Tiger Woods: The legend grows, and he’s not done yet

Tiger Woods just tied Sam Snead with 82 career PGA wins. So where does Tiger now rank in the PGA TOUR’s constellation of stars?

In about six weeks, one of golf’s biggest international competitions will be held when The President’s Cup is contested at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. And the only question anybody is asking now is “will Tiger Woods play”?

The teams are a ‘Who’s Who’ of today’s biggest PGA stars – Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson, JT, Adam Scott, Hideki, and others. Players earn their way onto their respective teams. Like the Ryder Cup, inclusion in this group is a career achievement and honor.

Without the Captain’s picks, there are currently 16 players in the US and around the world (outside of Europe) who have earned the distinction this year. Collectively, they have 88 PGA Tour victories.

Tiger Woods now has 82.

This week he tied Sam Snead’s long-standing record. As our own Brandon Raper writes, some of Sam’s wins were a little “iffy” given the small fields. (Not to mention, there’s a little bit of funny counting that’s happened over the decades as well.)

82 wins. Think about that.

Dustin Johnson is the closest President’s Cup player to matching Tiger. He has 20 career victories – a paltry 62 behind. Phil Mickelson is second among all active golfers in the world in career PGA Tour Victories. He has 44. And Phil has been on Tour five more years than Tiger.

Want a little more perspective? Lee Trevino, Gary Player, and Ernie Els – three of the greatest to ever tee it up – have the same number of PGA Tour wins as Tiger Woods… combined.

Tiger’s win in the ZOZO Championship in Japan happened far away and during a time in the PGA Tour schedule when many golf fans are paying less attention. But it represents one of the greatest accomplishments in sporting history. It deserves our attention and praise.

Just as Jack’s 18 Major wins seem forever out of reach, I’m not sure anyone will ever match or beat Tiger in career wins. And let’s all admit that after the 2019 Masters, even the Major record seems within reach for Tiger.

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What makes it all the more amazing is that Tiger did it in the most competitive era of professional golf. There are more good players today than at any time in the history of the game.

And he’s lapping the field.

Golf fans love to debate the “Best Ever” issue. There are really only two stats that matter – Major wins and total wins. Jack has 18 Majors and 73 career wins. Tiger has 15 Majors and 82 total wins. I think we all agree he’ll add to the career total and perhaps even win another Major or two. Or three. Or four.

Are you going to doubt him? Not me. I’ll admit that until the 2018 Tour Championship, I wasn’t sure Tiger would ever win again. That was a safe opinion back then. His body seemed to have given out on him. He looked to be a worn-out husk of a golfer, grimacing after every shot. He looked defeated, even angry at times, and resigned to seeing his best days behind him.

No more. Tiger Woods is a different animal these days. He smiles, he shows genuine gratitude to fans and competitors, alike. And he wins. He just keeps winning.

What’s even crazier is that Tiger isn’t a sentimental favorite at this point in his career like Jack was at the 1986 Masters. Jack was 46-years old then. In his five previous seasons before that amazing victory, Jack only won twice on Tour. One of those in a playoff.

Tiger Woods is 43. His Masters win last year was similarly achieved after a five-plus year drought ending in the 2018 Tour Championship. But the parallels stop there.

Jack’s 1986 Masters win felt like a lifetime coronation; an old bear finding his growl one more time. We didn’t expect it and we certainly didn’t think it would ever happen again after that.

With Tiger’s win at Augusta last year – and now starting off the 2020 season with an early victory to tie Sam Snead’s career win total – this feels different.

Before the 2018 PGA season, many thought we’d never again hear the Tiger roars cascading down the fairways and across the greens of a PGA event. As we now know, pronouncements of the Big Cat’s demise were premature. He was just lying in wait, nursing his wounds, steeling his nerves, and finding his roar.

For those that argue Tiger is the greatest ever, the win in Japan certainly helped cement their opinion. And unlike Jack in 1986, Tiger’s game is not yet fading into the warm glow of middle age. It is renewed – almost reborn – and ready to go places even the Golden Bear feared to tread.