Around the Links: Jack Nicklaus Still Believes in Tiger

DUBLIN, Ohio -- A number of years ago Jack Nicklaus accepted the idea that Tiger Woods would eventually break his record of 18 major championships.

He still believes it -- but no longer as a foregone conclusion.

"I felt for a long time that my record would probably get broken some day," Nicklaus said Tuesday at Muirfield Village where he is hosting this week's Memorial Tournament. "But I felt like with the problems that he had, I was asked about this year particularly.

"This year Pebble Beach and St. Andrews are important golf courses for him. He basically has won on those fairly easily through the years. If he has problems with those golf courses, they won't come around for a while. He's 34 years old now. Maybe it might be tougher."

Woods, who is playing this week for the first time since withdrawing from The Players Championship a month ago with neck pain, will have to hurry back to top form before the U.S. Open is played in two weeks to get maximum efficiency out of Pebble Beach -- and maybe even St. Andrews at the British Open in July.

Nicklaus, however, says he stands by his prediction made years ago.

"Do I still think Tiger will break my record? Yeah, I think he probably will," Nicklaus said. "He is a very dedicated, hard-working golfer. But then again, I always said you have to do it. It's not just a gimme. You have got to go do it. We'll watch."

Woods has the benefit of having Nicklaus to chase.

Nicklaus won his 14th major at age 35. Woods, 34, already has 14. Nicklaus won his last major at age 46, giving Woods 47 more opportunities before he reaches the same age to break the record.

Nicklaus broke the previous record of 14 held by Bobby Jones and then won four more majors over the next 11 years. Looking back, the Golden Bear says he probably wasted some good years.

"When I had 14 (majors) I was still in the prime of my career -- 36, 37, somewhere in there," Nicklaus said. "But it wasn't a big priority to me because I'd already broken that record. Did I win more? Yeah, I won more because I still liked to play."

"So, when you look back on it, man, I wish I would have played harder. Then again, I look back and I'm glad I didn't because I know my kids and I spend my time as a family."
-- Jack Nicklaus In 1980 at age 40, Nicklaus won the U.S. Open and PGA. His next, and last, major came in the 1986 Masters at 46.

"After I won when I was 40, I didn't work real hard," he said. "I felt like that was the end of my career as it relates to working and going after something. You know, I think the win in '86 was a mistake. I shouldn't have won that.

"So, when you look back on it, man, I wish I would have played harder. Then again, I look back and I'm glad I didn't because I know my kids and I spend my time as a family."


NEEDED: ANOTHER SPONSOR

Add this week's Memorial Tournament to the list of PGA Tour events looking for sponsorship support.

The event hosted by Jack Nicklaus does not carry a title sponsor's name, but for the past seven year's has partnered with Morgan Stanley, which served as principal sponsor.

It may not be as much a statement of the current economic hard times as it is a concern for public perception by the investment company.

"Quite frankly, they can't sponsor the Memorial Tournament anymore," PGA Tour player Joe Ogilvie, a former member of the tour policy board with an economics degree from Duke, told the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. "The political environment in Washington is too strong, and our brand is not strong enough to give them cover."


FOR THE GOOD OF EUROPE

The relationship between two of Europe's biggest modern-day golf names is not a warm and fuzzy one.

A dandy feud started after the 2007 Seve Trophy when Nick Faldo (pictured) criticized Colin Montgomerie for not being a good team player, and warmed up even more when Faldo, the 2008 European Ryder Cup team captain, declined to add Monty to the team as an at-large pick.

But Montgomerie, this year's captain when Europe hosts this fall's matches in Wales, seems willing to go to great lengths in an effort to help his team rebound from the Americans' upset victory two year's ago over Faldo's squad.

Montgomerie says he wants to sit down and visit with Faldo to pick the former captain's brain. He also wants to chat with past captains Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam -- but there's no question they will talk back.

"I will be talking to Nick," Monty said. "He will be over at the Open Championship in St. Andrews commentating for television, so that will be an opportunity. I'm not doing it because I have to, but because I want to.

"Sam, Bernhard and Ian were all winning captains, but sometimes you can learn more from a defeat than you can from a win. If Nick can sit down with me, and we can talk openly and honestly about what he would have done differently in hindsight, we can learn from that for the sake of the European Tour.

"I am in a position where I was selected as captain by the European Tour to try to win back the Ryder Cup."


MENTIONABLES

• U.S. players are winless in 25 of the past 26 LPGA events. Michelle Wie is the only American to win on the women's tour in the past year. Ironically, she won a tournament played in Mexico.

• John Daly's 4-under first-round 66 at Colonial was his first bogey-free round on the PGA Tour since the second round of the 2008 Bob Hope Classic. Actually, he played 35 holes until finally making a double bogey. He finished 66th at 3 under.

• Zach Johnson's win Sunday at Colonial was earned with scores of 65-66-64-64 for a total 259, a 21-under total that was two shots better than the previous tournament record held by Kenny Perry on the way to victories in 2003 and 2005.

• How easy did Colonial play last week? Heath Slocum carded rounds of 69-69-69-67 and finished T50. There were 28 players in the field who shot all four rounds in the 60s.


GOOD FOR PAVIN

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin caused a bunch of golf heads to spin last week with comments suggesting that Tiger Woods might or might not make this year's team.

"I'm not going to treat Tiger any different than any other player," Pavin said. "He's certainly not going to be an automatic pick. He's just going to be treated like everyone else. I'd love to have him on the team, but I want him to be playing well."

What was Pavin supposed to say?

If Woods isn't playing well, if for some reason (there's plenty to pick from) he loses his game, why should Pavin make him a pick?


THE FORMER MRS. SHARK

Here's an interesting exchange that took place with tennis legend Chris Evert, the former Mrs. Greg Norman, that appeared on a New York Times tennis blog.

Q: Your three marriages ended in divorce. Are you dating, and would you consider marrying again?

Evert: "Right now it's the last thing on my mind. I'm not dating. I got the wind taken out of my sails on this last one and so I'm not considering it. It's the furthest thing from my mind."