The graph above displays the major championship victories of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. The year 2007, in which he was 31 years old, was Tiger's 12th year as a PGA Tour Pro (start in 1996) and he finished one ahead of Jack's pace. Jack's 12th year was 1973. He was 33 years old.
The shapes of the graphs are amazingly similar. Jack had a quicker start in accumulating major victories, but Tiger caught up in 2000/2001. Both had had their droughts at very similar times in their careers.
The question is, will Tiger continue to perform at his career average and continue to win majors at a high rate, or, will his career start to slow as Jack's did.
The black line in the graph represents Tiger's average performance of winning majors; a pace of about 1.2 per year, or 6 per 5 years. If he continues this pace, he'll reach and then surpass Jack's record of 18 during his 16th and 17th seasons (2011 and 2012).
