Fallible Tiger won't Jack in Majors record chase

So Tiger Woods can shoot a final round 75 and miss endless putts with a 15th Major seemingly wrapped up after 54 holes. What's next? Some team beating Kilkenny in any grade of championship hurling? Dublin senior footballers actually defeating Kerry in championship football? Padraig Harrington keeping an eight off his card in the final round of a big tournament?Two weekends' non-stop televised golf is probably saturation point for most of us although, the last unfair snide remark apart, fair play to 'Harri Putter' for maintaining Irish interest for so long in both the Bridgestone International and the US PGA. And let's not forget Rory McIlroy from the North and his wonderful efforts in Hazeltine National. Y E Yang was a total unknown in these parts prior to last weekend but the Korean will retain a very special place in sporting history after destroying the myth that Tiger can't be beaten if leading a Major entering the final day's play.Another Asian, the ever-smiling Lu Liang Huan from Formosa made a huge impression on all of us old enough to remember his head-to-head with Lee Trevino in the British Open in 1971. Ultimately, Mr Lee beat Mr Lu by a shot in Royal Birkdale but the hat-doffing runner-up was the first man from his continent to seriously threaten to win one of the four Majors. Just over 38 years later, Yang fulfilled a nation's dream and if the celebrations of the country's unexpected progress to the semi-final of the 2002 soccer World Cup, which they co-hosted, is anything to go by, there wouldn't have been a cow milked in Seoul last Monday morning.Tiger's failure to convert a few of his umpteen birdie chances last Sunday was hard to fathom. His demeanour when Yang slotted home the winning putt was a mixture of frustration and astonishment, as he would have been a virtually unbackable favourite at the commencement of play on Sunday. So he remains four short of Jack Nicklaus' 18 Majors record but time is certainly on his side once he retains the focus and steely determination hitherto associated with him.It is interesting to compare the records in Majors of the Tiger and the 'Golden Bear'. Tiger is likely to be disgusted with second place in any tournament, irrespective of how it came about. Apart from his 18 successes (Open 3, Masters 6, US Open 4, PGA 5), Nicklaus came very close on 28 other occasions to triumphing in the Majors, with no less than 19 second/joint second finishes and nine third/joint third slots. Indeed, a glance at his British Open record shows that he was runner-up on no less than seven occasions and in his prime in the 1970s - he turned 30 in January 1970 - he was never out of the top five throughout the entire decade.So Tiger can consider himself fortunate that Nicklaus did not set virtually unassailable records. Now four months short of his 34th birthday, Woods has not been in the frame nearly as often as Nicklaus and, of course, failed to make the cut at the recent British Open. His haul of 14 Majors (Open 3, Masters 4, US Open 3, PGA 4) is, of course, phenomenal but he has only six runners-up (including Sunday's setback) and three third places on his illustrious CV. However, one imagines that given reasonable luck with injuries he will still overtake Nicklaus, assuming he can put last weekend's nightmare finish behind him.An interesting golfing birthday occurs next Sunday (August 23rd) when five-times Open champion, Peter Thomson turns 80. Born in Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia, he won the Claret Jug in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, and 1965. He was the only man to win the tournament for three consecutive years in the 20th century. While many commentators point out that his heyday came before air travel improvements allowed the top Americans to come regularly to Britain, it must be remembered that his fifth success in 1965 came in a top class event. Thomson demonstrated that he could beat the world's very best players, as that victory came against a field that included Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tony Lema, three of the top four American golfers from the 1964 Money List. Ironically, his biggest threat in that tournament was from our very own Christy O'Connor Snr, a perennial bridesmaid in the Open, and Wales' Brian Huggett. In 2006, Thomson was a guest at the presentation ceremony of the 135th Open Championship, which was won by Tiger Woods. The event marked the 50th anniversary of his third Open victory. Among golf's top players, Thomson has perhaps been the most active as a golf writer, having contributed to the Melbourne Age for some 50 years. He has designed several golf courses in Australia.I referred earlier to saturation point with televised golf. This is mainly because of my ultimate irritant in sports spectators. Yes, the idiots who continually shout "in the hole" for every shot, almost stretching to tee shots on a par five! A close friend of mine greatly amused me when he recounted how he was in raptures recently at a marvellous televised iron shot to a couple of feet from the hole, a la Christy Jnr at the Belfry, Tiger in the Bridgestone or Yang last Sunday. However, his nearby infant nephew was unimpressed and commented: "Ah, but it didn't go in the hole!"I vividly recall watching a slightly older boy on Paddy Crosbie's School Around the Corner television show back in the 1960s. In his 'funny incident' slot, the little Dub went on at length with a story about his friend owning a horse who fell into a hole and therefore had to be put down. "Tell us, did they shoot him in the hole?" the affable Crosbie asked the kid. "No, they shot him in the head," replied the excitable youngster. I'm not pushed in what part of their anatomy that the "in the hole" brigade are shot but it would be great to resume watching an 'after eights' Padraig Harrington in live golfing action during next year's Masters with this silly contingent dramatically reduced.