Tiger Woods: Will Tiger Ever Match His 5 Best US Open Performances Again?
Tiger Woods is supposed to play in The Players Championship this week. But it doesn't matter if he wins by a dozen or misses the cut by a dozen, he still has to claim a major title for people to say he's completely back.
He is still in the middle of the longest major title drought of his career—just about three calendar years. And since his chase for Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 professional majors is the goal he (and the media) is most focused on, he's fallen off the pace a bit.
But a month from now, he gets another opportunity to make it 15 majors, when the US Open commences at Congressional.
The last time he hit the Bethesda, Maryland course in a US Open, Woods didn't play great golf...or, at least, up to Tiger Woods standards. Two months after his historic first Masters victory, Woods only had one sub-par effort (a second round 67) and finished tied for 19th.
Fourteen years later, he'll be looking to do better.
And if Woods has his way, he'll play as good, if not better, than he has at the five greatest US Open appearances of his illustrious career.
No. 5: 2005 US Open at Pinehurst
1 of 6
Scores: 70-71-72-69 = 282, two over par
Finish: Second
Strokes Behind Winner: Two (Michael Campbell)
Tiger has famously never won a major when trailing at the 54-hole mark, but he came extremely close in 2005. Tied for seventh going into the final Sunday, he shot a one-under 69 (one of the day's best rounds). But because New Zealand's Michael Campbell shot the same mark, Tiger came up two strokes short.
Even though he failed to beat a player whose career was in the doldrums long before that Open (and still to this day), it was a great performance by Woods.
Pinehurst was absolutely brutal that week—Johnny Miller famously said that trying to land an approach shot on the green was "like trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle"—but Tiger was remarkably consistent.
No. 4: 2007 US Open at Oakmont
2 of 6
Scores: 71-74-69-72 = 282, two over par
Finish: T-Second (Jim Furyk)
Strokes Behind Winner: One (Angel Cabrera)
If the field at Pinehurst in 2005 thought the setup was brutal, then most were probably crushed when they saw Oakmont two years later.
"The Hades of Hulton" was as brutal as ever in 2007: the rough was terribly thick, the bunkers were still all over the place and the greens were just as nasty and impossible to navigate as always—a note that Tiger was happy to tell reporters about.
But Woods braved the elements as well as anyone; except for Angel Cabrera, whose long hitting and surprisingly deft putting stole the National Open down the stretch.
Although Woods only finished second and one behind the winner because Cabrera made two bogeys down the stretch and Jim Furyk botched the 71st hole, given the setup, Woods' tee-to-green play was outstanding.
No. 3: 2002 US Open at Bethpage Black
3 of 6
Scores: 67-68-70-72 = 277
Finish: First
Strokes Ahead: Three
Only once have we been fortunate enough to see Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson finish one-two in a major championship, and it came in the 2002 US Open at Bethpage. And the crowd in New York loved it.
Still, it wasn't really as sexy as it seems on paper: They weren't battling down the stretch, and Sergio Garcia delivered the real collapse that final day. And Tiger's score did go up, not down, with each successive round.
But the public course was at its usual "play at your own risk" setup, and since Tiger was the only player to finish the week with a subpar cumulative score, it remains one of his greatest victories.
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No. 2: 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines
4 of 6
Scores: 72-68-70-73 = 282
Finish: First (tied with Rocco Mediate)
Strokes Ahead: One, 19-hole playoff victory
This list is about Tiger's greatest performances in a US Open, not the most courageous or inspiring or dramatic. So, for a moment, let's forget about him toppling the field on one leg.
But even without the hobbling, his effort at the San Diego course was epic. The eagles and chip in on Saturday, the birdie putt at the 72nd hole and the continual saves during the playoff each made for one of the most thrilling US Opens of all time, and probably the most exciting performance of his career—but not the greatest.
No. 1: 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach
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Scores: 65-69-71-67 = 272, 12-under par
Finish: First
Strokes Ahead: 15
Winning a US Open at Pebble Beach is special as it is: Prior to the 2000 edition, the champions there were Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Tom Kite—each a World Golf Hall of Famer.
But what Tiger did in the shadow of Carmel Bay was historic.
The US Open is supposed to be the toughest, most brutal, most hotly contested golf tournament of the year. Over par totals are expected, even by the winner.
You don't shoot a 12-under-par total at the US Open. And you certainly don't win by 15 strokes. That's ridiculous.
As great as Tiger's win at Augusta National was in 1997, winning by 12, or winning at Torrey Pines a decade later, the triumph at Pebble Beach was his greatest single-event performance.
And as Johnny Miller—no stranger to US Open records himself—later wrote, it was "the best US Open performance of all time."
Will Tiger Ever Match One of These Performances Again?
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If he doesn't fix the problems with his putting, Tiger will have an extremely difficult time contending at this or any US Open. That's often the difference in the National Open, where the greens are often demonic.
That will happen sooner or later. Tiger is too good not to correct the flaws, get sharper at reading the greens and string together the par savers and occasional birdies that are his major championship trademark.
That could be this year at Congressional, or next year or five years from now. But it will happen, and he will win another US Open, to create a new entry on this list.
Still, it's virtually impossible for him—or anyone else—to ever put up the type of performance he did at Pebble Beach 11 years ago. The No. 1 slide here is not going anywhere. Ever.
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