Tiger Woods' Quest for Jack Nicklaus' Record Is Now out His His Control

Whether you love him or hate him, there’s no escaping the fact that the majority of the golf world’s attention is constantly focused on one man: Tiger Woods.

Why, you may ask?

Well, the answer to that question is quite simple.

Over the past 15 years, Woods has compiled 14 major titles and 98 worldwide victories.

In Woods, you are looking at arguably one of the top two or three greatest golfers to have ever lived, which is quite an accomplishment considering that professional golf as we know it dates back to the 1860s.

Everything Woods does is scrutinized more than any other golfer and possibly more than any other athlete in the world.

Analysts like Johnny Miller right on down to amateur bloggers continually break down Woods’ swing and offer their “expertise” on how he can fix it.

And if it’s not Woods’ swing that’s the problem, well, it’s his putting stroke, his short game, his mental game, his “lost aura” or whatever else happens to be that week’s trending topic as it pertains to Woods’ game.

That being said, perhaps we have been focusing our attention in all the wrong places.

Perhaps it’s not the golf swing, the putter, the mental game or the short game that will ultimately determine whether or not Woods breaks Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championship victories.  

Perhaps it will all come down to something that is completely out of Woods’ control—the health of his left leg.

As Woods withdrew from yesterday’s WGC Cadillac Championship due to an injury to his left Achilles tendon and was quickly whisked away to the players' parking lot where he jumped into a black Mercedes-Benz and hightailed it out of town, one couldn’t help but think that Woods’ quest for Nicklaus’ 18 majors may end before he’s even given a chance to regain his swing or putting stroke.

Woods has now had four surgeries (that we know about) to his left knee, including a complete ACL reconstruction in 2008. In addition, Woods has been struggling for two years with his left Achilles tendon, which may or may not be a side effect of trying to avoid putting too much pressure on his surgically-repaired left knee.

Woods would certainly not be the first great athlete to have his career completely derailed by injuries.

Mickey Mantle, Pete Maravich, Bo Jackson, Fred Couples, Eric Lindros and Gayle Sayers are just a few others that immediately come to mind, although there are undoubtedly thousands of other promising athletes that have been permanently sent to the sidelines due to injuries.

So, we can harp on Woods’ golf swing and his putter until we are blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is that a poor swing or a bulky putter MAY derail Woods quest for Nicklaus’ record.

What is an absolute certainty, however, is that if Woods’ left leg is finished, so too is his career.

And the image of Woods' limping off the Blue Monster Course yesterday afternoon was yet another reminder that Woods' physical health may be his biggest opponent over the next few years as he attempts to scale Mt. Nicklaus. 

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