Tiger Week: Players Who Finished Second to Tiger Woods Most Often

Tiger Woods has won 82 times on the PGA Tour. That’s as many tour wins as any player in PGA Tour history (tied with Sam Snead).

That’s also 82 times that someone else has not won. Tiger has made a number of players runners-up during his career. From Davis Love III (runner-up at the 1996 Las Vegas Open), Tiger’s first victim, to Hideki Matsuyama (runner up at the 2019 Zozo Championship), the list of those who have come in second to Woods is a long one.

And it’s at least two generations of players who Woods has made into runners-up. Tom Kite was the runner-up when Woods won at the Masters in 1997. Kite was 47 years old at that Masters and is now 71. When Tiger won the Masters that season, Matsuyama was five years old. When Tiger topped Matsuyama at the Zozo Championship in 2019, Hideki was 27.

That speaks to the longevity and sustained greatness that Woods has had during his dominant PGA Tour career. He has been able to beat everyone – old and young, long hitter or short knocker, great putter or green struggler.

But a few players have fallen victim to Tiger more often than others. And this list includes major champions, Hall of Fame golfers and some of the most familiar names in the sport. All have seen Tiger take home the big trophy while they settled for second.

Here is a list of the five players who have been runner-up to Tiger Woods the most times on the PGA Tour.