A Major twist in absent Tiger’s tail

AS he sat in self-imposed exile over the weekend, Tiger Woods would have cast a jaundiced eye over the advice flowing in his direction.

He hardly needed Jack Nicklaus to remind him that three of this year’s major championship venues were tailor-made for his game. He has captured half of his 14 majors at Augusta National, the annual home of the Masters (four); Pebble Beach, where he won the US Open by a record 15 shots in 2000 and the British Open at St Andrews, where he has been twice successful by a combined 13 shots.

Oddly enough, half of Nicklaus’ 18 major victories also came on those same venues. Woods last won a major at Torrey Pines in the 2008 US Open, ending his season a week later with reconstructive knee surgery. Despite winning six times last year, he had only one good chance at adding to his major total but lost a two-shot lead in the final round of the PGA Championship and finished second behind YE Yang.

Golf has been absorbed for years by the capacity of Woods to surpass the 18-major target set by Nicklaus in 1986 with his remarkable victory in the Masters at the age of 46.

At the time, it was reckoned that the mark could not be equalled never mind improved upon. But, of course, Tiger Woods hadn’t yet arrived on the scene. And when he ran away with the 1997 Masters, a whole new vista opened up. He reeled off the major wins almost on an annual basis and totalled 14 going into the 2009 season. Although the majors eluded him last year there was no reason for concern.

However, events over the past couple of months have changed things utterly with nobody sure if and when Woods will play again. He hasn’t missed a Masters or a US Open since 1995 and now even Nicklaus – who has frequently predicted that Woods would overtake his record with something to spare – has been expressing his doubts. The Golden Bear, who celebrates his 70th birthday this month, is as absorbed as us about what the future holds for Woods.

“Certainly, this year, with where the majors are, he basically owns all three places”, said Nicklaus and warned: “If Tiger doesn’t play this year, the chore will be a little tougher.”

Those words will have rung a bell with Woods while Nicklaus also made a very pertinent point when stating: “Tiger always has been a big influence on the game but golf has had Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino It’s not all about one person. The game is a big game.”

Indeed. John Daly claimed when the controversy first broke that “Tiger is bigger than golf itself.” Frankly, I don’t believe that to be the case.

True, we can’t wait to see him back but for a whole lot of reasons. Curiosity will be high on the list with people gagging to see how he copes with the inevitable heckling and abuse that is sure to follow his every step.

Before all that happens, however, Woods’s one-time coach Butch Harmon has advised him to come out and “risk the embarrassment of a full and frank news conference over his infidelities.”

THE relationship between Woodsand Harmon has been a littlefrosty since the parting of their ways and it won’t have warmed up to any great extent by Harmon asking aloud over the weekend: “Where is he? We could fine Osama bin Laden easier. How long can you spend on a yacht in the middle of the ocean?”

Closer to the mark, though, is Harmon’s comment that “if there is anybody who can block out this extra stuff, Tiger is probably that guy.”

This kind of stuff certainly keeps the Woods pot boiling nicely as we all await news of the whereabouts and the intentions of the game’s greatest.

Tiger is still the runaway world number one ahead of Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Lee Westwood and Jim Furyk. The three Irishmen in the top 50 have all gone back one spot, Pádraig Harrington to sixth, Rory McIlroy to 10th and Graeme McDowell to 40th. Geoff Ogilvy, the Australian winner of the SBS tournament in Hawaii on Sunday, has jumped from 14th to ninth while South African Charl Schwartzel is up from 65th to 51st after his victory in the Africa Open. The European Tour moves on this week to the Joburg Open in which the Irish interest is served by Darren Clarke, Gary Murphy, Michael Hoey, Niall Kearney, Gary Murphy and Simon Thornton.