Tiger Woods: Historic 82nd PGA TOUR win for the GOAT

Tiger Woods is one step closer to undisputed GOAT status with his record-tying victory at the ZOZO Championship.

Tiger Woods made history on Sunday (or Monday, depending on your time zone). And sure, it was a big thing for TIGER WOODS to win the inaugural ZOZO Championship, the first-ever PGA TOUR event to be held in Japan. But that’s not what we’re talking about, of course. Because as great as this tournament was, the story was much bigger than that.

Tiger Woods tied the career PGA TOUR win record held by Sam Snead with his 82nd title. That record stood with Snead alone for 65 years, six months and 23 (24?) days. Now, with Woods officially tied as the winningest Tour player of all time, he can lay true statistical claim to a title that will be argued for ages.

Tiger’s the GOAT, and the numbers back it up.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that I’m right there with Tiger himself in recognizing Jack Nicklaus’s 18 majors as the record he’s truly after, and the one that would now put all others to ever tee it up in his historical dust. But after all the injuries, the surgeries, the questions about whether Woods could even continue to play, there is now no longer a single player who has won more on the PGA TOUR than he has.

I will also never lessen the legacy of the great “Slammin’ Sammy”, but check out this stat, brought to you by Golf Digest’s Joel Beall:

Granted, golf was a different sport in the 1930s and 40s, but fields have also gotten demonstrably deeper and more competitive as the years go on. At the end of the day, the mark is 82, and nobody can touch the mark these two have set.

To hear his father, Earl, tell it, this day was foretold long before Woods arrived at the ZOZO Championship. It was destined before his 15th major victory at the Masters in April, before his comeback win at the Tour Championship last September. Twenty years ago, it seemed like a long shot, no matter how great Tiger looked like he could become.

Today, we have nothing left to wonder other than how many more wins Tiger would have racked up if it wasn’t for the swing changes in the hunt of perfection, and the injuries sustained in that same search.

Tiger Woods will turn 44 in December, and there’s no telling how long his body will allow him to compete at it’s highest level. Nor is there any way to tell if Woods can get the three majors needed to tie Nicklaus, much less the four to pass him as the greatest major champion ever. Those are stories for another day. For what it’s worth, it’s only 165 days until Thursday, April 9th, when Tiger will return the green jacket to Augusta National’s champions’ locker room once again.

While we will debate the merits of the title for as long as the game is played, the stats don’t lie. Tiger Woods is the greatest pro to ever play the game. It’s a heck of a Mount Rushmore to be sure, but his face belongs at the center.