Tiger Woods never set out to break Jack Nicklaus’s record of major championship victories. That narrative certainly took off as he began racking up titles, and it’s one he never shied away from as the green jackets and Claret Jugs accumulated. But in the early days, he wasn’t focusing on the ultimate hardware.
Woods kept a list of Nicklaus’s accomplishments by age, and they didn’t involve majors. It was about breaking 80 for the first time or breaking 70 or winning a state amateur or the U.S. Amateur or some other feat. Tiger checked those off ahead of Jack’s schedule. “The guy’s the best out there and the best of all time,” Woods told Time in 2015. “If I can beat each age that he did it, then I have a chance at being the best.”
