AP Golf Writer
Tiger Woods never posted any of Harry Vardon's feats on his bedroom door.
His career has always been about Jack Nicklaus and that benchmark of 18 professional majors, and Woods has made incredible strides in his first decade on the PGA Tour. He captured the career Grand Slam at age 24, two years sooner than Nicklaus. He won back-to-back titles at the Masters, and one-third of his majors have come from Augusta National, just like Jack.
But along with a closet full of green jackets, Woods is starting to assemble quite a collection of claret jugs.
He heads to Carnoustie for the 136th British Open with a chance to become the first player since Peter Thomson in 1954-56 to win golf's oldest championship three straight times. If he's successful, that would give him as many jugs as jackets.
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Nicklaus and Vardon share the record for most titles (6) in a single major. For all the fixation over Woods and Augusta National, his presence at the British Open has become equally daunting.
Could he reach Vardon's record at the British Open before Nicklaus' mark at the Masters?
Is it possible his dominance lies more on the linksland than amid the azaleas?
"I will say this: The British Open Championship is my favorite major," Woods said. "I just love the history, tradition and atmosphere. You need patience and imagination to play well."
Thomson has watched Woods develop a game suited for links golf and wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he goes on a dominant run.
"He'll have a run for 10 or 15 years during which he'll win at least half of them, maybe a few more," Thomson said from his home in St. Andrews. "I'm assuming he goes about it in the way he does now. There's never been any golfer, maybe even a tennis player, who applied himself in such a way that Tiger has."
Nick Faldo, who won the Masters and British Open three times each, helped Woods into his first green jacket in 1997 and always figured that would be his domain. Now, he's not so sure.
"That's a tough one," Faldo said. "You've got to believe that everything about him is set up perfectly for Augusta. But he has this great ability now to adapt, as he did at Hoylake, where strategy golf came in."
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Augusta National has added nearly 500 yards since Woods won his first green jacket by a record 12 shots. And with improved technology, from drivers to shafts to golf balls, Woods no longer has exclusive rights to power.
