The U.S. Open: The 10 Best Players From Each Decade
By Bill Felber
The U.S. Open: 2000 to 2009
We arrive now at the Woods decade. As 2000, 2002, and 2008 champion – plus 2005 and 2007 runner-up – he is an easy front-runner.
In fact, his -1.88 dominance score is second to only Hogan in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His margin over the decade runner-up is the greatest in Open history.
Top 10 players of the 2000 to 2009 Era
1. Tiger Woods, -1.88
2. Retief Goosen, -1.17
3. Phil Mickelson, -1.07
4. Mike Weir, -0.80
5. Nick Price, -0.76
6. Sergio Garcia, -0.73
7. Rocco Mediate, -0.70
8. Stewart Cink, -0.69
9. Padraig Harrington, -0.68
10. Steve Stricker, -0.55
Woods was top 20 in nine of his 10 Opens during the decade, the only exception being a missed cut in 2006 about a month after the death of his father.
His 2000 victory at Pebble Beach, with a dominance rating of -4.34 standard deviations better than the field average, is the best in Major championship history.
Goosen earns the honor of being the distant runner-up thanks to his 2001 and 2004 wins.
Mickelson legendarily has never won the Open, but he was runner-up four times between 2000 and 2009, in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2009.
Mediate may be the most interesting name on this decade list. Not generally ranked among the decade’s best, he contended three times in the national championship. He was fourth in 2001, he tied for sixth in 2005 and of course, he famously lost that 2008 playoff to Woods at Torrey Pines.