Dominance: The best of Tiger Woods
By Bill Felber
10. 2005 British Open
Dominance: 2.91
Woods came to St. Andrews in the midst of one of the best major seasons of his career. He had won the Masters in April, and finished second, two strokes behind surprise champion Michael Campbell, at the U.S. Open a month earlier.
A two-time victor at the Brit, including at St. Andrews in 2000, he was an obvious favorite. Woods only re-enforced that status during Thursday’s open round, laying down an opening 66 to take a one-stroke lead over lightly regarded Mark Hensby.
With a Friday, 67, Woods appeared to seize full command of the event. Only two competitors, Colin Montgomerie and Brad Faxon, shot 66 to lead him, and those rounds left Montgomerie four behind Woods with Faxon in a tie for third five back.
A Saturday 71 reduced Woods’ advantage to two strokes over Jose Maria Olazabal, who closed within one shot of Woods early in Sunday’s final round.
Then Tiger removed all doubt. He birdied the par five 5th, and added birdies at the ninth and 12th to lead Montgomerie by three. A birdie at the 14th expanded his lead to its final margin of five shots. Olazabal fell into a tie with Fred Couples for third, six strokes back.
His 274 total left him 2.91 standard deviations better than the four-round field average of 286.3.