Has Tiger Woods ever revealed what his personal barometer for a successful career is? I had thought it was "Pass Nicklaus in majors won -- all else is meanmingless except for in preparation for majors".
I know JuniorNB is assuming that, but when did Tiger say that?
As an aside, the answer to this question of Tiger's desires has no bearing on the thread premise.
Are you fishing here Otis or does one of Tiger's greatest fans ever really not understand the importance that Tiger places on the majors?
If you believe BrainyQuote and ThinkExist they attribute these to Tiger:
The major championships have always been a special focus in my career, and as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be.
If money titles meant anything, I'd play more tournaments. The only thing that means a lot to me is winning. If I have more wins than anybody else and win more majors than anybody else in the same year, then it's been a good year.
You can win all the tournaments you want, but the majors are what you're remembered for. It's how you're measured as a champion in our sport. The majors are where it's at.
That's why I've busted my butt on the range for hours on end and made changes to get to this point where I'm able to compete at the highest level in major championships. That's where you want to be.
There is also the first 45 seconds of this video. He specifically states 4 times a year is the goal and he uses the other tournaments to prepare for the majors.
From Forbes
Tiger Woods is the number one ranked golfer in the world. He is also the highest-paid athlete in the world, at $65 million a year. And yet, neither of those two things really matter to him.As a boy, Woods famously had a poster of Jack Nicklaus in his room. It served as a reminder of his goal in his golf career: To top Nicklaus’s record of 18 major championship wins.
It's hard to understand but even though Tiger just utterly crushed the field sunday, he probably considers it a pyrrhic victory if he doesn't win a major this year. Tiger wants to win every tournament he enters, but the bar he judges himself against is Jack's major total. Tiger is still a dangerous golfer and probably has alot of golf left. I would not be shocked to see him break through again and go through another vintage Tiger-esque tear of tour dominance as he permanently etches his name as the most accomplished golfer ever.
What's odd however, is that it was pretty much a given 5 years ago. The question was not if he breaks Jack's record, it was by how much? Now with every year that slips by without a major the pressure and questions keeps building. What was once a sure thing could now possibly not happen. Tiger has pretty much checked off every goal on his bucket list except one, and that one just happens to be the first item on his list.
