Woods prepared to risk injury to beat Nicklaus's record

TIGER WOODS is prepared to risk long-term injury in order to beat Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major championship victories.

World number one Woods picked up major title number 14 with his third US Open victory on Monday after defeating Rocco Mediate on the first sudden-death hole following an 18-hole play-off at Torrey Pines in southern California.

He did it playing his first tournament since arthroscopic knee surgery on April 15th, nine weeks on from finishing second at the Masters.

Woods was in obvious discomfort throughout the US Open and on Friday after a gruelling second round he appeared set to withdraw from the tournament before taking pain relief to get him through the weekend.

The 32-year-old admitted he ignored doctors' advice warning him of the risks of further injury to play at Torrey Pines and indicated he would continue to do so in his quest to surpass Nicklaus as the most successful major winner of all time.

Woods said: "It's hard to believe I've had this nice a run in my career. And hopefully it will continue.

"I'm going to keep practising, keep trying to grind and get better.

"As far as future ramifications, I'm not really good at listening to doctors' orders too well."

Asked if he was told he risked further injury by playing at Torrey Pines, Woods nodded. Asked if he could have injured his knee further, the reply was: "Maybe."

Woods will now take more time out to rest his troublesome knee, leaving his participation at next month's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in some doubt.

"To be honest with you, I really don't know," Woods said in response to a question about his chances of playing at the British major.

"I think I need to shut it down for a little bit here. It's a bit sore. I need to take a little bit of a break."

Woods insisted he had never contemplated quitting the tournament and would have had no excuses had he lost out to Mediate for the title.

"I wasn't going to bag it," he said. "I think everyone knows me well enough that it's not in my nature, I don't know how to do that.

"It helped to have that energy from all the fans, because there were times when it stung quite a bit. I had a couple of zingers out there. But it's nice to have that energy out there, and you're trying to feed off it somehow.

"I try to do as best I could. It's been sore every day. It's been sore for a while. I just deal with it.

"All athletes deal with injuries and that's just part of playing sports.

"Sports isn't usually kind to the body. Weird things happen and that's just the way it is.

"But it's about dealing with it and getting it up there and giving it your best, and see what happens.

"There's never any excuses - you just go play."

NICKLAUS V WOODS Majors progression

JACK NICKLAUS

(Majors played at time in brackets)

1 — 1962 US Open (2)

2 — 1963 Masters (5)

3 — 1963 US PGA (8)

4 — 1965 Masters (13)

5 — 1966 Masters (17)

6 — 1966 Open (19)

7 — 1967 US Open (22)

8 — 1970 Open (35)

9 — 1971 US PGA (40)

10 — 1972 Masters (41)

11 — 1972 US Open (42)

12 — 1973 US PGA (48)

13 — 1975 Masters (53)

14 — 1975 US PGA (56)

15 — 1978 Open (67)

16 — 1980 US Open (74)

17 — 1980 US PGA (76)

18 — 1986 Masters (97)

TIGER WOODS

(Majors played at time in brackets)

1 — 1997 Masters (1)

2 — 1999 US PGA (12)

3 — 2000 US Open (14)

4 — 2000 Open (15)

5 — 2000 US PGA (16)

6 — 2001 Masters (17)

7 — 2002 Masters (21)

8 — 2002 US Open (22)

9 — 2005 Masters (33)

10 — 2005 Open (35)

11 — 2006 Open (39)

12 — 2006 US PGA (40)

13 — 2007 US PGA (44)

14 — 2008 US Open (46)

World Rankings

1 Tiger Woods (US) 21.54pts

2 Phil Mickelson (US) 10.21

3 Adam Scott (Aus) 5.86

4 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 5.82

5 Ernie Els (SA) 5.76

6 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.26

7 Justin Rose (Eng) 5.24

8 Steve Stricker (US) 5.21

9 Vijay Singh (Fij) 5.08

10 Jim Furyk (US) 5.04

11 KJ Choi (Kor) 4.98

12 Stewart Cink (US) 4.89

13 Pádraig Harrington (Ire) 4.79

14 Rory Sabbatini (SA) 4.68

15 Trevor Immelman (SA) 4.62

US Ryder Cup Table

1 Tiger Woods 11,365pts

2 Phil Mickelson 4,419

3 Stewart Cink 3,826

4 Jim Furyk 3,188

5 Justin Leonard 3,053

6 Boo Weekley 2,591

7 Kenny Perry 2,532

8 Anthony Kim 2,339

9 Brandt Snedeker 2,088

10 Steve Stricker 2,088

11 Zach Johnson 2,046

12 Jeff Quinney 2,013

13 DJ Trahan 1,997

14 JB Holmes 1,964

15 Rocco Mediate 1,937