Tiger Woods has won 14 major tournaments and is four shy of tying Jack Nicklaus' all-time record. However, Woods has been struggling in recent years, especially as of late, and Nicklaus believes he knows what the problem is.
Although Woods is currently undergoing a swing change with his new "consultant" Chris Como, many pundits and fans believe his struggles are mental because of his glaring short game issues. In his past two events he was hitting his short shots both fat and thin at times and frequently came nowhere near the hole. He shot a career-worst 82 three weeks ago and missed his 13th career cut as a result.
"Tiger is struggling, I don't think there's any question about that," Nicklaus said Friday on the Golf Channel. "... I think he's struggling more between his ears than he is anyplace else."
"I think Tiger will turn it around. He's too dedicated, he works too hard at it, he's got too much talent. He'll figure it out. And personally, I think he needs to figure it out himself. Because a teacher can't teach what's inside your head. You've got to be able to put that positive thought into your head yourself."
Nicklaus related to Woods' struggles and talked about how his short-game was awful during the 1979 season. And who better? Nicklaus is regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time (if not the greatest)and likely knows what might be going on with Woods, who is considered the greatest golfer of his generation and will go down as one of the best ever when all is said and done.
"I was actually putting it around bunkers. I couldn't chip it. I was terrible, I was just awful," Nicklaus added.
Woods is ranked second all-time with 79 PGA Tour victories and passed Nicklaus (73 wins) on that list, but still trails the Golden Bear by four major championship victories. The window for the 39-year-old Woods is closing, especially since he's in the midst of yet another swing change this late in his career, but there remains hope because Nicklaus won three majors in his forties (1980 PGA Championship, 1980 US Open and 1986 Masters).
As he endures his hiatus from the PGA Tour and looks to improve his game, perhaps Nicklaus' words can give Woods some motivation.
