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There isn’t a single golfer alive today who’s had a greater impact on the game than Tiger Woods, and the PGA Tour is honoring his legendary status with a new measure that ensures he’ll have a spot reserved for him in certain tournaments for the rest of his life.
It’s safe to assume Tiger Woods wants to secure one more win on the PGA Tour when you consider he’s currently tied with Sam Snead for the most victories of all time with 82. He’s certainly facing an uphill battle in his quest for another based on the health issues that continue to hamper his game, but history has taught us you should never count him out.
The organization is forever indebted to a man who turned the golf world on its head after he joined it in 1996, and while it’s literally repaid him (and other influential golfers) with the help of the Player Impact Program that was introduced in 2021, it’s now gone out of its way to introduce a new rule that was essentially created just for him.
According to ESPN, the PGA Tour policy board approved a measure that went up for a vote on Monday giving any golfer with 80 victories on the circuit a lifetime exemption to its eight signature events, which feature a more competitive field along with a higher purse and more FedEx Cup points up for grabs.
If you’re curious, Woods and Snead are the only players in PGA Tour history to surpass the 80-victory threshold (Jack Nicklaus is in third place on the all-time list with 73). To put that in perspective, Rory McIlroy is currently the wins leader among active golfers not named “Tiger Woods” with a grand total of…26.
We’ll have to wait and see if Woods decides to take advantage of those exemptions based on the fairly minimal workload he’s shouldered as he continues to deal with the lingering effects of the car accident he was involved in a few years ago, but this is nonetheless a very well-earned honor.