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When Tiger Woods puts the finishing touches by tonight on his eighth career WGC-Bridgestone Invitational title — he turned the tournament into a runaway Friday with his second-round 61 — he will have his fifth victory in 10 starts this year.
No other player in golf has more than two wins this year.
Woods is ranked No. 1 in the world by a Secretariat-like margin.
A victory in the Bridgestone will give Woods 79 career wins — six more than Jack Nicklaus and three away from tying record-holder Sam Snead’s 82.
So what could possibly be missing as Woods begins the PGA Championship this week at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.?
Additional major championships are missing and mortality seemingly has set in for Woods, who won 14 majors in the first 11 years of his career and hasn’t won another in the last five-plus years. Woods’ winless streak in majors stands at 17, the longest of his career.
Sure, that’s alarming, annoying or however else you want to describe it for him. But what’s most perplexing is this: Woods continues to tease everyone (most particularly himself) with his play in majors by failing to close — something that was once his specialty.
Woods has put himself into position to win his elusive 15th career major with nine top-10 finishes during the 0-for-17 streak. But, on the weekends, which he used to own, he has consistently faltered. Since the start of 2012, Woods is 8-under par in the first two rounds of majors and 25-over par in the last two.
What’s the problem?
One issue is clearly the deeper talent pool, filled with players more capable of winning majors than there were when Woods was dominating the sport.
In addition to Woods, there will be 29 players in the PGA Championship field who have won at least one major — led by British Open winner Phil Mickelson, who has five career majors and has won two since Woods’ last one.
Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington each have three. Rory McIlroy and Angel Cabrera each have two and there are 22 players who have one apiece. Tom Watson, who is in the field on special invitation but is not a threat to win, has eight.
Woods appears to have gotten too conservative on the weekends at majors — evidenced by his almost timid play last month in the British Open at Muirfield while Mickelson grabbed the Claret Jug by the neck and wrested it away from the rest of the Sunday contenders.
It is difficult to say a player who has won four of five tournaments in a season is lacking confidence, but Woods’ play on the weekends of majors suggests that.
He has tried to defend his play. He has been quick to remind us of his multiple wins and tried to convince us he just wants to win tournaments.
“It’s still about winning the event,” Woods said recently. “That’s why I played as a junior, all the way through now, just to kick everyone’s butt. That to me is the rush. That’s the fun. That’s the thrill.”
That’s all fine and understandable. But nothing thrills Woods like major championship victories. He set the bar for his entire career based on breaking Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18. So, as brilliant as Woods’ career has been to date, he will not be satisfied unless he does that.
Woods has sounded like a broken record in recent major failures, constantly blaming greens for his poor putting.
This has become a rather tired refrain.
We’ll wait to see if there is a problem with the greens if he fails again this week at Oak Hill, where Woods didn’t break par (70) in any round in the 2003 PGA. His 12-over finish (tied for 39th) is his second-worst score in relation to par in a major, surpassed only by this year’s U.S. Open (13-over).
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com