Here is the Panic in regards the Tiger's Descent... Woods was absolutely dominant for a dozen years (97-2009)— which is a long time to dominate in golf. The greatest golfers have had a fairly short window of domination. Usually when that window closes, they stop winning major championships. • Ben Hogan won all his majors from 1946 through 1953 and though he contended for years (finishing second four times in the next three years), he never won another one. • Arnold Palmer won all his majors from 1958 through 1964. • Tom Watson (more on him in a minute) won all his majors from 1975 through 1983. • Sam Snead won all his majors from 1946 through 1954. • Nick Faldo won all his majors from 1987 through 1996. • Bobby Jones won all his majors from 1923 through 1930. Add to that, only 2 players, Jack and Hogan have ever won 4+ majors after the age of 37. Phil Mickelson, one of the all time greats has 4 Career Major Wins. Tiger needs to have Phil's Career production to catch Jack. Those are clearly not good statistics. Now for the Perspective. Tiger was an all time Winner for the first 12 years of his career. From 97 to 2009 he started 239 tournaments and won 71 times. That's a Winning Pct of 29.7%. Then came the accident heard around the world. Tiger would go on to lose his next 30 Tour starts before finally winning at Bay Hill in 2012. Since his victory at Bay Hill last march Tiger Woods has gone on to win 7 of his last 24 Tournaments. That's a winning percentage of 29.1%. Tiger is definitely in the midst of a seemingly interminable 5 year Major Victory drought but a case can be made that the first three years should be thrown out altogether because he wasn't winning ANYTHING during those years. Tiger is winning at an all time rate once again. Granted, since regaining his dominant winning ways he is now indeed 0 for 6 in Major Tournaments but just because he isn't winning those particular tournaments doesn't mean he can't. 7 of 24 is pretty awesome. And if he keeps winning at that percentage the likelihood that one of his wins will fall on a Major Tournament weekend are pretty good. Age and injury have presented some real issues for Tiger's pursuit of Jack's all time record.... Is it time for Panic or Perspective?
