Revisiting Tiger vs Jack

A couple years ago, it was pretty easy to say that Tiger Woods was going to break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories. Now, it's not as easy to say that for sure with the way Tiger has been playing. So I thought I'd revisit where each player was at this point in their careers. Conveniently, you can compare both age and number of majors played and get an equal comparison. On January 21, 1976, Jack turned 36 years old and had played in 56 major tournaments as a professional. On December 30 of this year, Tiger will turn 36 and has played in 56 majors as a pro.

Here's the comparison through 56 majors played as a pro:
Player  Wins    2nd's    Top 3's    Top 5's    Top 10's  
Jack Nicklaus  1411323742
Tiger Woods  146232935

Exactly the same number of wins, but Jack was in contention more.

When did Jack get his 15th major victory? It wasn't until the 1978 Open Championship (then called the British Open), which took 11 more majors. So, you think, he kind of fell off the map for the next 11 tournaments. Not the case at all. In those next 11 tournaments, there was only once he was out of the top 10, and that was a tie for 11th! Always on the leader board. Here's the "upcoming" events for Jack:
Tournament    Result    Win    2nd    Top 3    Top 5    Top 10  
1976 MastersT3  XXX
1976 US OpenT11     
1976 British Open  T2 XXXX
1976 PGAT4   XX
1977 Masters2 XXXX
1977 US OpenT10    X
1977 British Open  2 XXXX
1977 PGA3  XXX
1978 Masters7    X
1978 US OpenT6    X
1978 British Open  1X XXX

I think Tiger has to pick up his game, and soon, if he still wants to be considered the best golfer of all time.

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