5 Things: Tiger Woods – I can still beat Jack’s record

1) Tiger – I can still beat Jack’s record

Tiger Woods’ game was supposedly too ‘vulnerable’ to return at the recent Safeway Open, last December he described any further successes would be ‘gravy’.

Now, though, the player who has rarely spoken a negative word in the past two decades was back to his old self and insisting that he can still beat Jack Nicklaus’ 18 Majors.

In a rare chat show appearance with Charlie Rose he was still eyeing making some more history..

Rose: Do you believe you’ll get 18 Majors?

Woods: To be honest with you, no.

Rose: You don’t?

Woods: No.

Rose: You’ve accepted that?

Woods: I’ve accepted I’m going to get more.

Woods then dissolves into laughter. Who knows what he really thinks but here was the chance to give a non-committal answer and he couldn’t help himself.

The 14-time Major champion added that he hopes to back in December at the Hero World Challenge, a tournament he hosts himself, and that his only regret, in amongst all the public humiliations, was not spending another year at Stanford University.

2) Dan Jenkins isn’t buying it, shock..

Let me see if I’ve got this right: Tiger’s afraid to put his game on display in the Safeway Classic, but he might win five more majors?

— Dan Jenkins (@danjenkinsgd) October 20, 2016

3) Woosie’s U-turn on Augusta

Last year we sad goodbye to Tom Watson at Augusta, a farewell that was planned, and then, after shooting 19 over for the two rounds, Ian Woosnam also called it quits.

“That’s my last go. I am not fit enough to play with my bad back,” Woosnam said. “Every time I play this course it just seizes on me, and I can’t swing the club properly. I am in pain all the way round so it’s time to say bye-bye really.”

But now the Welshman has had a change of mind and will be back at the Masters for another go.

Last week Woosnam was inducted into the Hall of Fame and he is buoyed again at the prospect of returning to the year’s opening Major.

“This has given me a bit more enthusiasm to play,” Woosnam added. “I’m going to play for another couple of years at least. As long as I don’t embarrass myself too much and the other players I’m going to have another couple of goes.”

4) Harrington was planning PGA Tour raid

Padraig Harrington might have three Majors to his name but his exemption for Augusta ran out in 2014. That was the first Masters the Dubliner had missed since 1999 and he was again absent last year.

To change all that Harrington said going into the Portugal Masters that he was happy to miss the European Tour’s Final Series in a bid to rack up some world ranking points with an end-of-season raid on the PGA Tour.

Harrington was down to 159^th in the world and he had won just once since his PGA victory in 2008. He is now up to 97th.

“You have to choose what’s going to make you play the best in the Majors. At the moment I need to get in to the top 50 in the world to get in to the Masters, but if I won one of the last three in the States I’d get in to. My form is pretty good, so if I could manage to win one of them and get in to the Masters that would be a huge bonus.”

How things change.. Harrington shot 23 under at Vilamoura and is now up to 43^rd on the Race to Dubai. And with a place at the World Tour Championship in Dubia looking secure there should be no more talk of heading back to the States this year.