Tiger Woods will celebrate his 50th birthday on December 30th. As it stands, he has 82 PGA Tour wins and 15 majors, but the discussion now is more about whether he will play on the Champions Tour.
His first major victory came 28 years ago, which has aged us all, and 13 of those victories came between the last major in 1999 and the 2008 U.S. Open.
Here, we take a look back at his five major wins, all of which are great performances by the modern GOAT.
1) 2008 US Open
The simple fact is that Tiger suffered a double stress fracture of his left tibia during the game and will undergo ACL surgery shortly after the Torrey Pines game.
He won’t play again for a whole year.
He had to play 91 holes and had a weird performance when Rocco Mediate bogeyed the seventh hole.
Robert Karlsson, playing against Tiger in the third round, heard constant clicking sounds in his legs, and other times Woods doubled over and looked like he had to be taken off the course in an ambulance. Somehow, he made two eagles on the back nine and chipped in at 17.
On Sunday, he doubled on the first hole and bogeyed the second, but came to the final hole needing a birdie to set up an 18-hole playoff with Mediate. After various collisions and damage, it somehow fell off. We forget he also had 18 birdies in the playoff to keep the tournament going.
2) 2019 Masters
That’s not even the most dramatic part, the tournament was actually quite dull in places due to weather and an early start, but Woods is now 43 and hasn’t won a major since his 2008 victory.
His back has fused and he didn’t even play in the majors during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. But he had a fruitful 2018, coming close at Carnoustie and the PGA before claiming the Tour title.
So it’s not a huge surprise this week, but it’s been a long battle with his body over the last six years. After numerous surgeries and procedures, he even forgot how to get a microchip for months.
On Sunday at the Masters, he had to get up in the middle of the night to prepare his body for a long, wet course packed with the best players. Eventually he knocks them all out, and we get one last chance to see how his name affects those around him.
3) 2000 U.S. Open
Looking back, it’s a little surprising that this was only his third Grand Slam victory, but he quickly reached eight over the next two seasons. The week at Pebble Beach was the ultimate masterclass, and the only thing that might have been disconcerting was when Woods came back to finish the second round and caddy Steve Williams had only one ball in the bag.
He led on Day 1 and Day 6 after Round 2. The cut was +7 and Woods was -8. By Sunday, he was 10 shots ahead, then shot a 67 to win by 15 shots, the largest victory in major championship history. There were 21 birdies on Saturday and even a triple bogey.
No other player was better than par, with Woods at -12. So far, no player has finished the U.S. Open at double digits under par.
A good quiz question is which players finished second? The answer is: Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
“Everything I say is an understatement. He’s just a great player. He’s only 24 years old. It seems like we’re not playing on the same court right now. When he’s on the court, you don’t have a lot of chances,” Els said.
“If I was playing crazy, I would probably still lose 5, 6, 7. He’s a phenomenal player. That’s probably an understatement.”
4) 1997 Masters
The best part of it all was that Woods shot 40 during a week playing alongside defending champion Nick Faldo. Then he had four birdies and an eagle – and he used a wedge to get close to 15! – Come back after 30.
Woods then had his best rounds of the day on Friday and Saturday, shooting 66-65, and he shot par on the 72nd hole, knowing full well that his 18-under score would set a new Masters record.
All this was achieved when he played in his first major championship as a professional at the age of 21. Although he would add three more green jackets over the next eight years, Augusta’s “Tiger Proof” would follow.
For the record, it was his fourth victory on the PGA Tour within six months of turning pro. Tom Kettle is the answer to this quiz question.
5) 2000 Open Championship
You have to include one of his three Open victories, and this one he somehow avoided every bunker around the Old Course. He won by eight points just weeks after the Pebble Beach Massacre.
You might be tempted to look at the Royals six years later, where he hit a tee shot all week (mostly because he couldn’t), but it was a perfect all-around performance.
He was -19 this week with all four rounds in the 60s. No goals conceded in the first two days and no goals conceded all week, two of which came on road holes. David Duvall may have cut Woods’ lead to two points with eight matches remaining, but we all know the playbook – he holes in, they miss – and the rest is a parade.
Thomas Bjorn and Els finished second again.
“It does look like there are people playing golf on a different planet than the rest of us,” Bjorn said. “When he plays at the top level, he’s on a different level.”
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