Woods might have to settle for another standard

"While he's got been gone for two? years, these guys that have all learned the way to play, or all learned the way to win, are usually no more afraid of Tiger," Nicklaus said. "In my, I still think Tiger will regain what he is doing. He can keep coming back and play very, well. Whether he breaks my record is yet another issue. I still think he'll almost certainly. But he continues to have to go do it."

The next step underneath the majors would be the World Golf Championships, and Woods has amassed an incredible record. As he last won a WGC at Firestone in 2009, that gave him 16 world titles out of the 32 he played, a great rate of 50 %.

For one thing, he's got padded his bank account. Woods makes a lot more than $22.2 million in the WGCs alone, which can be discount golf clubs nearly A quarter of his career PGA Tour earnings. His official WGC financial resources are a lot more than basically 25 players make inside their careers.

Over money, and more than trophies that probably are packed away in the box, it implies that Woods won 16 events against the best players in golf. The fields are small, and they also have a tendency to include players from overseas that are just starting out (Louis Oosthuizen) or might never be been told by again (Shiv Kapur). But also for the majority of their 13-year existence, they've included at the very least the most notable 50 in the world.

Along with combining the best players all corners of the globe, it will assist to make tournaments all over the world. And when these are mostly likely to be in the us, it might be easier to move these phones iconic venues rather than merging them former PGA Tour TaylorMade RocketBallZ fairway wood events, which can be what happened at Doral.

They deserve a greater status based on the players they attract and the winners they produce.

Hunter Mahan joined elite company a couple weeks ago as he won the Match Play Championship and have become exactly the sixth player to win multiple WGC events. The rest are familiar names ?a Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy and Darren Clarke.

Martin Kaymer won the HSBC Champions last November and have become the 10th player which has a WGC title as well as a major. He joined Woods, Mickelson, Els, Ogilvy, Clarke, Mike Weir, Stewart Cink, David Toms and Vijay Singh.

The WGC event this week at Doral used to go Europe some other year until 2006. Woods has won it six times on six courses in four countries. That gives it a bit more punch than winning the Bridgestone Invitational seven times, all at Firestone.

"I think Tiger gave them credibility by winning 14 of the first 20, or whatever it turned out. He won almost every one too," Ogilvy said. "If you do glance at the set of guys who've won them, generally, during those times we were holding one of the better on the globe."

Paul Azinger is renowned for saying cash and prestige include the only stuff that made him choke. The WGCs are heavy on cash.

These aren't the most effective 74 players on earth at Doral, rather 74 top players who qualified with the TaylorMade RocketBallZ Driver world ranking from the money lists for the six major tours.

Nonetheless, the majors their very own share of players who can't be considered serious contenders ?a aging champions on the Masters, amateur qualifiers at the Opens, club pros at the PGA Championship.

What might boost the credibility from the WGCs is to expand the field and introduce a cut. To some, the WGCs have the appearance of free money. The courses? It's impossible to argue with Firestone, which once hosted a PGA Championship. And while Doral has produced complete score of at least 16-under par the last four years, a program doesn't need to get high scores becoming a good test.

Asked the real difference between majors and World Golf Championships, Clarke said there was "absolutely no difference whatsoever," except for the title.

"The title is the obvious thing," he said. "As players, we are judged by major championships. Nobody is judged by World Golf Championships. We aren't judged by regular tournaments. We're judged by majors. It is easy for me to say since I have one, but I would have mentioned the identical if I hadn't got one.

"It means more because of tradition and history. There's added pressure because of that."

The idea of how many world titles Woods has won doesn't grab anyone's attention at night fact it reflects the dominance he used to own within this game. Over time, that has to be an ordinary behind the majors.