Golf Tips

Tiger Woods took home his 13th major  at the Southern Hills bringing him closer to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major chmpionships. Now we are wondering when Tiger Woods will be beating that record. His fourth PGA Championship victory moved him one closer to the record, a chase that should dominate the sport’s attention over the next two, three, maybe four years, at most.

He has won 13 times in 44 majors as a professional (Nicklaus won 11 in his first 44). If Woods maintains that pace, you had better get your tickets right now to the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, just up the road from Stanford, where Woods went to school, because that’s when he’s going to tie it.

Except it won’t take that long. Like his first name might imply, Woods is at his best when he’s about to pounce, about to go for the kill. He tends to refocus, redouble his efforts and leave the rest of the field realizing they never stood a chance. And there isn’t going to be anything Tiger Woods wants more than his 18th major. Except, of course, his 19th.

“Well, when you first start your career, 18 is just a long way away,” he said. “And even though I’m at 13, it’s still a long way away. You can’t get it done in one year. ”It’s one of those things where it’s going to take some time. And hopefully health permitting and everything goes right and I keep improving, that I’ll one day surpass that.” That’s a nice, humble sentiment, but the way Woods is playing now, “one day” is going to come one day soon.

If anything, his recent 5-for-22 stretch in majors (starting after his 2002 U.S. Open win at Bethpage Black) may prove to be a slow period in his career. It included dealing with a swing change, some possibly inferior Nike equipment (at least according to Phil Mickelson) and the illness and death of his father. That’s all behind him now. Maybe it’s no surprise that in his last six majors he won three times and finished second twice.