Tiger's trail...and triumph...

Thoughts while putting the 2007 majors to sleep... Nice to see someone on the tour other than Phil Mickelson has children-- baby Sam in red on a Sunday, no less. Took me back to 1986 when Jack Nicklaus' son was his caddy at the Masters- if Tiger's daughter caddies for him in 2028 that will be something. It's rather fitting 18 majors is the standard set by Nicklaus... isn't it? Tiger needs 5 to catch and 6 to pass Jack; only five other players in the modern era (beginning in the 50's when the PGA Championship went to stroke play) have as many as 6 major titles. While Gary Player and Arnold Palmer were Nicklaus' early rivals, Lee Trevino was the mid-career foil and Tom Watson played the role of Jack's sunset challenger, only Nick Faldo could be called a contemporary of Tiger Woods (Faldo put the green jacket on Tiger in 1997). The question arises--is Woods' dominance due to an abscence of rivals or is Tiger's abscence of rivals due to his dominance? So when does he get it done? I see, barring injury, Tiger winning at least 9 more majors during his career to finish at 22--beginning with twice next year, once in '09, twice in '10...setting up a 35 year old Woods going for-and getting-number 19 in the 2011 Masters. Lost in the shuffle...another charge comes up short for Ernie Els. Unfortunately for the "Big Easy", his career will be a series of "what-ifs": one win in eleven top five Grand Slam finishes from 2000 to 2004. Els remains stuck at three Majors, no mean feat--but think--if he had tured just two or three of those near-misses into victories, Tiger has his rival. Meanwhile, the implosion of Sergio Garcia continues--the "best player never to win a Major" was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard Saturday, making his 2007 a career lowlight: missed cuts at the Masters and US Open, a slow melting in a British Open he led for 3+ days, and another Sunday skipped because of a silly error. Luckily for Garcia, he's only 27 and has plenty of time to mature. Makes one appreciate a young Tiger all these years later.