Will Tiger Woods break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championships? It has been the question since Woods burst on the scene in 1997 and won the Masters. Almost everyone in golf has been asked to answer it, and Woods must be sick of getting the question.
He was asked at the Hero World Challenge last December whether he would be fine with not winning again.
"I think pretty much everything beyond this will be gravy," he said.
Then this week, Woods told "CBS This Morning" co-anchor Charlie Rose the same thing ... but then he added a curious follow-up response while flashing a big grin.
Here's the back-and-forth.
Charlie Rose: "Do you believe you'll get 18 majors?"
Tiger 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."
More what?! More than 18 majors? More majors than his current total of 14? More games of soccer against his kids?
I gave this thing the Zapruder Film treatment, and I think this was an admission that he will never reach 18 majors (which is an admission of the reality of the situation), but then he followed that up with a joke that he's going to win more majors than Nicklaus just for fun.
Woods, however, confirmed to ESPN that he was serious.
When he was later asked if he meant he intends to break Nicklaus' mark, Woods simply said, "Correct."
Five more majors, eh? That's Phil Mickelson's entire career. More than Rory McIlroy has. More than twice as many as Jason Day and Dustin Johnson have combined. In his 40s. After three back surgeries. Good luck.
Look, I get that he's sort of put in a corner with this question, but he said last December at the Hero World Challenge that everything from that point forward was "gravy" in terms of winning. That's the right way to look at this, and he's admitted it before. I'm not sure why he's going away from that now.
Here's a full preview of the interview.
