It's extremely hard to conquer a 47-year-old record when you don't even have the self-confidence that you can achieve it.

According to Oliver Brown of the UK Telegraph, Tiger Woods has expressed doubt about conquering Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championship wins.

When asked if a four-year drought and seeing Rory McIlroy take the golf world by storm has clouded his certainty of beating Nicklaus' record, Woods answered, "Absolutely."

It’s like everybody else. I’ve gone through periods where I didn’t hit it very good, didn’t putt very good. I know what I can do, but sometimes it just doesn’t come out. That’s when I’ve just got to go back and work harder. I’ve got to get out there and do my work on the range, on the course and make that solid, so that when I get into a tournament situation it is able to come out.

Hi-res-154736189_crop_exact Stanley Chou/Getty Images
It's been a tough journey for Woods since his 2009 scandal, and more currently, a difficult 2012 campaign. Despite winning three tournaments this year, Woods has been unable to add to his major count and failed to earn a point for the United States in the 2012 Ryder Cup.
The rising of McIlroy has certainly taken a toll on Woods' confidence, which has directly affected his game on the course, but as a whole, Woods is a different player than he was in the early 2000s.

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No longer do we see a confident Woods, whose peers knew they had no shot if Tiger held a share of the lead entering the final day of a tournament. His drives are shorter and less accurate, his chips not nearly as deadly and his putting no longer spot on.

You can chalk it up to his troubled personal life or the blossoming of McIlroy, but the fact remains that if not even Tiger Woods is confident enough to surpass the astonishing record set by Jack Nicklaus, odds are it's probably not going to happen.

 

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