Tiger Continues Chasing the Legend of Nicklaus

Tiger Woods teed off Thursday at the British Open halfway home to Jack Nicklaus’ major championship record of 18 wins. If he needed reminding how daunting the second half of that quest will be, there it was, three groups ahead, where golf’s aging lion wrestled with his emotions and the ravages of time.

“I feel my age every day, every minute out there,” the 65-year-old Nicklaus said, his mood soured by an opening-round 75 in his final major. “I know exactly how old I am.”

If it’s any consolation, Nicklaus has trophies collecting dust at home that are older than Woods. And he won them over a span of 24 years, just five fewer than Tiger has been alive.

Woods likely didn’t need reminding of that, either. But it came, anyway, with a question about whether he was in his prime.

“When I won here in 2000, I knew I was exempt until I’m 65,” Woods laughed. “I may be here for a while.”

Woods has plenty of time, but judging by his start, he hardly lacks a sense of urgency. He got hold of the Old Course early on a breezy, overcast morning and squeezed out eight birdies en route to a 66 that gave him the first-round lead. The only things that slowed his march across St. Andrews were two bogeys and the two minutes of silence observed at noon to commemorate the victims of last week’s London bombings.

Recalling that his mother, Kultida, was vacationing in London at the time, Woods said that during the observance, “I felt more thankful than anything else because my mom was in the building right across the street from where the bomb blew up. ...

“I can only imagine,” he added, “what everyone else who was involved, where they lost a loved one or had loved ones hurt, what they might have been going through.”

With less than the usual British reserve, tabloid reporters pressed Woods for details. He knew his mother was touring Europe with friends before coming here, but said he didn’t learn she was in London until Wednesday and only then because his swing coach, Hank Haney, mentioned it.

When Woods finally talked to his mother, he recounted the conversation this way:

“Are you OK?”

“Yeah, good. What are you going to do today on the course?”

A moment later, Woods shrugged and added, “She doesn’t tell me anything. That’s kind of how our family is.”

For all the comparisons made between Woods and Nicklaus -- the story of a young Tiger taping a list of Jack’s accomplishments to his bedroom wall has been recounted dozens of times -- that statement provides some important contrast. While both can be ferociously single-minded when the game demands it, Nicklaus has had way more experience dealing with life’s burdens than he probably cares to remember.

He came out on tour in 1961 already married and the first of his five kids was born that fall. That means he won his majors with a growing family at home tugging at his heartstrings, that he kept winning after burying the most important influence in his life, his father, Charley, in 1970, and won some more while trying to grow the Golden Bear brand into a golf course design and equipment empire.

It also means his career traversed more than a few peaks and valleys, even in his prime. Nicklaus’ longest drought during that stretch reached three years and 12 straight majors before ending here, coincidentally, with a win in 1970. And if Woods is indeed just hitting his prime -- and he said as much earlier this week -- then the 0-for-10 major championship streak that ended at the Masters in April may have marked the beginning of his climb from one of those valleys.

Woods’ opponents, obviously, are hoping otherwise. And the fact that he was shaky before closing out Chris DiMarco in a playoff at Augusta, and even shakier down the stretch before losing the U.S. Open to Michael Campbell last month, gives them some reason to hope.

“We all know how Tiger can score,” said Jose Maria Olazabal, who shot 68 while playing with Woods on Thursday. “Overall, he played pretty solid.”

But then Olazabal added, “I’m not looking who is on the leaderboard or who is on top.”

That last bit would have been considered heresy five years ago, when Woods scorched the Old Course with an opening-round 67 and went on to win that Open at 19-under, by an almost-comical margin of eight shots.

Back then, though, Woods was still a golfing savant, distracted only as often as he wanted. Now, he’s married, talking about a family, and coping with the failing health of a father who taught him not just how to play golf, but to pour every ounce of his being into it.

The days when doing just that will seem like too much to bear are still off in the future. But one glance at Nicklaus as the old man departed the Old Course on Thursday should have told Woods that when he said, “I plan to be here for a while,” he’d better mean it.