Tiger Woods: Is Tiger's Strive to Match Jack Nicklaus Actually Hurting Him?

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Tiger Woods has been stuck on 14 majors since 2008, and he has one more chance this year to get one closer to Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors.

Tiger made a somewhat encouraging comeback from injury at the Bridgestone Invitational this weekend. If you forget the fact that he's Tiger Woods and has won this course seven times, it wasn't a bad return after a 12-week injury layoff.

Tiger will have one more chance to end his major drought at the PGA Championship and will be hoping to repeat his Masters performance when a last-day surge ended in a tie for fourth place.

Since then, he missed the U.S. and British Open. Tiger will be hoping to end this year on a bang.

"We get four chances to peak per year, and unfortunately, I was only able to try and peak for one," Woods said. "Obviously, my timetable isn't very long to try and peak for the last one here."

At 35 years old, Tiger is still ahead of the course to tie and pass Nicklaus' record of 18 majors, but is the quest hurting him more than inspiring him?

Firing his long-time caddie Steve Williams, saying he just needed a change seems like a knee-jerk reaction, and it also makes it seem like Tiger thinks he needs to take drastic measures to win another major, let alone four or five.

He's faced several knee injuries in his career, and he never takes a long enough break from the course to fully recover, meaning he'll just need to take another break a few months later.

Tiger ignores the media fixation on his quest to catch Nicklaus, but when he is continuously battling injuries, it makes you wonder if he's coming back too soon because he's afraid his window is closing.

Injuries and poor performances have not only made 18 look even further away, but he's lost the imposing aura he used to have when he was the undisputed best golfer in the world.

U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy says he would be intimidated by Tiger, if he knew the old Tiger was going to show up.

"It would be a little intimidating if you knew for sure that he was going to come back and play the way he did in 2000 or 2001," he said. "But who knows for sure what way the game is going to go?"

McIlroy and others are certainly right that Tiger is not who he used to be, and he hasn't yet showed real signs of returning to that, so you have to wonder why he keeps rushing it.

He has plenty of time to catch Nicklaus' record, but poor performances put a damper on that notion and make that peak look farther and farther away.

Keep it locked to Bleacher Report's Golf Page for up-to-date news and analysis of the Bridgestone.

-Neri Stein

Most recent updates:

Flag

Props (0)