Tiger Far From Finished

He just needs some more time.

Tiger shot a career-worst 18-over par this weekend on a course he's always dominated. He's bottomed out on the course. His game and swing are in the gutter with his personal life, marriage, reputation and image. It's never looked worse for Tiger Woods.

But it's always darkest before the dawn. His current turmoil is just a road block for Tiger. Not even that, just road construction. He needed a lot of work done after speeding down sport and celebrity's Autobahn of riches, women and power. Potholes are plentiful and dangerous there.

Last Thanksgiving was the arbitrary date when his dark side got exposed. That cat was getting out of the bag at some point. Tabloid covers were coming eventually. On top of that, covering tracks and behavior was unhealthy for Tiger personally. Whoring around at every turn, addicted to sex and the power he had with sex.

Problems would form eventually whether the press got ahold of it or it just tore him up personally. The media just hit fast forward on the whole thing. Blew it up, sped it up and threw it up. He may have been able to hide it until he's 40 but what then? All this happens in five years and it's probably uglier. Now in five years, he'll be in a completely different place with a different mindset and he'll be killing it on the Tour again.

So he's about to be 35 in December, with 14 majors. Four behind Jack. The record is still so within reach it's not even an issue in my mind. There are 17 majors before he turns 40. I really like Tiger's odds to win three out of those 17 even with none this year or next. Then it's just two from 40 on.

Tom Watson should have a won a major last year at 59. Tiger will have plenty of golf in him from 40 to 50. So he wins one major every couple of years, big deal. He only needs five more. And I know it's easy to say, "only five more" but, with Tiger, you can. He takes care of his body, physically, better than most on Tour so longevity shouldn't be an issue.

We all thought he'd smoke Jack's record early but it's just not going to happen in that time frame. That was a huge pothole he hit last year and you have to know it will cause damage and delay the arrival at the destination. In this instance, the destination is 19 major championships and Greatest of All-Time.

The only way Tiger doesn't break Jack Nicklaus' record is if he retires from competitive golf and doesn't play in the tournaments. Don't dump your Tiger stock. I'm loading up right now while it's at a garage-sale price and riding it for the next 15 years.