Ranking Tiger Woods’ 15 Major Championships Based On How Dominant He Was

Tiger Woods holds the second most major championship trophies of any golfer in history with 15 majors. Only Jack Nicklaus has more with 18.

During his peak, Tiger won 5 Masters green jackets, 4 PGA Championships, 3 U.S. Open Championships, and 3 British Open Championships. Here we rank all of Tiger Woods’ majors based on Strokes Gained (SG) and how dominant his play was against the field that week.

Tiger Woods changed the game of golf. He came barreling into the sport and took over the PGA Tour with a force that had never been seen before and brought more eyeballs to the game of golf than anyone could ever imagine, and in turn the money poured into the sport.

All of that interest came because he was the most dominant athlete on planet earth for a stretch of several years, playing golf at a level nobody else could comprehend. Here we rank Tiger Woods’ 15 Major Championship wins based on how dominant that win was.

15. 2019 The Masters

Of all Tiger Woods’ 15 Major Championship titles his 2019 win at The Masters, his 5th green jacket after an 11 year major drought, the 2019 Masters might have been the most emotional and cathartic.

It was also the least dominant of the 15 titles in terms of Strokes Gained (SG) on the field. Tiger finished the 2019 Masters at 3.42 SG and actually had 10 majors with more SG where he finished in 2nd or 3rd place than this title. But

14. 2008 U.S. Open Championship

The 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines was Tiger’s 14th most dominant major win, that is to say, he destroyed the field in other events a lot worse than this week. Tiger won the 2008 U.S. Open Championship with 3.75 Strokes Gained (SG) over the field.

He was the 3rd round leader and came into Sunday wearing the iconic red and black with a 1-shot lead over Lee Westwood. On Sunday, Tiger would fire off a 73 (+2) and have to beat Rocco Mediate in a playoff to win his 3rd U.S. Open title.

13. 2005 The Open Championship

The 2005 Open Championship was Tiger Woods’ second British Open title and he bested the field with 4.08 Strokes Gained (SG) at the Old Course at St. Andrews. This was the 134th Open Championship and at the home of golf, the stakes couldn’t have been higher.

Woods would finish with a 5-stroke lead over native Scotsman Colin Montgomerie after extending his 3rd round lead by 3 strokes with a final round 70 as the field struggled.

12. 2001 Masters

The 2001 Masters, Tiger’s second green jacket and 6th major, was won with 4.71 Strokes Gained (SG) over the field. Woods finished Sunday at -16 and this completed the ‘Tiger Slam’ as he became the first golfer in history to hold all 4 Major Championship trophies at the same time.

This was also the first time one of golf’s majors paid out a 7-figure check to the winner and El Tigre took home $1,008,000 for his epic win.

11. 1999 PGA Championship

The 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club was Tiger Woods’ first PGA Championship title and his second major win. He was just 23-years-old at the time but managed to put together a master class on the course with 4.73 Strokes Gained (SG) over the field the second week of August that year.

On the par-72 course, which feels uncharacteristic for a PGA Championship, Tiger finished at -11 for a 1-stroke win over Sergio Garcia.

10. 2002 Masters

The 2002 Masters Tournament was Tiger Woods’ 3rd green jacket and he bested the field with 4.85 Strokes Gained (SG), his 10th best performance in a Major Championship win compared to the field.

Woods was in an 11-way tie for 7th place after the 1st Round at -2 but rounds of 69-66 on Friday and Sunday put him in a tie for 1st going into Sunday with Retief Goosen. Tiger would win by three strokes over the South African, finishing at -12.

9. 2006 The Open Championship

Tiger’s 3rd Open Championship win came in 2006 at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Wood had 4.98 Strokes Gained (SG) over the the field that week in Merseyside. TW was one stroke off the lead after the first round at -5 but jumped into solo 1st after a second round score of 65 for a 1-stroke lead over Ernie Els.

Tiger held onto that lead through the end and finished at -18 for a two stroke lead over Chris DiMarco.

8. 2007 PGA Championship

Tiger Woods captured his 4th PGA Championship win in 2007 at Southern Hills Country Club in Oklahoma where he accrued 5.01 SG on the field that week. There was a massive heatwave that week back in 2007 and the conditions were brutal.

Woods started the tournament with a +1 round but shot a 63 on Friday to take the lead at -6 and then held strong with one-under rounds on Saturday and Sunday to beat Woody Austin by two strokes on Sunday. Woods’ playing partner that day, Stephen Ames, would swing from -3 to +2 and evidently couldn’t handle the massive crowd size that followed Tiger around.

7. 2005 Masters

With 5.08 Strokes Gaines on the field, the 2005 Masters, Tiger’s 4th green jacket, was his 7th most dominant Major Championship win. Tiger hadn’t won a major in 2003 or 2004 and was getting restless but the floodgates would reopen in 2005 with wins at The Masters and British Open.

Once again, Chris DiMarco would finish second to Tiger Woods in a major. Woods and DiMarco finished at -12 and were pushed to a playoff where Tiger turned on the afterburners and snatched the soul right out of Chris DiMarco’s chest.

6. 2000 British Open Championship

Tiger’s first-ever British Open Championship came in 2000 where he picked up 5.34 Strokes Gained (SG) over the field at The Old Course at St. Andrews, a course Tiger would come to dominate years later again.

This was the win where Tiger completed his career grand slam, becoming the youngest golfer in history to ever do so, and only the 5th golfer in history to pull it off, beating Jack Nicklaus’ age by 2 years.

Tiger would finish at -19 and 8 strokes clear of the field with Thomas Bjorn in solo 2nd place at -11. He was near perfect that week with scores of 67-66-67-69, the only player to shoot in the 60s all week.

5. 2000 PGA Championship

At the 2000 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods picked up 5.42 SG on the field while winning back-to-back PGA Championships and he did it in spectacular fashion with a 3-hole playoff win over Bob May after they both finished at -18 and five strokes clear of the field.

Tiger birdied the first hole of the playoff to win it all and it would become the first time since 1953 when Ben Hogan did it that a player won 3 major championships in a single year.

4. 2002 U.S. Open Championship

The 2002 U.S. Open Championship, Tiger Woods’ 4th most dominant performance in a major, was measured at 5.48 Strokes Gained (SG) over the field at the Beth Page Black Course where the Ryder Cup will be held this Summer.

This was a wire-to-wire signature win for Tiger. He came out at -3 and fired of scores of 67-68-70-72 to win by 3 strokes over the field and the only player under par that week. Tiger took home an even $1M for the win.

3. 2006 PGA Championship

Tiger Woods picked up another PGA Championship win at Medinah Country Club in 2006, his second at the course and his 3rd PGA Championship overall. En route to winning, Tiger had 5.53 Strokes Gained over the field while earning his 12th major trophy.

To say that Tiger Woods was in control of the field that week would be the understatement of the century. He finished at -18 and five strokes clear of the field with Shaun Micheel at -13.

2. 1997 Masters

The 1997 Masters, Tiger Woods’ first-ever major championship win, was a slaughtering. He had 7.00 Strokes Gained (SG) over the field that April and with a +5 cut line Tiger was on his own planet, finishing at -18 which was a Masters record until Dustin Johnson’s 2020 (pandemic-era) Masters score of -20.

Tiger fired off scores of 70-66-65-69 to finish at -18 which is incredible but those 7 SG in context? Let’s take a look. The second place finisher was Tom Kite at -6. TW tripled his score!

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1. 2000 U.S. Open Championship

The single most dominant Major Championship win of Tiger Woods’ career was the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Every golf fan knows the lore of Tiger’s performance that week. He was only competing against himself.

Tiger had 7.49 Strokes Gained (SG) over the field that week but the leader board told an even crazier story. Woods was the first round leader at -8… already with a 6 stroke lead over the field.

By Sunday, Tiger would finish at -12. Which is an incredible score for any U.S. Open, the toughest challenge in golf, but the rest of the field was nowhere to be found. Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Ernie Els were tied for 2nd at +3. Not only was Tiger the only player to finish under par that week he was 15 strokes clear of the field and golfing on another planet.

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