Nicklaus says he understands Tiger's bad timing

Jack Nicklaus has been sympathetic to Tiger Woods after the Californian’s disastrous weekend, when he recorded at The Memorial the worst round (85, 13 over par) and worst number of strokes in a tournament (302) of his career. The Golden Bear spoke of his 1979 season, the first in which he did not win a single victory.

“My short game was so bad that I was kicking out of bunkers,” Nicklaus said, adding, “Sometimes you have to take a step back, make an assessment of what’s going on and start over.”

In 1985, Nicklaus said in a newspaper interview, “Let’s face it, it’s hard for a 40-year-old to give up the things that are necessary to be in a position to win.”

At the age of 46, Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters, which was his eighteenth Grand Slam victory. It was also his last victory on the PGA Tour.

Nicklaus said that after 1979 “I changed my swing, revamped my short game and faced the future with a positive attitude. I hope he (Tiger) does the same”.

The truth is that Woods, at 39 years of age, will have to make a great mental effort to overcome the bad experience at The Memorial, where for the first time he was forced to play alone on the last day of the tournament, without partners, only with his caddie. At least he got over it quickly: he completed his round in 2 hours and 51 minutes.