His most recent triumph is No. 74, the number of tournaments won on the PGA Tour. So Jack is now politely but forcefully relocated to third on that roll call. As for Woods and first place, just ahead of him lies the man who had the sweet-as-syrup swing and a fondness for ribald tales, the late and sorely missed Samuel Jackson Snead.
Slamming Sammy amassed 82 PGA Tour wins, and you'd have to think Tiger will pass that, and probably very soon. At 36 years of age, an even 100 wins doesn't look unreachable for him.
Who among us would have said that only a few months ago?
Tiger was an absolute mess back then. Bum legs. Erratic swing. Balky putter. They were dancing on his grave.
"There was a time," he said, "when people were saying I'd never win again.
"That was, I think, what, six months ago? Four months ago?
"Here we are . . . "
Here, indeed. But where, precisely, in the village of Here We Are?
Top of the world, it says here.
Tiger Woods once again is the best player on earth. Whether he is the greatest player of all time is a debate yet to be resolved.
Bo Van Pelt, who finished second last week, was asked who is the best player in the world at this moment, and he replied: "I'd have to say him, the way he's playing."
Mull over this: At first blush you tend to think that every time he shows up on your screen these days, Tiger Woods seems to be struggling. And he did miss the cut in this weekend's Greenbrier Classic. Yet in the 11 tournaments in which he has played this year, he has already won three times. No one else has won more than two. At this pace he could win six. Or seven. Or eight. Or - OK, now we're reaching.
So then, there are comebacks and there are resurrections and there is resurgence, and pick any or all of them to describe what he has done and is doing.
Confession: I was among the voices in the Choir of Doom.
"Some guys thought I might win," he said, "but never another major."
Uh, yes, that raised hand in the back belongs to me: Guilty. Well, why not? He kept changing coaches and he kept trying to change his swing, and where was the idiocy in that, redoing what was already just about perfect. So, no, he might scrape along for the next decade or so, collecting more wins, but never a major. Well certainly not five of them. We were certain.
No, Jack's record looked safe.
And now? Well, now Tiger has time working for him for a change. But at the same time, even though back to being a force of nature, he gets thrown out of whack when the majors are on the docket. Before this year's Masters, he won and then melted to 40th at Augusta. Same with the U.S. Open - win a tournament and then stumble in the stretch. Now comes the AT&T and victory . . . and . . . and . . . yet another chance at a major, the British Open, two weeks hence, at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
At an exhibition in Texas in early May, Jack Nicklaus, with not the trace of any rancor, said: "I think his desire, his whole life has been built around breaking my record, and I still think that his chances are good."
However it ends up, Jack will be gracious. He always has been, on the course and off.
Those who champion his cause - ahem - point out he was up against some worthy, heavyweight opposition throughout his career, and where were the Palmers and the Players and the Watsons and the Trevinos to push Tiger? Obviously he can play against only whoever is placed in front of him - still, the young guns with their 350-yard drives look suspiciously like one-hit wonders.
And, finally, there are some numbers connected to Jack Nicklaus that are absolutely astonishing - in case, you know, Tiger should get bored along the way. For example:
Number of times runner-up in a major tournament: 19. (Nineteen!)
Number of times third in a PGA Tour tournament: 46.
Number of times in the top 5: 56.
Number of times in the top 10: 73.
You know what that is? It's the golfing version of Wilt Chamberlain.
