Tom:
A little more than a year ago, I wondered if Tiger would really go down as the dominant golfer ever. His father had died, his latest swing change seemed not to be working, and he even seemed slightly over-motivated (trying too hard in his pursuit of Jack's record).
Now I don't think so. In his last six majors, since his ill-considered comeback at WFoot, he's gone win, win, runner-up, runner-up, average, win. And his wins -- three of the last six majors (a rate matched twice by Nicklaus during his entire career) -- were done in such a dominant way, that it's convinced me it's just a matter of time before he exceeds 18 majors. (I personally think he's gunning to match or exceed the all-time records in each of the four majors -- Jack's six green jackets, the four US Opens held by Jack, Hogan and Anderson, Vardon's six BO's, and Jack and Hagen's five PGAs. At 31, he's at or more than halfway there in each of the four majors). Tiger's play of late reminds me of Jack's early 1970s performance (71, 73 and 75 PGAs, plus his 72 wins at Augusta and Pebble) in which -- save for his comeback at Augusta -- he was clearly the dominant player in the field, and it seemed inevitable that he would win those majors.
He is clearly the most focused, motivated, and talented athlete of his generation; only Armstrong and Michael Phelps come remotely close. And, interestingly to me, he has become so in an era where:
-- lots of golfers are satisfied to make a career out of retaining their PGA tour card, because the money is so good;
-- lots of athletes (as Tiger has) can make more money off the playing fields than on it, and thus lose some focus on their playing career;
-- he's been under intense, 24-hour media scrutiny, particularly as an African-American golfer, of the kind that Jack never faced (Tiger's no Jackie Robinson or Henry Aaron, but he's faced far more scrutiny because of his race than any golfer that came before him).
There is much to admire about Tiger, and the manner in which he's gone about breaking one of the most difficult records in sport. It's a pretty stark contrast to the baseball player in San Francisco.