Another chance to close on Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 May has just passed. Tiger continues to plummet on the world ratings and at the time of writing the blog, the former number one in the world is now 36th. Critics are actually beginning to write him off, saying that he will never be who he once was, and while I don’t agree, I do think he has limited time. Retief Goosen and Ernie Els, both 42, have faded from the scene in the past year, overtaken by youngsters and with Tiger being 36, he probably does not have too many years to go, although one certainly cannot rule out him winning a final major, for example, at the age of 45.

For me, and I have been a long time supporter of Tiger Woods, the first sign will be when he world rating stops dropping, and actually climbs up a notch or two – whether that is from 40th to 35th or whatever it is when the slide stops. He still shows signs of brilliance on a regular basis, it is just that when a hole goes badly for him these days, he just does not seem to be able to rescue himself like he used to in the past – he makes far more bogeys and double bogeys now than he ever has previously and while he keeps swearing that his latest swing is the greatest, most experts seem to think that that is where the problem lies. He has changed his wife, coach and recently caddy, and now he needs a lot more stability, including with his golf swing.