first time I ever thought about numbers.”

He won three of his next seven majors and tied Jones. A year after that, in the 1973 PGA Championship, Nicklaus set a new benchmark that eventually stretched to 18 professional majors.

And that’s the only number by which Woods ultimately will be judged.

“I’m sure Tiger has a number in mind, but I don’t think he’ll be looking at that number until he gets around 10,” Nicklaus said. “If he’s starting to worry about numbers now, it will drive him crazy. When he gets to 12 or 13, that’s realistic.”

But four?

True, Woods is winning major championships in a fashion few could have imagined. His 12-stroke win at Augusta National was the largest ever in the Masters, and the largest in a major championship since Young Tom Morris won the 1870 British Open by the same margin.

The record was 13 strokes by Old Tom Morris until Woods took care of that with his 15-stroke victory at Pebble Beach.

He failed to win by double digits in the British Open, settling instead for a record score at St. Andrews (269) and a record score in relation to par (19 under) in any major championship.

No one could recite such records until Woods came along and broke them. Because the only record that matters at the end of a career is how many majors a player won.

To say Woods is the greatest player ever in a little premature. Nicklaus is still the leader in the clubhouse. Woods hasn’t even made the turn--even though he is playing like he has nothing but par 5s in front of him.

“If Jack was in his prime today, I don’t think he could keep up with Tiger,” Mark Calcavecchia said Sunday at St. Andrews.

The truth is, no one will ever know.

Nicklaus was asked whether he ever wondered what it would be like if he and Woods had come along at the same time, on the same courses, with the same equipment.

He bristled at a question he says he hears at least 20 times a day.

In some respects, Nicklaus was an underachiever. He won the Grand Slam three times over, but he probably should have won it at least twice more--seven times a British Open runner-up, four times each in the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA.

His record reveals 18 majors, and that’s what Woods wants.

“My record and my golf is basically done,” Nicklaus said. “I’m kind of rooting for somebody else to come along and if it’s Tiger, that’s fine. Some of the golf I’ve seen from this young man is pretty phenomenal.”

Is Woods the best ever? Not yet. Not until he reaches the magic number.

But as he has shown time and time again, Woods is always up for an encore.

A victory in the PGA Championship would allow him to join Hogan as the only players to win three majors in one year.