yeah I think Tiger's time of ever being a favorite in another golf tournament is through. but hey, i'd love to see it

Tiger is definitely a dog at this to break the record, but I think maybe something like 40% he still does. he is essentially right where Jack was, but Tiger should be able to play for longer than Jack did. well, thats what I thought until a few months ago anyways. its still reasonable to think he gets 4 or 5 more over the next 10 years.

The injuries are hard to predict but Nicklaus didn't win his 15th until he was 38 I think. Though coming back and then having more medical issues makes him seem much less likely to do it than he seemed in mid\late 2010.

Tiger needs to get healthy and get his putting stroke back. Rory seemed to make everything this week, but when Tiger was at his peak he seemed to make everything for multi-year stretches.

At this point I don't think Rory having the tournament he did significantly reduces Tiger's chances of winning another 4 or 5 majors. If Rory wins another major by several shots or continues to putt this well and strts to dominate the Euro tour then I reconsider.

it's not even Rory that's the problem, it's the entire field of great young golfers. Jason Day is 23 and just finished 2nd in his 2nd straight Major, and the list of others like him is a long one

First Tiger needs to get back playing. Wouldn't shock me if we didn't see him tee it up again until 2012. Hope Im wrong and he is in the field for The Open in July.

Rory has featured heavily in the past 4 majors on the bounce. Kid is going to win multiple Majors in the coming years. No doubt about it.

That's exactly it. I would think the level of competition is at a ridiculous high right now and we're talking about golfers who haven't even reached their primes. Kinda reminds me of another half-sport this forum is so obsessed with. It's not so much that Tiger will never be "back"...I'm sure he'll play some brilliant golf in the next five years and maybe take a major or two, but the issue now is that guys like McIlroy and Day are so good that the fields will be tougher than most of what Tiger's faced.

I remember when Sergio was a lock to win 5-6 majors.

Who knows what Sergio would have done if he had won a major at 22. It's great seeing him back playing some decent golf (putting aside).

Rory has got the monkey (or gorilla as G-Mac called it) of his back so early in his career. He can kick on from here.

it also took Sergio Garcia 8 years to finish as high as 2nd for a 2nd time in a major. Rory has done better this season

This.

Sergio's putter gonna Sergio's putter, but he played very well this week and I still think we'll see him break through at some point.

I don't. His ball striking is still fantastic but when you putt as bad as him it's going to take it's toll, sooner or later, on the other part's of your game.

Bad putters have hot weeks, plenty of below average putters win majors when they gain control and confidence of their putting, e.g. Bernhard Langer. No way you can rule out Sergio based on that alone.

I hope you're right, I'd love to see him win a Major but I just think mentally, he is shot. He doesn't seem to be enjoying himself anymore, it all looks like such hard work now.

Unless he does something in the next few weeks he won't be in the field for The Open which will end his Major run.

i saw sergio have such a LOLMISS on a putt on 17 yesterday. also watching golfers tilt after the hole IRL makes me feel so much better about my own tilt issues.

Maybe not in terms of winning the most majors, but Tiger is already the GOAT. Improvements in technology have only helped the competition, and he would have absolutely crushed Jack et al. using their rickety ass excuses for golf clubs. Not to mention Tiger has won 14 majors in a day where competition is much deeper than when any of those guys played, new equipment or not.

Jack Nicklaus > Bobby Jones >>>>>>> Mike Weir > Constantino Rocca > Tiger

Tiger gonna have to play majors before he wins any

nailed it

Butnahhhhh

Look, Tiger himself has established Jack's professional major record as the benchmark for GOATness. I think there are arguments to be made for Tiger if he doesn't get there, but that's all they will be - arguments. It won't be cut and dried. Though Tiger has made up some ground on Jack's number of 2nd place finishes in majors over the last few years, so he's got that going for him.

This may be a dumb question, but how do we know whether or not the competition has become that much stiffer? Average scores can't be used as a barometer, so how can we be sure?

I'm not saying he's a lock/dog or whatever, but it's not like he's played well in recent majors he has contended in.

If he can ever get back to playing like the Tiger of old, I doubt the level of competition will matter all that much... Of course that's a giant IF.

I think law of large numbers suggests that way way more players today makes it extremely likely that he's beating better fields, but then again a 100 year old Tom Watson schooled everyone but one player last year and Greg Norman did something similar just prior to that..............

The level of competition has gotten tougher in every sport. There's a lot more money in sports today than in 1975.

i almost hope that Tiger doesn't tee it up again until 2012. Getting barely almost "100%" healthy then trying to go out and win majors is not really working. He is good enough that he can almost pull it off or actually pull it off as he did in the US Open but this **** ain't working. Get completely healthy and refocused and use Rory as your motivation. Tiger is the alpha competitor and Rory might be the best thing that can happen to him at this point in time. As far as his age that is really not a huge factor in my mind right now. He is still in prime zone imo and he has a lot more major wins in the future. I think he passes Jack still at some point. Like Jack he will always be a threat at The Masters when he is mid-40s and will win multiple Masters in his later years compared to other majors.

I personally think Tiger is the GOAT but passing Jack is important so there isn't circle jerk arguments about it when he hangs it up competing for majors.

injuries god dammit. Tiger most talented of all time ainec.

I was actually referring to this movement of "young guns" versus the players from a few years ago when Tiger was dominating. Are these new players that much better than the Vijays and Phils of of the past?