Tiger Woods has had the most successful and influential career out of any golfer in history. He’s only 43 and still has time to add to his legacy. With so many stats and accomplishments to choose from, we had to narrow it down to only five. As tough as it was, here are the top five Tiger Woods stats.
5. During the 2000 PGA Season, Tiger recorded only one round higher than 73
Woods’ 2000 season was something to marvel at. Consistency is the key to success in golf, especially over an entire season, and that’s what Tiger had. A single round over 73 shows how in control he is even when he isn’t playing his best golf.
For Tiger in 2000 though, it was hard to find a time he wasn’t playing his best golf. During that 2000 PGA season, Woods won nine events that year – the most in a single season in his career. No other golfer led or co-led nine total rounds that year……
4. Tiger won 7 out of 11 majors from 1999-2002
This shows you how dominant Tiger Woods was early in his career. Woods won a major championship every year during those four seasons, including multiple victories in 2000 and 2002.
Starting with the 2000 U.S. Open, Woods won four straight majors completing a clean sweep of golf’s biggest tournaments. The fourth one being the 2001 Masters. Since it wasn’t in the same calendar year it was dubbed the “Tiger Slam” instead of the Grand Slam.
During this four-year run, Tiger was 94 under par. The next best golfer was 60 shots worse than him.
3. Woods made 142 consecutive cuts from 1998-2005
This stat is extremely underrated if you ask me. Even when he was off his game he still was good enough to make it to the weekend 142 straight times. Obviously, Woods was very consistent during the eight-year stretch but compare it to the best golfers in the game today.
Looking at the PGA players with the highest earnings over the last few years, none of them are on the same planet as Tiger Woods. Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy have the most consecutive cuts made at 25 and 20, respectively. But those streaks are barely a year long.
DJ also leads the PGA Tour since 2014 in fewest cuts at 9. The golfer who has been cut the least over the last five years still missed the cut about twice a year on average.
If Woods was playing in a tournament during those eight years, he was playing all four rounds. That means he didn’t have any unplanned weekends off to recover mentally and physically. As a player, you are playing to win but having a weekend off to regroup if your game is a mess can do wonders.
2. Tiger was a combined 126 under par in majors from 1997-2008.
If this stat doesn’t impress you then let me add an extra piece of information to prove how insane that is. During this twelve-year stretch, there were 138 other golfers that played at least 40 rounds in major championships. The next best combined score in majors of these golfers was 63. OVER PAR.
Tiger woods was 189 strokes better at majors than the next best player from 1997-2008!
Tiger had big moments during these years that helped form this stat. But what stands out the most? Maybe his twelve-shot victory at the 1997 Masters which gave him his first major victory could be considered the most dominant.
Maybe winning a major by ten or more strokes twice (1997 Masters, 2000 U.S. Open). By the way, that’s only happened twice in the history of golf and he’s done it both times.
During this stretch from 1997 to 2008, Tiger won 14 major championships out of a possible 48 appearances. He averaged more than a major a year for twelve consecutive years.
1. Tiger’s record is 43-2 when having the outright lead after 54 holes.
Just think about that. Tiger Woods won 43/45 times when having the outright lead in a tournament going into Sunday. That is a 96% closeout rate which shows why he is the best finisher the sport of golf has ever seen. When Tiger puts his Sunday red on you know he means business.
To compare, since 2013, the PGA Tour average for winning after holding the 54-hole lead outright is 42%. Woods more than doubles that closing percentage with his career numbers.
Shifting to major championships exclusively, Tiger is 11-1 with the outright lead heading into the final round. The only loss coming in the 2009 PGA Championship when Y.E. Yang stunned the golf world by coming from behind on Woods that Sunday.
Going even further, if Woods has a lead of three shots or more heading into a Sunday, he is a perfect 24/24. That’s 100% if you don’t have a calculator on you. Not only does he rarely give up leads on Sunday, he NEVER melts down.
Think about some of the vintage moments where he’s held on to win. The 2005 Masters rings a bell when Tiger chipped in on the 16th to regain the lead and eventually take the green jacket. Or how about the famous tying putt on the 18th green to force a playoff at the 2008 U.S.Open? Legendary.
Tiger had a three-shot lead heading into the 2018 Tour Championship a few months ago and of course delivered with his first win since 2013. Hopefully he will be in more positions like that this upcoming year after his incredible 2018 season.
