Apr. 6, 2009
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer
Trying to narrow down Tiger's 66 PGA TOUR victories (thus far) to a top 10 is a little like letting a 5-year-old loose in a Toys 'R Us -- so much quantity and nearly as much quality to choose from.
Some of the choices were no-brainers -- like last year's U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines or that historic 1997 Masters win.
And it would be easy to just pick 10 of his 14 career major championship wins.
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PGATOUR.COM's newest feature celebrates the success of Tiger Woods as he moves up the list of all-time PGA TOUR winners. For reviews of each win, photo galleries, lists, rankings and other features, click here. |
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But what about tournaments like the Arnold Palmer Invitational, TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola or the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am?
There are definitely worthy candidates among that group. Some of them made the list; some of them didn't.
With that in mind, a highly scientific formula was applied to the selection process and it included strength of field times margin of victory plus what I like to call the X-factor, such as, say, a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Add them up and you have the 10 best victories of the best player on the planet.
Let the debate begin...
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| 1 |
2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines |
Major |
Playoff (19 holes) |
X FACTOR: Pretty simple -- Torn ACL
COMMENT: Never mind that Woods could barely walk most of the week because his left knee was shredded. He made a birdie on the 72nd hole to force an 18-hole Monday playoff with Rocco Mediate, then made another one on the 90th hole to force sudden-death. You know the rest. |
| 2 |
1997 Masters |
Major |
12 strokes |
X FACTOR: Became the first African-American to win at hallowed Augusta National
COMMENT: Significant in so many ways, some would argue this was Woods' greatest triumph. Perhaps of least significance, yet not unimportant, was that he played his first nine holes in 40 before ripping off a 30 on the back nine on Thursday. That set the tone for a record-breaking and historic victory. |
| 3 |
2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach |
Major |
15 strokes |
X FACTOR: Almost ran out of golf balls while playing 18th and final hole
COMMENT: Where do we start? Woods' 15-stroke victory was (and is) a major championship record. His total of 12 under total broke the Open mark in relation to par. We don't have space to get to the rest of the records he set, but a case could be made for this as the greatest and most dominant victory of Woods' career. |
| 4 |
2000 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am |
Good |
2 strokes |
X FACTOR: Six-hour pro-am rounds
COMMENT: Down five strokes going into the final round, Wood actually fell seven strokes behind with seven holes to play when he finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for a 64 and a two-shot win over Matt Gogel and Vijay Singh. |
| 5 |
2005 Masters |
Major |
Sudden-death playoff |
X FACTOR: Impossible chip turned Nike commercial
COMMENT: Lost in the highlight-reel moment at 16 is the fact that Woods rallied from an opening-round 74 and shot 66-65 the next two rounds, which included a run of seven straight birdies at one point in Round 3. For good measure, Woods rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win. |
| 6 |
2006 British Open |
Major |
2 strokes |
X FACTOR: Used the driver once all week
COMMENT: Tiger dissected Royal Liverpool with uncanny precision -- he led the field in driving accuracy at 85.7 percent and was second in greens in regulation at 80.6 percent. He also held off a hard-charging Chris DiMarco and in a rare show of emotion, Woods broke down afterward, refusing to let go of caddie Steve Williams after winning for the first time since his father passed away a few months earlier. |
| 7 |
2001 THE PLAYERS Championship |
Best on TOUR |
1 stroke |
X FACTOR: The "better than most" 60-foot birdie putt from the back edge of the island green
COMMENT: Another highlight-reel special that overshadowed a third-round 66 and other spectacular shots -- a 4-iron from 229 yards to 2 feet to set up an eagle on No. 11 Saturday, a chip-in for birdie from 100 feet away on No. 2 to tie for the lead on Sunday, a 10-footer for birdie and the outright lead on No. 9 in near darkness. |
| 8 |
2005 Ford Championship at Doral |
Great |
1 stroke |
X FACTOR: Head-to-head duel with Phil Mickelson
COMMENT: Woods regained his hold on the top spot in the Offical World Golf Rankings by rallying from a two-stroke deficit on the final day to beat Mickelson. He caught Lefty at the turn then passed him with an eagle on No. 12. Both were tied going to 17, where Woods took the lead with another birdie before Mickelson's chip for birdie on the 18th lipped out. |
| 9 |
2008 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship |
Top 64 in world |
8 and 7 def. of Stewart Cink |
X FACTOR: It's match play
COMMENT: Tiger was absolutely dominating in the 36-hole final with 14 birdies in 29 holes on his way to the largest margin of victory in the 11-year history of the event. On the week, Woods had a staggering 51 birdies in 117 holes on his way to one win after another in the fickle format. |
| 10 |
2009 Arnold Palmer Invitational |
Good |
1 stroke |
X FACTOR: Clinching birdie on 18 as darkness descended
COMMENT: In just his third start since returning from knee surgery that kept him sidelined eight months, Woods gave us a hint of what was about to happen when he rolled in a 25-foot putt to save bogey on the final hole Saturday. A day later he matched the biggest comeback of his career, rallying from five back to win on the final hole at Bay Hill for a second straight year. |
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