The Real Reason Tiger Woods Will Never Catch Jack Nicklaus

With Tiger Woods once again suffering from a back injury, it looks like he will be forced to miss the PGA Championship this week, the final major of the year. If he does, it will increase the number of rounds Tiger has missed (due to injury or missed cut) at the majors to 30 since turning pro. Of those, 28 have come in the last seven years.

At the same age (38), Jack Nicklaus had missed a total of eight rounds in his career at the majors, and none due to injury. In fact, by the time Nicklaus won his 18th major at the age of 46, he only missed 15 rounds at a major with only three of those due to injury. Those came when he was 43 years old and was forced to withdraw from the 1983 Masters before the second round.

Which gets us to why Tiger will never catch Jack: He is just not giving himself enough opportunities. Nicklaus' frequency of wins slowed down in his late 30s and early 40s. But he was out there every time and had more opportunities. Woods is not and there is no indication it will ever get better.