Tiger Woods is arguably the greatest golfer in PGA Tour history. And with his victory at the Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan on Sunday, he added a major accomplishment to his already unmatched legacy.
Woods’ win at the Zozo gives him 82 career PGA Tour victories, putting him in a tie with Sam Snead for the most of all-time.
Woods finished the tournament at 19-under par, three strokes ahead of runner-up Hideki Matsuyama, and six strokes ahead of third place finishers Rory McIlroy and Sung-jae Im.
“Well, it’s a big number,” Woods said referring to his 82 career wins (via ESPN). “It’s about consistency and doing it for a long period of time. Sam did it into his 50’s, and I’m in my early to mid-40’s. So it’s about being consistent and doing it for a very long period of time. I’ve been very fortunate to have had the career I’ve had so far.”
When asked if he had been thinking about the record Woods was brutally honest: there was a point in time where he believed it was out of reach.
“I probably thought about it [the career wins record] when I got north of 50 [wins], but then unfortunately I went through some rough patches with my back and I didn’t play for a number of years, so that record seemed like it was out of reach,” Woods explained. “Having had my fourth back procedure and being able to come back and play at a decently high level again, it put the number back in the conversation again. Lo and behold, here we are tied.”
If Woods is able to get to 83 career wins or more, his record will likely stand the test of time. For reference, the closest active player to Tiger on the career wins list is 49-year old Phil Mickelson, who has 44 career PGA Tour victories. After Mickelson, the next closest active golfer is Dustin Johnson with 20 wins.
To put this accomplishment into perspective, consider this:
The only significant record remaining for Woods to break is the career majors mark.
Thanks to his triumph at the 2019 Masters, Woods now has 15 career major victories, three behind record-holder Jack Nicklaus.
At 43-years old, Tiger’s window of opportunity to catch and surpass Nicklaus is closing. But with three wins in his last 14 PGA Tour starts, there is still no denying he is more than capable of winning any tournament he enters.
With his latest win, Woods moved to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
