By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent

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Shock, horror. Tiger Woods may not be in possession of any one of golf's major titles on Sunday night.

A failure to defend the United States Open at Olympia Fields near Chicago will see Woods hand over the fourth and last of the trophies he uniquely displayed all in a row just two years ago.

But the bigger picture is that he is still well on track to overtake Jack Nicklaus as the most successful player in golf history.

When the world number one tees off on Thursday - at 7.30am local time - with world number two Ernie Els and American amateur champion Ricky Barnes, he has no need to feel overly-concerned about the possible loss of his national crown.

The facts are these. Woods is 27 and he already has eight majors to his name. Nicklaus was 30 when the eighth of his 18 victories came in the 1970 Open.

In terms of majors played Woods is ahead of the game as well. This week is his 31st and only his 26th as a professional. For Nicklaus that victory at St Andrews was his 43rd and 35th as a pro.

There were plenty of times when the Golden Bear did not own any of the big four championships. In one sequence from 1967 to 1970 he played in 12 majors and did not triumph in any of them, from 1976 until 1978 there were 10 and before his amazing win in the 1986 Masters at the age of 46 - his final major - he appeared in 20 without success.

Do not expect to see any panic buttons from Woods then. After all, there were 10 majors between his first and second victory and then he embarked on an incredible run of seven wins in the next 11.

The recent record of defending champions at the US Open is not good, though. The last man to hold on to the title was Curtis Strange in 1989 and before him it was Ben Hogan in 1951.

By his own high standards Woods was bitterly disappointing in his defence of the Masters in April. After returning from knee surgery with three wins in his first four starts he managed only 15th place at Augusta, his hopes over when he disagreed with caddie Steve Williams over club selection on the third tee in the final round and took a double bogey six.

"I just made a bad decision - I didn't listen to my own instincts," he says on that incident. "I think as a player that's the most disappointing thing. Your first instinct on a shot is 99% correct and when you start second-guessing yourself that's when you start making mistakes."

A similar mistake at a crucial time this week will further erode the aura of invincibility that had been starting to build up when his major domination was at its height.

Woods played only two events since the Masters and coach Butch Harmon, called upon again to iron out some kinks in the swing evident all year (he ranks 108th in driving accuracy on the US Tour), said: "Tiger can't practise as he used to because he doesn't want to put too much stress on his knee.

"Nor does he hit the ball as aggressively, but I still expect Tiger to win and I've already put my money where my mouth is.

"We haven't seen him fire on all cylinders this year, but when he does - and I think we will see it at the US Open - he is unbeatable.

"He will be very disappointed to be without any of the four majors and I would be very surprised. That is just the sort of thing to motivate him."

Harmon puts Ireland's Padraig Harrington among the leading threats to Woods.

No European has won the title since Tony Jacklin in 1970, but Harrington believes he has learnt a lot from partnering Woods in the last two US Opens and beat him head-to-head for a million dollars in the Target World Challenge in California in December.

"Padraig's been able to look Tiger in the eye. He's a tough competitor and that's what it takes," comments Harmon.

Els, Rich Beem and Mike Weir are the other current holders of the majors and Harmon, while still rating Woods "far and away the best player in the world", thinks that the days of total domination may be over.

"It's not so much a case of Tiger slipping, more that the other players are raising their games."

Woods is out to show them, however, that on the US Open stage at least they need to find at least one more level to match him.

A victory on Sunday would put him in elite company. Only Ben Hogan and Willie Anderson have won the US Open three times in four years.

"I think it's everyone's hardest test," Woods said. "You have to drive the ball well there. You have to hit your irons well and you have to make a lot of eight-footers for par.

"It's the most physical and mental test we play. There's so much stress on every shot."