Rozner: Even Jack thinks Tiger will make run at 18
The experts have gone from believing Tiger Woods would never win again to thinking that Woods will make a serious run at 18 majors.
Soon.
That is, of course, the record held by Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear who says he never lost his belief in the Big Cat.
"I felt for a long time that he was going to win again," Nicklaus said when he called into Golf Channel from the Bahamas. "The next two majors are at Bethpage, where he's won, and at Pebble Beach, where he's won.
"He's got me shaking in my boots, guys."
Woods is also within a victory of catching Sam Snead for the most PGA Tour victories (82), a record that has stood for 69 years.
"I never worried about his driver. He never drove the ball straight anyway," Nicklaus said of Woods, who won his 15th major Sunday at the Masters. "He always got the ball from somewhere up around the green.
"Tiger is such a great putter. He has such a great short game. He has such distance control with his irons, best I've ever seen of anybody in the game.
"If you get a guy who can do that, even if he wasn't healthy, and he could bunt the ball off the tee somewhere, with his iron game and his short game, I knew he would win again."
It was again his superb iron play that led Woods to victory at Augusta, leading the field in strokes-gained approach, which translated to first in greens in regulation (81 percent).
That included hitting 14 of 16 par-3s and only 35 of 56 fairways (63 percent). Woods was 53rd in driving accuracy and 44th in driving distance, making his iron game even more impressive.
It's also quite a change from 22 years earlier when he won his first Masters, leading the field in driving distance, 23 yards more than anyone else and 50 yards farther than most of the field.
His driving average was 323 yards in 1997 and last week he was bunting it 294 yards.
"The body's not the same as it was a long time ago," Woods said with a smile, "but I still have good hands."
The body is not the same after four back surgeries and four years away from the game, and he's just now starting to figure out how to move the ball around a golf course.
"I had serious doubts after what transpired a couple years ago," Woods said of his severe back pain. "I couldn't walk. I couldn't sit. I really couldn't do much of anything. Luckily, I had this (spinal fusion) procedure that gave me a chance at having a normal life.
"Then, I realized I could swing a club again. I thought if I could piece this together somehow, I knew I still had the hands to do it."
The first two days at Augusta, Woods missed several putts inside of 5 feet, but he also made some bombs, dropping 5 putts from outside 20 feet, which led the field at Augusta.
Assuming Woods stays healthy and has enough practice time, every part of his game has a chance to get better, but he's still not rolling the ball like he did in his prime, and that will be essential in the upcoming majors.
It won't be as easy as some are suddenly making it out to be with fields better and deeper than they've ever been, and the talent at the top stacked up like planes over the Kennedy at rush hour.
Next up is the PGA Championship - moved from August to May - at Bethpage, where Woods won the U.S. Open by 3 shots over Phil Mickelson in 2002.
After that, it's the U.S. Open on Father's Day weekend at Pebble Beach, where Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open by 15 strokes. He finished 12-under par with a bogey-free 67 in the final round, no other player sniffing level par for the week.
The Open Championship in July is at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, the first at the course in 68 years. Woods will be gunning for his fourth Claret Jug and first since 2006 at Royal Liverpool.
If he can snag another major this year, the conversation will start to get serious. If he gets another at Bethpage, the conversation at Pebble will be insane.
"You know," said Brooks Koepka, "18 is a whole lot closer than people think."
Wow.