47 Incredible Tiger Woods Stats on His 47th Birthday
Many like to say that Woods doesn’t just move the needle, he is the needle.
In Tiger’s 47 years he has accomplished the unthinkable. A lifelong champion, Woods has rewritten the record books, rebounded from hurdles and redefined golf’s history. The 15-time major champion’s influence on the game is boundless.
In honor of his 47th birthday on Dec. 30, we’ve compiled a list of 47 of the most astonishing facts and statistics from Woods’s career.
Woods receives the Green Jacket at the 1997 Masters.
USA TODAY Network
47 Facts and Statistics on Woods’s 47th
1. Woods’s 82 career PGA Tour victories are tied with Sam Snead for the most in Tour history. His first came at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational, his last at the 2019 Zozo Championship.
2. Tiger’s 15 major championships are three behind Jack Nicklaus and four ahead of Walter Hagen—the only players to reach double digits in men’s majors. His first came at the 1997 Masters, his last at the 2019 Masters.
3. Woods joined Ben Hogan as the only players in the modern era to win three major championships in the same year when he won the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000. Hogan won the Masters, U.S. Open and British in 1953.
4. Woods’s victory at the 2001 Masters gave him four straight major titles, a feat never accomplished in the modern game. Only Bobby Jones in 1930—then counting amateur titles—won four in a row. For good measure, Woods also added the so-called “fifth major" in 2000, capturing the Players Championship two weeks prior to his Masters victory.
5. Woods holds the all-time record for consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour at 142, a streak that began in 1998. He passed Byron Nelson’s record of 113 at the 2003 Tour Championship and didn’t miss a cut until the 2005 Byron Nelson Championship.
6. Woods is the only golfer to win the U.S. Amateur three times in a row, doing so in 1994-95-96.
7. Tiger has three career holes-in-one, all of them coming prior to 2000. Woods made an ace in his first event as a pro at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open. He also made one in 1997 at the Phoenix Open and again in 1998 at the International.
8. Woods is 14-1 when holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead in a major championship, the only time he failed to convert coming at the 2009 PGA Championship, where he held a two-shot advantage over Y.E. Yang.
9. The only time Woods won a major without a share of the final-round lead came at the 2019 Masters, where he overcame Francesco Molinari.
10. Woods’s 2000 scoring average of 67.79 (adjusted) and 68.17 (non-adjusted) is the lowest in PGA Tour history.
11. Woods is one of only five players to complete the career Grand Slam, winning the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in his career. He accomplished the feat when he won the 2000 British Open at St. Andrews. The others to do so are Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.
12. Woods has won the Vardon Trophy for low scoring average nine times, a PGA Tour record.
13. Woods has been voted PGA Tour player of the year 11 times, a PGA Tour record.
14. Woods has also won the PGA of America’s player of the year award (via a points system) a record 11 times.
15. Woods has a 54-4 record when holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead in a tournament.
16. Woods has a 42-2 record when holding the outright lead through 54 holes in a tournament.
17. Woods has successfully defended a title 24 times on the PGA Tour. That number alone ties him with Gary Player and Macdonald Smith for 25th all-time on the PGA Tour victory list.
18. Woods has finished second 31 times and third 19 times.
19. Tiger has been ranked No. 1 in the world for a total of 679 weeks.
20. Woods held the top spot for 280 consecutive weeks from June 13, 2005, through Oct. 25, 2010.
21. Woods’s win at the 2008 U.S. Open gave him a win in all four major championships at least three times, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only players to do so.
22. Woods has had three full-time caddies as a pro: Mike "Fluff" Cowan, 1997-99; Steve Williams, 1999-2011; Joe LaCava, 2011-present.
23. Woods has had four full-time coaches as a pro: Butch Harmon (who began with him as an amateur in 1993), 1997-2002; Hank Haney, 2004-2010; Sean Foley, 2010-14; Chris Como, 2014-17.
24. Woods’s victory at the 2007 Buick Invitational gave him seven consecutive PGA Tour victories in events he played, the second-longest streak to Byron Nelson’s 11 in 1945.
25. Woods has won seven majors by three shots or more (more than any player).
26. Before Tiger, the last player to reach a total of seven major championships was Tom Watson in 1982.
27. Each time Jack Nicklaus concluded his career in a major championship, Woods won it: the 2000 U.S. Open and PGA; the 2005 (Masters and British Open).
28. Woods won his 100th (2000 WGC Invitational), 200th (2006 Buick Invitational) and 300th (2013 Players Championship) official starts on the PGA Tour.
29. Woods has 41 official DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) victories in his career and never played the circuit full-time. Seve Ballesteros is the all-time leader with 50, followed by Bernhard Langer with 42. Woods is 10 ahead of Colin Montgomerie at 31. Rory McIlroy has 14.
30. Woods is the only player under the age of 50 with 25 PGA Tour victories or more. Dustin Johnson—who now plays with LIV Golf—has 24. Woods won his 25th PGA Tour title at the 2001 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
31. Woods has used his trusty Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter for the bulk of his career, winning 14 of his 15 major titles with it. During his first major win, the 1997 Masters, he used a different Scotty Cameron model.
32. Tiger has seen fellow competitors born from 1922 (Doug Ford, 1997 Masters) to 1999 (Devon Bling, 2019 Zozo Championship) during the time of his victories.
33. For the entire 2000 season, Woods had one round higher than 73—a 75 during the first round of the Masters.
34. Woods is the only player since 1900 to win a men’s professional major by 10 strokes or more: the 1997 Masters by 12; the 2000 U.S. Open by 15.
35. Woods won eight times at the same course: Bay Hill, Firestone and Torrey Pines.
36. Woods’s lowest score in official play is 61, shot four times—1999 Byron Nelson Classic, 2000 WGC-Invitational at Firestone, 2005 Buick Open and 2013 again at Firestone. Woods shot 59 on his home course of Isleworth the week prior to his 1997 Masters victory.
37. Woods’s lowest score in a major championship is a 63 at the 2007 PGA Championship played at Southern Hills, where he won.
38. Tiger has never missed the cut at the Masters as a pro, a stretch of 22 straight.
39. For his career, Woods has missed 24 cuts worldwide, 23 on the PGA Tour, with 10 coming in major championships. For comparison, Justin Thomas has missed 34 as a pro, Jordan Spieth 38 and Rory McIlroy 27.
40. Woods has had five surgeries on his left knee.
41. Woods has had five back surgeries, including four microdiscectomies and one spinal fusion.
42. Woods typically carries just two wedges in addition to a pitching wedge: a 56-degree sand wedge and a 60-degree sand wedge. No gap wedge. His choice instead of another wedge is usually between a 2-iron or a 5-wood.
43. Woods has 18 victories in World Golf Championship events.
44. Woods has shot in the 80s four times as a pro, three of them coming in 2015.
45. Woods has won at least five tournaments in 10 different seasons.
46. Tiger holds the PGA Tour record for consecutive rounds at par or better at 52, starting with the second round of the 2000 Byron Nelson Classic and ending at the second round of the 2001 Phoenix Open.
47. From 2000 to 2011 at the Masters, Woods went 5-1-1-T15-T22-1-T3-T2-2-T6-T4-T4.
Stats provided in part by the Associated Press, PGA Tour and golf stats guru Justin Ray.