Tiger Woods turned 50 last Tuesday. In 16 months it will be 30 years since he won his first Grand Slam title, demolishing the field at the Masters in romping home by 12 shots. It was an extraordinary achievement – unprecedented, but one not devoid of sequels. In 2000 he won the US Open at Pebble Beach by 15 shots (in Formula 1 terms, that’s lapping the field) and the following month he completed the career Slam at the age of 24, the youngest ever, by taking the Open Championship at St Andrews by eight. The phrase ‘who cares who’s second’ never seemed more apposite. Bizarrely, the answer in both cases was Ernie Els.
Tiger’s on-course discipline and self-belief were unparalleled. For the Open at Hoylake in 2006, he decided the baked fairways meant the course’s punitive bunkers came dangerously into play if he used a fairway wood off the tee. The only ‘wood’ he carried that week was his driver, which he used just once. He ironed his way to a two-shot triumph. (Els was third this time.) He won the US Open at Torrey Pines in 2008 while nursing a serious knee injury, which would require reconstructive surgery within a week of his victory. The 12-foot putt he made to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate is the stuff of legend. Less remembered is the resilience he demonstrated throughout the pain by overcoming the burden of making double-bogey on the opening hole of his first, third and fourth rounds.
There would be no more majors for over a decade. The break-up of his marriage after the revelation of a series of sex-related shenanigans in 2009 cast his image in a different light. Amid that, too, he has suffered injury upon injury. (Also, he would regularly remind us that he was a liability when driving a car.) A procedure last autumn was reportedly the seventh operation on his back. He won his last major championship, the 15th in all, at the 2019 Masters, two years after having spinal-fusion surgery. At Augusta the year after that, the 2020 ‘Covid Masters’, in the final round he played for the first time with Scottie Scheffler, who was astonished at the tenacity and meticulous attention Woods displayed despite being miles out of contention. After running up a ten at the 12th, he birdied five of the last six holes. Scheffler said each stroke “was like the last shot he was ever going to hit”.
Celebrating Tiger Woods' 50th birthday with the top 50 shots from his career! (non-majors)
0:00 – 50, Tiger the artist (2019)
0:16 – 49, Lefty under bush (2019)
0:33 – 48, Flop to start tourney (2015)
0:46 – 47, Flub then hole-out (2000)
1:05 – 46, 184-yard wedge (2000)
1:24 -… pic.twitter.com/moiApzAKHG— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 30, 2025
Woods teed it up on tour five times in 2024; not at all in 2025. Those five starts produced four missed cuts and 60th spot at the Masters. So is there anything left? Maybe. Having reached 50, he is now eligible to play senior golf. He may not want to play too much but if the United States Golf Association acquiesces to the suggestion that he be allowed to use a cart to compete in the US Senior Open, there may be an incentive there.
Two golfers are tied with the record for having won nine USGA titles: Bobby Jones and Woods. Jones won four US Opens and five US Amateurs; Woods has three each of those plus three US Junior Amateurs. OK, so the Jones record is a stronger one but there is a record-book motivation for Woods. He finished three shots shy of Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 professional majors. He finished tied with Sam Snead on 82 PGA Tour victories. To break out of a historic tie with the legendary Bobby Jones? That would be some way to mark the latter stages of his remarkable career.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
