Jack Nicklaus's major target slips away for birthday boy Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods won 14 majors by the age of 32, but turns 40 today, facing a daunting task to match the record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus.

What once looked inevitable now looks impossible, especially when the man himself concedes any future success would be a bonus, following his litany of surgeries.

As surprising as it was to see Woods shoot rounds of 85 in Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament and 80 in this year’s US Open, it was genuinely shocking to see his press conference at the Hero World Challenge in December.

Seasoned golf journalists expecting a cursory update on the health of the tournament host were treated to a starkly honest assessment that Woods had no timetable for his return, “nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build towards”.

The former world number one admitted: “I think pretty much everything beyond this will be gravy. If that’s all it entails, then I’ve had a pretty good run.”

His fans will point to the likes of Darren Clarke, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, who won the Open Championship in consecutive years at the age of 42 or above. They will point to Nicklaus, who won two majors aged 40, then defied the critics who said his career was over by winning his 18th major at the age of 46 in the 1986 Masters.

But none of Clarke, Els, Mickelson or Nicklaus have had anything like the number of serious injuries Woods has endured. With his world ranking headed towards 500, this long-held target now looks beyond even him.