Tiger Week: Players Who Finished Second to Tiger Woods Most Often
By Tim Letcher
Davis Love III
Love was the runner-up at Tiger’s first PGA Tour win, which came at the Las Vegas Invitational in 1996. The two players were tied at the end of regulation and went to a playoff. There, Tiger made a par on the first playoff hole while Love saw his par effort slide by, giving Woods his first win.
Three years later, Love fell victim to Woods for a second time. At the Tour Championship, Tiger was his dominating self, as usual. He won the Tour Championship for the first time that season, shooting 15-under par to run away with the title. Love was second, four shots behind Woods at the end of the week.
Just five months later, in March of 2000, Woods did it to Love yet again. The event was the Bay Hill Invitational, Arnold Palmer’s tournament, one that Woods would go on to win eight times. This was Tiger’s first triumph at Bay Hill, and he again topped Love by four shots.
At the 2004 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the final match came down to Woods and Love. And, as he had done three times before, Woods turned Love into a runner-up with a 3&2 victory to take the title.