JACK NICKLAUS (ZUMA24.com)
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By the time Tiger Woods stands over his first tee shot at this week’s British Open at Muirfield, it will have been 1,856 days since he last won a major championship — the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
It has been even longer since Woods captured the last of his three British Open victories
— 2006 at Hoylake.
Tiger years are like dog years — seven for every one for the rest of us. So that glorious day at Torrey Pines surely feels like multiple lifetimes ago for Woods.
Now, every time Woods tees it up in a major championship the pressure to win that elusive 15th builds. It is a similar burden faced by top players still seeking their first win at a major.
With every major championship that ends with Woods out of the winner’s circle, his window of opportunity to catch Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major titles inches closer to closing.
This week at Muirfield represents the third of the year’s four majors, with just the PGA Championship next month at Oak Hill remaining.
Twenty majors have been played since Woods’ win at Torrey Pines. Because of various injuries, he has played in 16 of them. During that spell, Woods has watched 15 players become first-time major winners in that 20-major span.
“I think every major that goes by puts pressure on him,’’ ESPN analyst and two-time major winner Andy North said. “Trust me, he’s putting pressure on himself. He wants this major so badly, he can’t stand it.’’
When Woods addresses reporters before the tournament on Tuesday, he will matter-of-fact everyone to tedium, talk about how he just has to get himself into contention and see what happens, how it takes a little bit of luck to win one.
“I think that if I continue putting myself there enough times then I’ll win major championships,” Woods said a year ago leading into the 2012 British Open.
You can insert that stock default quote before any major during this drought.
But Woods’ ho-hum exterior is a front. He burns inside to break through again, hoping the next major win will propel him to more, to eventually surpassing Nicklaus.
When Woods limped off that 91st hole at Torrey Pines in 2008, he did so heroically, having played through knee ligament damage and a stress fracture on his left leg to win.
He was 32 years old, had 14 major championships and was four behind Nicklaus.
Woods is now 37, has 14 major championship wins and remains four behind Nicklaus.
Much the way Alex Rodriguez looked poised to break the all-time home run record when he signed on to remain a Yankee for life, Woods looked like a lock to overtake Nicklaus.
The paths of Woods and Rodriguez have been met with obstacles — a great deal of which have been related to injuries. But some have been because of poor decisions off their respective playing fields.
Woods, who has endured knee, Achilles and neck injuries the past five years, was forced to skip his own tournament, the AT&T National, three weeks ago because of an elbow injury he incurred while playing in The Players Championship and aggravated at the U.S. Open.
He has not played since the U.S. Open last month at Merion, where he finished tied for 32nd.
“We don’t have any idea how healthy he is,’’ North said. “I suspect that he’s going to have some lingering effects of what’s going on [with the elbow], and it may take one shot in the rough to basically have another major go by without having an opportunity to win.’’
Fellow ESPN analyst Paul Azinger added, “If he’s hurt, stick a fork in him. It’s not going to happen this week.’’
Nevertheless, Woods’ non-major results the last year-and-a-half belie anything related to a slump. He has won four PGA Tour titles this year and seven in the past 16 months. He is ranked No. 1 in the world and is the bookmakers’ favorite to win the British this week.
But ESPN analyst Curtis Strange sees Woods’ play this year as a mirage despite having more wins than anyone else in the world.
“I don’t think he’s playing that well, but he still hangs around,’’ Strange said. “He has that grind in him. He has the fight in him. But he’s really not playing that well. Why did he hurt himself in the [U.S.] Open? Because he drove it in the rough every hole.
“It’s not to say he can’t come out and really play well this week. He’s still heads-and-shoulders above better than the next guy. He’s just not the Tiger Woods that we know.’’
Mike Tirico, ESPN’s host for the British Open, offered this take on Woods and his major championship slump: “The guy is 0-for-20 in the last 20 majors — four he didn’t play. When has Tiger Woods in golf been 0-for-20 in anything?
“It’s got to be just tearing him up inside. Maybe that’s part of why he’s having trouble closing the deal after having good starts to these things, because he’s [probably] never done anything 20 times in golf and not won. It’s just got to be just so foreign to him.’’
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com