Jack Nicklaus says he feels for Tiger Woods, as he believes his record of 18 Major titles would have been broken had woods not suffered from so many injuries.
Knee surgeries, back surgeries and most recently ankle fusion surgery following his serious car crash in February 2021 have seen Woods sit out lengthy spells on the sidelines.
Even so, Woods collected his 15th Major title with that memorable victory at the 2019 Masters at Augusta, but he's barely made it onto the course in recent years.
Nicklaus was 46 when he won The Masters in 1986 to complete his 18-Major haul, and with Woods just turning 48 time is running out, and the current Major record holder thinks he'll come up short.
Woods was a dominant force in the game, landing the famous Tiger Slam in 2000-01 when he claimed four Majors in a row, but injuries curtailed the dominance.
Nicklaus, though, thinks Woods would have broken his record had he managed to stay fit more throughout his career.
“If he remained healthy I think he would’ve gotten it, but he didn’t remain healthy,” Nicklaus said on the Golf Channel.
"We all have injuries, we all have different things in our life which change things and Tiger had his problems.
"I feel bad for him about it but it is what it is. He's still a great influence on the game of golf.
"Tiger and I have always had a great relationship, even when he's trying to break my records. I said to him 'nobody wants their records to be broken, but I don't want them not to be broken because you don't have the ability to do so.'
"So I feel bad for him on that."
Nicklaus thinks Woods could well be successful on his return to competitive action, but it will all depend on how his patched-up body holds up.
"My take on Tiger," Nicklaus added. "He'll probably play a few tournaments this year, he may be successful depending on how his body holds up, but I'm just delighted to see him have the ability to go play."
