Golf fans will inevitably get sick of hearing about Tiger Woods’ incredible resume at Torrey Pines during this week’s coverage of the Farmers Insurance Open, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. Eight professional wins, including a Major, isn’t just a heck of a track record, it’s a great career.
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To further illustrate that point, we looked up the accomplishments of some of today’s biggest names on the US PGA Tour. Turns out, Tiger’s fraction of a career at Torrey Pines is better than many of their entire careers. To be fair, we didn’t include young guys who haven’t played at least eight seasons on tour like Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm. We also tried to stay away from European Tour veterans like Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, provided their total number of victories between the two tours easily trumped Tiger’s eight Torrey triumphs. Anyway, here’s a rundown of notables whose numbers don’t measure up:
Pat Perez (3 wins, no Majors)
Marc Leishman (3 wins, no Majors)
Webb Simpson (4 wins, 1 Major)
Rickie Fowler (4 wins, no Majors)
Billy Horschel (4 wins, no Majors)
J.B. Holmes (4 wins, no Majors)
Charlie Hoffman (4 wins, no Majors)
Jason Dufner (5 wins, 1 Major)
Ryan Moore (5 wins, no Majors)
Luke Donald (5 wins, no Majors)
Jimmy Walker (6 wins, 1 Major)
Hunter Mahan (6 wins, no Majors)
Stewart Cink (6 wins, 1 Major)
Bill Haas (6 wins, no Majors)
Matt Kuchar (7 wins, no Majors)
Brandt Snedeker (8 wins, no Majors)
K.J. Choi (8 wins, no Majors)
Then there’s the list of guys who have more than eight career US Tour titles, but who would more than likely trade a couple few most of those regular wins for a Major. Guys like:
Stuart Appleby (9 wins, no Majors)
Steve Stricker (12 wins, no Majors)
Kenny Perry (14 wins, no Majors)
And finally, Geoff Ogilvy and Mike Weir have exactly matched Tiger’s 8-and-1 accomplishment at Torrey Pines. Again, for their entire careers.
OK, you get the point. Tiger Woods is really good and he’s done some of his best work at Torrey Pines, where he also won six Junior World titles. In fact, after claiming that sixth title at age 15, he had already stopped counting his trophies.
“I have no idea,” he said without hesitation, according to a 1991 story in the Los Angeles Times. “I quit counting after 11-and-under. I had 110 trophies. I threw them all into the garage.”
Now 42 and coming off several injury-plagued seasons, Woods’ winning pace has slowed a bit. But if there’s any place where past experience can pave the way to another title, it’s this.
