"None of the greats go a career without having a futile moment with the putter."

There are a couple of worthwhile looks at Tiger Woods' recent putting "woes" of late. Thanks to reader Joey for Thomas Boswell's take in the Washington Post. Boswell says Tiger has "learned how to lose" and makes an interesting but ultimately hard-to-buy comparison with Jack Nicklaus's career arch.

If you spent much of 1976-79 trudging the golf beat behind Nicklaus, all this seems unpleasantly familiar. In '75, Jack was at his trim, fashion-forward crowd-darling apex. His magazine covers, ads and new courses were everywhere. He might not have been as lionized as Woods was after winning the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg, but it was pretty close. It was Jack's world. He barely seemed to play yet led the money list. What could go wrong? Actually, almost everything.

Bill Fields seems to think a bit more like a golfer in understanding that Tiger is, for a change, going through what every golfer has experienced: ball striking good, putter bad. Ball striking bad, putter good.

For Jack Nicklaus one notable glitch was the four-footer on the 71st hole of the 1977 British Open, on which the Duel in the Sun turned. Slocum was on the 18th tee at Liberty National when the groans following Woods' miss were heard. "Usually he makes it, yeah," Slocum said. "I guess you can't make 'em all." Minutes later Slocum holed a Woodsian putt from 20 feet to secure his biggest title.

"Man, to miss as many putts as I did this week, to still have a chance on the last green with a putt, it goes to show you how good I am hitting it," Woods said. On his next pressure putt, he will expect something different, and so should we.