The question that everyone seems to want to know the answer to is not one most people want to ask.

Is Tiger Woods through?

When Tiger first hit the scene and everyone wanted to make him the greatest golfer of all-time I wrote a column telling people to slow down, catch their breath and think about it.

The greatest golfer of all-time? Just because he set a record at the Masters, everyone was shoving current all-time great Jack Nicklaus to the sidelines.

I said wait a minute, it’s a long way to 18 major victories.

Tiger is at 14 now, but whether or not he will be able to even tie Nicklaus is up for debate.

His recent family issues aside, Woods has been hampered by quite a few injuries the past couple of years and the older he gets, the more those issues will keep arising.

He is a great golfer there is no debating that, but I am sticking with my original stance that he will not overtake Nicklaus.

What Jack did was simply amazing. He himself has even said that Woods will catch him, but that was a few years ago and I wonder if he still feels the same way now.

Golf is a different game from when Nicklaus played.

He had to beat numerous golf greats on a weekly basis to rack up those 18 major victories.

Woods has had few challengers during his run through the record book.

Another reason I feel the game has changed besides the obvious improvements in equipment, is that the amount of money a golfer can make in a short period of time is ridiculous.

Golfers don’t need to play as long as they used to in order to roll up a pretty fat bankroll.
So when they get tired of the game or the injuries start to mount up, they can simply walk away and live off the millions of dollars they made.

I never thought I would see Tiger Woods at his age and his professed desire to win every tournament he enters, walk off the course the way he did this past weekend.

That spoke volumes to me and it has many that cover the game wondering what he has left in the tank.

Has his personal issues become too much to bare? Are the injuries beginning to mount up, making it nearly impossible to get physically and mentally prepared to play?

The other interesting thing that came out of the weekend is that his swing coach left him.
Maybe he sees that Woods’ desire to play the game at the level he is accustomed to is not what it used to be.

Whatever the case, we now have to wait and see what will happen to Tiger Woods and his chase to surpass Nicklaus.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications.