Tiger Woods turns 50 today. A milestone. He is now eligible to play on the PGA Tour Champions. For this reason, we wanted to compile the 50 most significant moments of his career on TenGolf. Obviously, this selection is entirely subjective. Everyone will have their own. Some may miss something on this list, and many others will remember things they had already forgotten. These are Tiger’s 50.
1.– In 1978, he appears on the television show The Mike Douglas Show putting alongside Bob Hope. He is not even three years old. A few weeks later, he scores 48 on nine holes at the Navy course.
2.– At five years old, he appears in Golf Digest and on ABC’s show That’s Incredible.
3.– At eight years old, he breaks 80 for the first time and wins his first Junior World Golf Championship.
4.– At 11, he beats his father for the first time and never loses to him again. A year later, he breaks 70 for the first time.
5.– At 15, he becomes the youngest winner ever of the US Junior Amateur. In 1992, he wins it again. The first ever to win the title two years in a row. In 1993, he secures the third consecutive win. No one has matched this to date.
6.– At 16, he plays his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open, and misses the cut. He scores 72 and 75.
7.– In 1994, he wins the US Amateur. He becomes the youngest ever. In 2008, Danny Lee surpasses him. He wins it again in 1995 and 1996. The first player in history to do so. Also, in 1996, he wins the NCAA individual title.
8.– Woods learned to control his stutter as a child. This was not known until he wrote a letter to a boy contemplating suicide. “I know what it’s like to be different and sometimes not fit in. I also stuttered as a child and would talk to my dog. He would sit there listening until he fell asleep. I also went to classes for two years to help me, and eventually, I learned to stop.”
9.– He enters Stanford University in 1994 and wins the first tournament he plays: 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational. Notah Begay III shares a room with him and becomes his best friend. He calls him “Urkel,” after the popular series Family Matters at the time.
10.– In December 1994, his first surgical intervention is documented: surgery on his left knee to remove two benign tumors and scar tissue.
11.– In 1995, he participates for the first time in the Masters Tournament. He does so as the US Amateur champion. He is only 19 years old. He also plays the Open Championship and finishes as the best amateur.
12.– In August 1996, after two years at university, he turns professional. A day later, he utters the famous phrase “Hello world” at the press conference before the Greater Milwaukee Open, his first professional tournament.
13.– On October 6, 1996, he achieves his first professional victory on the PGA Tour. He wins the Las Vegas Invitational with this result: 70-63-68-67-64 = 332. He defeats Davis Love III in a playoff.
14.– On April 13, 1997, he wins the first of his 15 Majors and the first of his five Masters Tournaments. He is the second in history with the most Majors after Jack Nicklaus (18).
15.– In 1997, he scores a hole-in-one on the iconic 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale during the Phoenix Open. The image goes around the world. Surely, a golf course has never roared louder.
16.– In 1999, he undergoes surgery for myopia. He had eleven diopters.
17.– In 1999, one of the most curious images of his career occurs. It is at the Phoenix Open. Hole 13. The crowd helps him move a giant boulder so he can play his shot without penalty.
18.– He wins his first PGA Championship in 1999 and the following year wins the US Open and the Open Championship. He is 24 years old. Of course, he becomes the youngest in history to win the Career Grand Slam.
19.– The US Open in 2000 is won by a record 15 strokes over the runners-up: Ernie Els and Miguel Ángel Jiménez. A month later, he wins the Open by six strokes. He also wins the PGA Championship that year. The US Open is won at Pebble Beach and the Open at the Old Course. Quite something.
20.– In 2000, he delivers what many consider the best shot of his career. It is a 6-iron from the bunker, having to fly over water on the last hole of the tournament to win the Canadian Open. It was his ninth victory that year.
21.– In 2001, he achieves the known Tiger Slam by winning his second Masters. That is, he has won consecutively, although not in the same year, the US Open, Open, PGA, and Masters.
22.– On June 15, 1997, he ascends to World Number One for the first time. It lasted a week. He regained it on July 6 of that same year.
23.– He has been World Number One for 683 weeks. A colossal record that seems unreachable. Of those, 281 weeks were consecutive. More than five years in a row… His last week as World Number One was on May 11, 2014. He spent 906 weeks in the world’s Top 10. That is, 75 percent of the time he was among the world’s top ten, he was Number One. Incredible.
24.– Between 1998 and 2003, he did not miss a single cut on the PGA Tour. It was 142 consecutive tournaments. Absolute record. The streak ended at the Byron Nelson in 2003.
25.– In 1999, he wins for the first time on the South course at Firestone and at Torrey Pines. A year later, he wins for the first time at Bay Hill. On these three courses, he has won 24 tournaments. He has won eight times on each of them. If we add the five victories at Augusta, more than a third of his PGA Tour wins have been on these four venues. Tiger’s gardens.
26.– The 7-iron at the US Open in 2000, on the 6th hole at Pebble Beach. The commentator leaves another memorable phrase: “this is not a fair fight.” He was bowing to Tiger’s superiority.
27.– In 2001, he sinks an 18-metre putt on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. The shot will forever be known as “better than most”.
28.– In 1997, Tiger Woods played in Spain for the first time. It was at the Ryder Cup in Valderrama. Later, he would return to play in our country twice more, both also at Valderrama, for the WGC American Express in 1999 and 2000. In that Ryder, he won 1.5 points out of five possible, won the 1999 American Express defeating Miguel Ángel Jiménez in a playoff, and was fifth in the 2000 event.
29.– With his victory at the 2005 Open Championship, Tiger Woods achieved two wins in each of the four Majors. He did it in just eight years.
30.– In 2005, he sinks the iconic chip on the 16th hole at Augusta National. He would win that Masters. The fourth of his career. Probably the best advertisement in sports history.
31.– At the 2006 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, he holes from the fairway on the 14th hole. With a 4-iron. In this British, Tiger Woods’ stingers become legendary.
32.– On April 15, 2008, he undergoes arthroscopy on his left knee to repair cartilage. He is out for two months. He returns for the US Open at Torrey Pines. He wins it visibly limping after forcing a playoff against Rocco Mediate with an incredible putt on the 18th and playing another 18 holes the next day. Tiger claimed it was his greatest victory.
33.– Yes, of course, that putt at the 2008 US Open to force the playoff.
34.– On June 24, 2008, right after winning the US Open, he undergoes another surgery on his left knee. After that operation, he achieves seven victories worldwide in 2009. The first was at the Arnold Palmer.
35.– On November 27, 2009, the scandal over Tiger Woods’ infidelities comes to light. It is discovered following a car accident involving the player. He decides to put his career on standby. He publicly apologizes a couple of months later and does not play again until the 2010 Masters. He finishes in fourth place.
36.– In 2010, after withdrawing from THE PLAYERS during the fourth round citing an injury, he ends his relationship with Hank Haney, with whom he had been since 2003. It is the first year of his career in which he does not win any tournament.
37.– In July 2011, Tiger Woods ends his relationship with Steve Williams, arguably the most famous caddie in the world. These are challenging times. In free fall in the world rankings and with many physical problems.
38.– In December 2011, he wins the Chevron World Challenge and breaks his victory drought. It had been more than two years without winning a tournament.
39.– In 2012, despite not being at his best, he achieves his 73rd victory on the PGA Tour by winning once again at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It had to be at Bay Hill. At that moment, he ties Jack Nicklaus as the second player in history with the most wins on the PGA Tour.
40.– The wonderful lob shot he hit on the 16th hole of the final round of the 2012 Memorial Tournament.
41.– The non-disqualification at the 2013 Masters Tournament. Tiger’s ball hits the flagstick on the 15th hole in his approach to the green and ends up in the water. It is the second round. After signing the card, it is noticed that he had dropped from an incorrect spot, so he should receive a two-stroke penalty. Since he had already submitted his card, he should be disqualified for signing an incorrect score. However, it was said that the referees had seen the action before Tiger submitted the card and therefore should have informed him in time to correct his score. He was exempted from disqualification for that reason. In 2016, the USGA and R&A introduced an exception: if a player returns a lower card because they did not know they had incurred penalty strokes before signing, they are not always disqualified; the corresponding strokes are added.
42.– In 2014, he misses his first Masters Tournament since 1994 due to a back injury. It is the first time he undergoes surgery in this area of his body. The back becomes his true curse. A series of operations.
43.– In 2016 and 2017, he plays only four tournaments due to his physical problems, especially in the back. It seems he finds the solution with surgery in 2017. He undergoes an anterior lumbar fusion.
44.– In 2018, he regains his best form. The results are increasingly better, and he achieves an extraordinary victory at the Tour Championship. Tiger is back.
45.– In 2019, he wins the Masters Tournament. The fifth of his career and his fifteenth Grand Slam. A victory to remember. He is 43 years old. He is the second oldest winner of the Masters after Jack Nicklaus. That year, he returns to the world’s top 10.
46.– At the end of 2019, after another knee surgery, he wins the ZOZO Championship. It is the 82nd victory of his career on the PGA Tour. He ties Sam Snead’s record.
47.– In 2021, he suffers a severe car accident that ultimately ends his career. He has played eleven tournaments in total since then. His best result has been 45th at the Genesis in 2023.
48.– His last tournament was the 2024 Open Championship.
49.– He won 37 consecutive tournaments when leading or co-leading on Sunday.
50.– The million-dollar question. From today, he can play in the PGA Tour Champions events. Will he do so regularly?
