May 31, 2012 12:18 am By Gerry Dulac / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette DUBLIN, Ohio — In the midst of what is considered the worst three-tournament stretch of his amazing career, Tiger Woods continues to be hounded by the same question: When will he bounce back?It is a question the former No. 1 player in the world continues to answer with the same positive, hopeful response — by reminding everyone that he has been through down times before, especially after swing changes with his other coaches, only to rebound with some of the best golf the game has ever seen.While the numbers don't support his contention, the reality of the situation is this: No matter what he does now or in the future, Tiger Woods always will be measured against his remarkable past.The player who has won 14 major championships, 72 PGA Tour titles and averaged more than six victories a year for a decade is, at age 36, facing insurmountable odds to even come close to being the dominant force he was from 2000-09.Or eclipse the record he cherishes most: Jack Nicklaus' 18 major championships.Despite his age and four surgeries on his left knee, Woods still thinks he has time to catch the Golden Bear. But, in a moment of frankness, he acknowledged Tuesday in an online chat that it “felt like it was going to take a career to do it.”After playing a practice round Tuesday at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, site of the 2012 U.S. Open, Woods was at Muirfield Village Golf Club Wednesday, getting ready for one of the busiest stretches of his career.Beginning with the Memorial, which he has won four times, Woods will play seven tournaments in 11 weeks, concluding with the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C. How he performs in this stretch likely will determine if his last three outings were an aberration or if he is indeed on the right path, which he claims he is.”I remember I had a pretty good year in 2000,” Woods said at a news conference more than a week ago to promote his AT&T National tournament. That is the last time he met with the media.”And I didn't win for a couple months. And the word 'slump' came about. And that's basically the same thing that just happened here. I just played three events and, it's like, 'When are you back?' Well, I just won a tournament three tournaments ago.”Gone in a flashIt was two months ago that flashes of the old Tiger Woods began to surface, leading people to believe that a comeback of great proportion was in the making.The first warning signal was fired in the final round of the Honda Classic in March when he shot 62 and made Rory McIlroy grind out a two-shot victory. A week later, he won the Arnold Palmer for a record seventh time with a five-shot victory that smacked of the old Tiger — the player who controlled all his shots and pulled out his once-trusty stinger shot.But, just like that, it all disappeared.In his next three starts, Woods finished tied for 40th at the Masters (his worst finish there as a professional), missed the cut at Quail Hollow and finished tied for 40th at the Players Championship — marking the eighth time since he turned pro that he went three consecutive events without finishing in the top 10.What's more, of the 19 winners on the PGA Tour this season, only one — rookie John Huh — has had a worse three-tournament stretch after a victory (T36, cut, T73). There has been no residual karma from his victory at Bay Hill, not like the old days when Woods would string victories together like charms on a bracelet.Woods is on his third swing coach since he stunned the golf world with his remarkable 12-shot victory at the 1997 Masters. The latest is Sean Foley, whom Woods employed at the 2010 PGA Championship to help him execute a swing that he said would hopefully alleviate the stress on his left knee.But, despite his assertions that the changes take some time, Woods is far behind the pace he exhibited when he made similar swing changes under Butch Harmon and Hank Haney. Of course, Woods is dealing with more hurdles now than then, beginning with his knees and including the mental burden of his very public marital missteps and infidelity.Woods started working with Harmon after the '97 season, and, according to a recent study by The Associated Press, finished in the top five of nearly half his first 35 tournaments under Harmon. What's more, he was in the top 10 over 65 percent of the time and finished out of top 25 only five times. He won three times in those 35 events.When he began working with Haney in March '04 and, including the '05 Masters, Woods finished in the top five of 12 of the 24 tournaments he played and won three times. He was in the top 10 63 percent of the time, finished out of the top 25 twice and didn't miss a cut.The results are less sterling in the first 28 tournaments with Foley.Woods has finished in the top 10 in 10 tournaments (36 percent of the time). But he also has finished out of the top 25 the same number of times and missed three cuts. He has one official victory — at Bay Hill in March.”Jack Grout taught me from the start that I need to be responsible for my own swing and understand when I have a problem on the golf course, how to correct the problem by myself without having to run back to someone,” said Nicklaus, the Memorial tournament host, referring to his long-time teacher.”I saw Jack maybe once or twice a year for maybe an hour. He taught me the fundamentals of the game, taught me how to assess what I'm doing and how you fix that without taking myself out of the golf tournament.”I'm not hesitant to change my swing in the fourth round of a U.S. Open or the Masters if I didn't like what I was doing. I think it's important for any golfer to know who they are and what they can do and how they swing and how they can best be their own teacher.”Nicklaus said he asked Woods that question — Why do you need someone to watch you all the time? — when he sat next to him at the champions dinner at the Masters in April.”He said, 'I really don't,'” Nicklaus said. “He said, 'I go to Sean, I get a few ideas and I work on it myself.' I said, OK, that's fine then, because he is trying to be responsible for himself. I think he's trying to do that.”Dodging the mediaTired of questions from the media about his problems, Woods has taken to skipping his usual pre-tournament media sessions and instead has held live internet chats with the public. The latest came Tuesday when he bypassed the media room at the Memorial to stage what was called a “Google+ Hangout” online for his fans.”I don't come to the media center as much as he does, so I still like this,” said Masters champion Bubba Watson, making only his second appearance since his playoff victory at Augusta National. “I feel cool up here. I could see doing something like [Google chat], but I'd still come to the local media and talk here. He does it every week no matter how he plays, so it's still new to me.”Unlike Woods, Watson does not have a swing coach and claims he never has taken a lesson. His unorthodox swing, where his right foot all but becomes airborne, likely is testament to that. But even Nicklaus concedes Watson's swing, while unique, is his own — something that Woods has said he would like to accomplish.”Tiger, all the tournaments he's won, over 70 tournaments, and every day of his life somebody wants to interview him, somebody wants to do this, somebody wants to do that, and I think I'm tired? I think I'm beat? I'm nowhere near Tiger's status. I'm nowhere near Tiger's fame.”