It is one of sport’s longest-running, will-he, won’t-he, on-off dramas: Tiger Woods’ pursuit of the seemingly impossible as he chased the great Jack Nicklaus’ record of golfing majors. But now it seems the thrilling race will cruelly be cut short as an ageing Woods is running out of time to claim titles and has been indefinitely denied any chance at all by the ongoing coronavirus, which has led to the cancellation of the Open Championship and the indefinite postponement of the Masters, US Open and PGA Championship.
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The Golden Bear landed a colossal 18 majors from 1962 to 1986 and won at least each of the four golfing flagship events at least three times — The Masters Tournament: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986; PGA Championship: 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980; US Open: 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980; Open Championship: 1966, 1970, 1978. It was a record no one ever expected to be beaten as he had soared seven clear of the previous record held by Walter Hagen (11 between 1914-1929).
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Then along came a young precocious talent named Eldrick Tont ‘Tiger’ Woods in the mid-1990s and the golf game changed forever.
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Tiger first laid down a marker in 1997, when he won the first of his 15 majors at Augusta, the same place Jack started out on his own quest. Only, Tiger went better in two regards. He won at 21 — a world record for a major — and he thrashed all comers to win by a then-record 12-stroke margin (Tiger himself would go on to better that by three strokes in Augusta in 2000).
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More and more majors followed as Tiger reinvented the game of golf with his athletic physique ripping up fairways more accustomed to chubbier and shorter visitors. By 2007, Woods had racked up 14 in total — Masters: 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005; PGA Championship: 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007; US Open: 2000, 2002, 2008; The Open: 2000, 2005, 2006 — and looked well on course to eclipse the Golden Bear.
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Then came the most infamous of falls from grace — infidelity, scandals, inebriation and prescription drug addiction saw Tiger tumble from world No. 1 to No. 54, and take more than one trip to the downtown police station, before he declared he was putting away his clubs and sorting out his life around 2010.
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Many false dawns came and went as amazing rounds were followed up by mediocrity, withdrawals or extended breaks from the game.
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Tiger’s fans breathed a collective sigh of relief as he finally found his groove and again ascended to No. 1 in 2013. Just as it looked like he was ready to add to his tally of majors — now against a much younger and fitter breed of golfer he had helped create — disaster struck.
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. This time his own body wrecked his plans as all those punishing years and monster drives culminated chronic knee pain and serious injuries to his back led him to undergo four back surgeries between 2014 and 2017 and three more years off the greens and without a major trophy — and another unfortunate arrest by the police for DUI.
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With more twists than Chubby Checker, if this tale was a Hollywood movie pitch, its creator would have been laughed out the door due to its unbelievability. And the best was yet to come. In 2019, after lengthy recuperation from surgery, Tiger slowly found his way back into golf, with a remodelled drive and short game, and — against all odd — claimed his 15th major and fifth Green Jacket back where it all began at Augusta, capping one of the most remarkable comebacks in the. history of sports.
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The chase was back on — only three to go and he was level with Jack — and despite his age, he had worked endlessly to give himself a chance and looked primed to give it everything he had over the next few majors.
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Yet now fate has dealt a cruel hand again — and this time it could be permanent — as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to all sporting activities being halted indefinitely, including golf. The players, probably including Tiger, will eventually get back out there to wow the crowds across the globe, but it looks like Tiger’s small window of opportunity to catch Nicklaus just closed for good.
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