Improbable but not impossible: the quest that haunted Nicklaus is now the target for Woods

Pursuit of third leg of the calendar year Grand Slam gives American additional incentive at Muirfield this week

When Tiger Woods won the US Open at Bethpage last month, in addition to the Masters at Augusta in April, he became only the sixth player to win the first two majors of the season. The 26-year-old's quest to claim what now has to be specified as the "calendar year" Grand Slam – Woods has already won four majors in a row – continues at Muirfield this week in the 131st Open Championship.

The first player to win the Masters and the US Open consecutively was Craig Woods in 1941. There was no Open that year and Craig Woods lost in the second round at the USPGA Championship, which was then a matchplay event. Ben Hogan followed suit 10 years later but played in neither the Open nor the USPGA, the latter because having survived a near-fatal car crash he could not play 36-hole matches day after day.

In 1953, Hogan repeated the feat and chose that year to make his only appearance in the Open, winning, famously, at Carnoustie. If the achievement became known as the Triple Crown, no one had truly contemplated the Grand Slam until Arnold Palmer sat on a transatlantic plane after winning the Masters and the US Open in 1960. Palmer's efforts to play in the Open helped popularise the event but on this first outing he lost by a stroke to Kel Nagle at St Andrews.

When Jack Nicklaus arrived, coincidentally at Muirfield, in 1972 with the chance to win three in a row, he also lost, amazingly, by a single stroke to Lee Trevino. If Palmer perpetrated the idea of the Grand Slam, having taken the idea from Bobby Jones's achievement in 1930 of winning the amateur slam, the Open and Amateur championships of both America and Britain, it was Nicklaus who was first plagued with the notion.

"I should have known better," Nicklaus admitted in his autobiography, My Story, "than to say more about the Grand Slam than: 'It's improbable'. Instead, I kept adding: 'but not impossible'. By the spring of 1972, the burning question in every press room and every interview seemed to have become not: 'Will Jack Nicklaus win all four?' but 'How soon?'

"There was so much clamour as the Masters approached that I could not get the darn thing out of my head. What bugged me was that it was a needless addition to the already heavy self-inflicted pressure of the year's first major championship."

Nevertheless he won at Augusta by three strokes and at Pebble Beach by seven, the only time he got halfway towards a Grand Slam. Nicklaus had already won an Open at Muirfield six years earlier but two days before the '72 championship he woke up with a stiff neck. He could not play as aggressively as he could for the first three days but, feeling better, he produced a great charge in the final round which provoked an extraordinary atmosphere.

"The Scots are the most knowledgeable golf watchers in the world, and, accordingly, the most sparing with applause. That day there was a wildness about them that was out of character. Even with the third leg of the Grand Slam on the line, the ovations that greeted me as I moved more and more into contention were stunning. When, at the 11th hole, all those thousands of people just would not stop cheering and applauding after I hit my seven-iron close, I could hardly see my way down the fairway for the tears."

Nicklaus was aiming for a 65. A bogey at the 16th meant he had to settle for a 66 while Trevino and Tony Jacklin did battle over the closing holes. Trevino chipped in at the par-five 17th and Jacklin took three putts and the title was decided. "I shot 66 on a difficult course, which, 19 times out of 20, would have been good enough to win. You could say it simply was fated to happen but I'd had my chances and failed to take them.

"In 1966 I had finished as I believed I needed to, with 3-4-4, and won by a shot. In 1972, I finished 4-5-4 and lost by a shot. It had nothing to do with Trevino chipping in. As always in golf, I had controlled my own destiny. It hurt but life would go on. In golf you always lose more than you win, and if you want to retain your sanity – and protect the sanity of those around you – you just have to conjure up enough fatalism to live peacefully with that fact."

Woods has done his best to turn the percentages of late in his pursuit of Nicklaus' overall record of 18 major titles (he is still 10 short). Tiger has won seven of his last 11 majors, matching Jones' run in the US Open and the Open between 1923 and '30. Nicklaus' best run of seven wins came from 21 majors (1962-67), although he also won seven out of 22 (1970-75). Palmer's tally of seven victories came from a span of 23 majors.

The best streak ever was achieved by Hogan, who won eight out of 11 from the 1948 US Open to the '53 Open, his last triumph. That run can be back-tracked to the 1946 USPGA to make it nine out of 16. Woods cannot claim eight major wins within a record span but, should he complete the Grand Slam at Hazeltine next month, he would have won nine out of 13, an unthinkable strike-rate.

When Woods won the Masters last year, to become the first player to hold all four major trophies at one time, purists were unable to declare a Grand Slam. It was a matter of terminology, so the Tiger Slam was born. "For all intents and purposes it has already been done, although some people don't give him the credit for it," Nicklaus said last week. "He has won all four in a row. Whether he does it in one year is insignificant, but to do it again would be unbelievable."

Woods has got the credit for the greatest achievement the sport has so far seen. What it is in conflict is the professional view of the game as an all-round-the-year business and the more romantic, possibly nostalgic, notion that one season is distinct from another. It cannot be ruled out that Woods thinks he did not get the credit he deserved and will not be satisfied until he has won all four in the same calendar year. "I've won all four," he says simply. "It would be neat to do it a different way."

Nicklaus added: "The odds are very much against it, but I think this would be easier than what he did the first time only because he has already done it. At the same time, you just don't walk on the first tee and say: 'Guys I'm here, where's the trophy?' You still have to go out and play and you have to have your 'A' game. If the rough is knee high at Muirfield, I don't care if you're Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus or King Kong, you're not going to get it out and advance the ball."

To peak so often in such a concentrated period – only three weeks separate the Open and the USPGA – is difficult, but Woods had to wait seven months to peak again for the Masters in 2001. There is one aspect that certainly would be easier. "Last time it was seven months when I had to face the same questions at every tournament I played," he recalled.

Woods could have made life easier for himself had he won the Masters in 2000 to go with the other three he did win (not to mention the 1999 USPGA). It was his father, Earl, who pointed this out at the 2001 Masters. The previous year Woods had taken a double-bogey and a triple-bogey in an opening 75. "If you had only won that dadgum tournament last year, you wouldn't have to worry about it now," Earl told his son. Tiger apparently laughed. "I see your point," he replied.

TIGER WOODS AND THE MAJORS

1995
Masters: 41st= Total: 293 (5 over par) (72, 72, 77, 72). US Open: Withdrew (injured). The Open: 68th= Total: 295 (7 over par) (74, 71, 72, 78). US PGA: Did not compete.

1996
Masters: Missed cut. Total: 150 (6 over par) (75, 75). US Open: 82nd= Total: 294 (14 over par) (76, 69, 77, 72). The Open: 22nd= Total: 281 (3 under par) (75, 66, 70, 70). US PGA: Did not compete.

1997
Masters: 1st. Total: 270 (18 under par) (70, 66, 65, 69). US Open: 19th= Total: 286 (6 over par) (74, 67, 73, 72). The Open: 24th= Total: 284 (Level Par) (72, 74, 64, 74). US PGA: 29th=. Total: 286 (6 over par) (70, 70, 70, 75).

1998
Masters: 8th= Total:285 (3 under par) (71, 72, 72, 70). US Open: 18th= Total: 293 (10 over par) (74, 72, 71, 73). The Open: 3rd. Total: 281 (1 over par) (65, 73, 77, 66). US PGA: 10th= Total: 279 (1 under par) (66, 72, 70, 71).

1999
Masters: 18th= Total: 289 (1 over par) (72, 72, 70, 75). US Open: 3rd= Total: 281 (1 over par) (68, 71, 72, 70). The Open: 7th= Total: 294 (10 over par) (74, 72, 74, 74). US PGA: 1st. Total: 277 (11 under par) (70, 67, 68, 72).

2000
Masters: 5th. Total: 284 (4 under par) (75, 72, 68, 69). US Open: 1st. Total: 272 (12 under par) (65, 69, 71, 67). The Open: 1st. Total: 269 (19 under par) (67, 66, 67, 69). US PGA: 1st. Total: 270 (18 under par) (66, 67, 70, 67).

2001
Masters: 1st. Total: 272 (16 under par) (70, 66, 68, 68). US Open: 12th= Total: 283 (2 over par) (74, 71, 69, 69). The Open: 25th= Total: 283 (1 under par) (71, 68, 73, 71). US PGA: 29th= Total: 279 (1 under par) (73, 67, 69, 70).

2002 (to date)
Masters: 1st. Total: 276 (12 under par) (70, 69, 66, 71). US Open: 1st. Total: 277 (3 under par) (67, 68, 70, 72).

TIGER WOODS AND THE OPEN
1995: St Andrews. 68th= Total: 295 (7 over par) (74, 71, 72, 78).
1996: Lytham St Annes. 22nd= Total: 281 (3 under par) (75, 66, 70, 70).
1997: Royal Troon. 24th= Total: 284 (Level Par) (72, 74, 64, 74).
1998: Royal Birkdale. 3rd Total: 281 (1 over par) (65, 73, 77, 66).
1999: Carnoustie. 7th= Total: 294 (10 over par) (74, 72, 74, 74).
2000: St Andrews. 1st Total: 269 (19 under par) (67, 66, 67, 69).
2001: Lytham St Annes. 25th= Total: 283 (1 under par) (71, 68, 73, 71).

OTHER MAJORS WINNING STREAKS

BOBBY JONES
7 majors out of 11 (1923-1930)
1923 US Open (Inwood C.C.) 1st (295: 71, 73, 76, 76).
1926 US Open (Scioto C.C.) 1st (293: 70, 79, 71, 73). The Open (Lytham St Annes): 1st (291: 72, 72, 73, 74).
1927 The Open (St Andrews): 1st (285: 68, 72, 73, 72).
1929 US Open (Winged Foot G.C.) 1st (294: 69, 75, 71, 79).
1930 US Open (Interlachen C.C.) 1st (287: 71, 73, 68, 75) The Open (Royal Liverpool G.C.) 1st (291: 70, 72, 74, 75).

BEN HOGAN
9 majors out of 16 (1946-1953)
1946 US PGA. 1st (Match Play).
1948 US Open. 1st (276: 67, 72, 68, 69) US PGA. 1st (Match Play).
1950 US Open. 1st (287: 72, 69, 72, 74).
1951 The Masters 1st (280: 70, 72, 70, 68)
US Open. 1st (287: 76, 73, 71, 67).
1953 The Masters 1st (274: 70, 69, 66, 69)
US Open 1st (283: 67, 72, 73, 71), The Open 1st (282: 73, 71, 70, 68).

JACK NICKLAUS
7 majors out of 21 (1962-1967)
1962 US Open (Oakmont C.C.) 1st (283: 72, 70, 72, 69).
1963 The Masters 1st (286: 74, 66, 74, 72)
US PGA (Dallas Athletic C.C.) 1st (279: 69, 73, 69, 68).
1965 The Masters 1st (271: 67, 71, 64, 69).
1966 The Masters 1st (288: 68, 76, 72, 72).
The Open (Muirfield) 1st (282: 70, 67, 75, 70).
1967 US Open (Baltusrol G.C.) 1st (275: 71, 67, 72, 65).

JACK NICKLAUS
7 majors out of 22 (1970-1975)
1970 The Open (St Andrews) 1st (283: 68, 69, 73, 73).
1971 US PGA (PGA National G.C.) 1st (281: 69, 69, 70, 73).
1972 The Masters 1st= (286: 68, 71, 73, 74)
US Open (Pebble Beach) 1st (290: 71, 73, 72, 74).
1973 US PGA (Canterbury Club) 1st (277: 72, 68, 68, 69).
1975 The Masters 1st (276: 68, 67, 73, 68) US PGA (Firestone C.C.) 1st (276: 70, 68, 67, 71).