Jordan Spieth On Pace With Jack Nicklaus, Ahead of Tiger Woods, Thanks to a Lucky Bounce Off a Fan's Head

Jordan Spieth won The Open on Sunday for his third career major championship. Spieth turns 24 later this week which means technically he’s ahead of the pace of Tiger Woods in the quest to break Jack Nicklaus’ record for most career major victories.

What a great graphic. Sure, if Spieth had been born a week earlier none of this would mean anything, but it’s still a great start for Spieth. Now comes the hard part. In order to keep pace with Tiger Woods he’s going to have to win two of the next four majors. Tiger won majors 3, 4, and 5 in the year 2000 before he turned 25. Even easier, all Spieth needs to do is win one to officially be ahead of The Golden Bear’s pace. Then he just needs to consistently win majors for the next two decades. Nicklaus “only” won 7 majors in his 20’s. He then won 8 in his 30’s and 3 in his 40’s. Tiger only won 4 in his 30’s.

Of course, after three majors its pretty silly to even discuss the kind of incredible success, good health and career longevity it would take for Spieth to seriously challenge Nicklaus’ mark. Not to mention the luck involved. Who knows what would have happened on the 13th on Sunday at Royal Birkdale if Spieth hadn’t caromed his tee shot off the dome of a spectator.

Fore!