Does anyone still believe Tiger Woods will break Jack Nicklaus’ majors record?

Jack Nicklaus, the subject of a new documentary about his life and career that will air Sunday ahead of his 75th birthday on Jan. 21, fielded reporters’ questions for some 45 minutes during a Wednesday conference call.

No news there, but with Tiger Woods set to make his 2015 debut later this month at the Phoenix Open, it seemed telling that no one asked the 18-time major winner if he still believed Woods would break his majors mark. And that was after Nicklaus volunteered to field more queries once the teleconference moderator called time.

Nicklaus has stumped for Woods’ campaign to reach 19 at almost every whistle stop over the past few years, always praising the aging superstar as he nominated him to assume the seat as the golfer with the most major titles.

Last year, in his worst season as a professional, an injured Woods failed to crack the top 20 in just eight worldwide events, let alone win a major or any other tourney. Now 39 and following a lengthy layoff to nurse his surgically repaired back, Woods returned to competition last month with a familiar swing that earned kudos but a wretched short game that led to his share of last place at the Hero World Challenge.

Nicklaus did not witness Woods’ shockingly inept chipping, but, in response to one of the few Woods-related questions, said he was unworried about his closest challenger’s touch around the greens.

“Tiger has always had an unbelievable short game, and I don’t think that’s going to leave him,” Nicklaus said. “I don’t think Tiger’s short game will go anywhere. Maybe it was just rusty, but that will be the strong part of his game. What Tiger has got to get back is his long game and the game between his ears.”

About Woods’ upcoming start at the rowdiest venue in golf, Nicklaus saw the chance to score a bunch of birdies on a relatively easy TPC Scottsdale as a mettle-boosting exercise. While he preferred playing courses that challenged him, Nicklaus acknowledged he would work out the kinks on accessible tracks early in the season as well.

“I didn’t want to feel like I didn’t feel like I was quite ready to challenge a difficult golf course. So sometimes I would go where I could build confidence in my own game,” Nicklaus said. “My guess is Tiger is going to Phoenix so he can build confidence in his own game and get some self-confidence, because he hasn’t played for a long time, [and then] build himself back up to the more difficult courses.”

The closest Wednesday’s chat veered toward Woods’ life-long chase of the majors mark was when Nicklaus volunteered that he weathered his own grand slam droughts over the years.

“I had lulls in my career, too,” Nicklaus, noting that Woods had just been through “a little lull in his career,” said. “I had several periods where I had three and four years that I didn’t win anything of a major championship, and I came back from that, and I think Tiger may do the same.”

Almost as if he were daring someone to address the elephant looming over the confab, Nicklaus offered that he expected Woods to rebound from his latest setbacks.

“Tiger has had a great career and I don’t think his career is over,” Nicklaus said, with nary a direct reference to Woods’ six-plus-year major-less streak. “We’ll see what happens from here.”

As Nicklaus, who went six years between No. 17 (U.S. Open in 1980) and 18 (1986 Masters), said, we’ll see.

The USGA-Ross Greenburg Productions’ Nicklaus: The Making of a Champion will air at noon ET Sunday, Jan. 18, on Fox prior to its coverage of the NFL’s NFC Championship Game between Green Bay and Seattle. The trailer is here: