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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

Editor's note: John Maginnes played the PGA TOUR for a decade and also won three times on the Nationwide Tour. Maginnes now works as an analyst for the PGA TOUR Network on XM Satellite Radio. He will be contributing regularly to PGATOUR.com.

Some records are cooler than others. In golf, 18 professional majors is the coolest. Everyone knows who owns it and everyone knows who is chasing it. Other records like consecutive birdies in a round are not nearly as cool.

There are some extremely cool records that have fallen recently, and I dare say that they will not be broken in my lifetime. Jay Haas made his 591st cut on the PGA TOUR last year. When he played that weekend, Jay passed contemporary Tom Kite for the most cuts ever made by a player on the PGA TOUR. If you play in 30 tournaments a year -- which is a lot -- and you make 20 cuts a year, it would take a career that spanned three decades to catch Jay.

Vijay Singh hit a couple of other milestones with his victory at the Mercedes-Benz Championship on Sunday. The win was the 30th of his career, which is impressive in itself. But more importantly, he set a record. The victory was Vijay's 18th on TOUR since he turned 40, which broke Sam Snead's record by one. At 43 and showing the same form that he rode to nine victories in 2005, chances are that Vijay will extend that mark very soon.

Of all the PGA TOUR records, and there are many, I believe that these two will not be matched for a number of reasons. Primarily, with the amount of money that the players are playing for these days, they have the option to end their careers earlier than their predecessors. A TOUR career is measured by accomplishment, not by longevity. However, longevity is one of the unique aspects of our sport. It's unlikely that men in their 40s and 50s would move the needle in any other sport. It is even less likely that players of that age would be breaking records.

Vijay's career has been an exercise in fortitude and craftsmanship. His driving-range work ethic has been well chronicled and can't be overstated. However, I believe that the true key to his success and longevity is the attention that he pays to his physical fitness. It is unusual for a player to have a career that spans decades, yet never suffer a major injury. His physical fitness combined with fortunate genetics is partially responsible for his great success.

With Jay continuing to play occasionally on the PGA TOUR while competing full time on the Champions Tour, the cuts number could extend into the 600s. In Vijay's case, the sky is virtually the limit. It would not be at all surprising for Vijay to make one last run at Tiger for the top spot in the world. At the very least he will continue to be a force to reckoned with on the PGA TOUR for years to come.

Before the Tiger Woods era, no one expected the 18-major mark to be challenged. Now the question seems to have shifted from if to when. If you are waiting for either of these other records to fall, though, you could be in for a long wait.

Aloha from the Mercedes-Benz Championship and congratulations to Vijay.

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