As Tiger Woods hits 50 we’ll all be reflecting on his monumental impact on the game of golf and his astonishing career – but it’s also hard not to think about what might have been had he not had all his many injury problems.
The GOAT debate that rages between Woods and Jack Nicklaus is often settled by the fact the Golden Bear has those 18 Majors tucked away to Tiger’s 15 – but if Woods had a slightly better injury record I’ve no doubt he’d have eclipsed that.
Tiger Woods’ Major record
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The utter dominance he showed during his Tiger Slam year was unlike anything we’ve ever seen before – or since – as he won all four Majors in a row in 2000-01.
Starting with the 1999 PGA Championship Woods actually won five Majors out of six, then won the opening two of the season in 2002 to make it seven trophies in just 11 Majors.
Knee surgery at the back end of 2002 saw him miss the start of the 2003 season – the first of two without a Major title before finding his dominant best again to rattle off six Majors in the next four years.
The final one was the most incredible as he claimed the 2008 US Open basically on one leg – but that 14th Major success would signal the start of the decline as knee surgery ruled him out of the rest of the season.
Knee surgeries, back surgeries, personal problems and of course his infamous car crash wreaked havoc on Woods’ Major chances, and hindered him from just playing competitive golf again after that.
Woods managed double-digit tournaments in just seven of the next 15 seasons and had multiple withdrawals with perhaps his only real consistent stretch coming in 2018 and 2019 – the year of his epic 15th Major at The Masters of course.
How many Majors would Tiger have won?
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Tiger won his 15 Majors from 95 starts but…
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