Golf

Tiger's Top 10

By Bob Harig, Times Staff Writer
Published March 28, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [AP file photo] Tiger Woods receives his Green Jacket from Nick Faldo at the Augusta National Golf Club in this April 1997 photo. Vote in our poll Tiger's Top 10 What is Tiger Woods' most remarkable accomplishment? Lowest score in all four Majors Tiger Slam 142 consecutive cuts made 56 career wins 46 victories in his 20s Winning 3 different tournaments at least 5 times 7 straight PGA victories 12 major championships 7 PGA tour money titles Nine wins in one season

Since winning the Masters by a record 12 shots 10 years ago, Tiger Woods has gone on to one remarkable golf feat after another. To commemorate the anniversary of his first victory at Augusta National on April 13, 1997, we've put together a list of 10 achievements, in no particular order, since that epic win.

Nine wins in one season

In 2000, Woods became the first since Sam Snead in 1950 to win as many as nine tournaments in a season. Three were major championships. Vijay Singh tied him with nine in 2004. But only Byron Nelson 18, 1945, Ben Hogan (13, 1946; 10, 1948) and Snead (11, 1950) won more in a single year.

Lowest score in all four majors

When you consider that only four other players - Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus - have won all of the majors, it is amazing to think that Woods has the record score at the Masters (1997), U.S. Open (2000), British Open (2000) and PGA Championship (2000).

Tiger Slam

Some wanted to quibble that Woods did not win all four majors in the same year, but he did win four in a row and held all the trophies at once when he captured the 2000 U.S. Open, British Open and PGA and the 2001 Masters. Ben Hogan is the only other golfer to win three straight majors, capturing the 1953 Masters, U.S. Open and British Open (he did not play in the PGA).

142 consecutive cuts made

Yes, there have been a lot of events with no cuts for which he got credit, and it's different than the streak Byron Nelson set, in which making a cut often meant being in the money. But Woods did not miss a cut on the PGA Tour over a seven-year span.

46 victories in his 20s

That number alone was good enough for eighth on the all-time PGA Tour list, one ahead of Walter Hagen and five behind Billy Casper. Nobody else is even close. Jack Nicklaus won 30 times in his 20s.

56 career wins

Only four players in PGA Tour history have won more: Sam Snead (82), Jack Nicklaus (73), Ben Hogan (64) and Arnold Palmer (62). Lee Trevino and Johnny Miller combined for 54 wins. And you have to combine the careers of Greg Norman, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange to match Woods.

Winning three different tournaments at least five times

Woods has won the CA Championship (formerly the American Express Championship) six times, and the Bridgestone Invitational and the Buick Invitational five times each. He can add his fifth Masters title April 8.

Seven PGA tour money titles

If Woods cared more about this distinction, he might already have tied Jack Nicklaus for the most with eight. In 2003 he finished second to Vjiay Singh but played eight fewer tournaments. Tom Watson and Ben Hogan won five money titles, Arnold Palmer four. Phil Mickelson has never won the money title.

12 major championships

At age 31, he is two-thirds of the way to Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. No other player in the game's history has won as many.

Seven straight PGA Tour victories

Woods did this from the 2006 British Open through this year's Buick Invitational. It came with plenty of asterisks because he played in other world events - not PGA Tour tournaments - and did not win. Still, other than Woods' six-tournament victory streak in 1999-2000, you have to go back to Ben Hogan in 1948 to find a winning streak as long as six.

Bob Harig can be reached at harig@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8806.

[Last modified March 28, 2007, 15:07:37]