Detail - 2019

April 14, 2019 - Tiger Woods wins his 15th Major at the Masters after eleven years without a victory in one of the four major golf tournaments. On October 28, 2019, Woods ties Sam Snead for the most PGA Tournament victories in a career with 82.



It had been years since Tiger, Eldrick, Woods had won a Major Championship, and the thought that he would catch Jack Nicklaus for the Major Championship record was dimming fast. It's odd how predictive Nicklaus had been at the start of Tiger's career, stating the thought that he would definitely beat his Major Championship record, unless he had injuries or a bad marriage. Unfortunately he had had both. But now it was 2019, and despite those troubles and the likelihood that Nicklaus would be right, Tiger Woods continued to strive to up his level of victories, both in Major Championships as well as regular tour events. There he was chasing Sam Snead and his remarkable number of PGA Wins at 82.

His story is well known. A prodigy from the time he was a child, assisted by his father Earl Woods, Tiger won three straight U.S. Amateurs, played golf at Stanford University, and started his professional career in August 1996. At the age of 21, the youngest ever, Woods won the Masters Tournament by the largest margin ever. Two months later, after only one year on tour, he would ascend to the top of the World Golf Rankings. He would hold, in 2000 and 2001, all four Major Championships at one time, the only person to achieve that goal. Tiger Woods was elected to the Golf Hall of Fame in 2022, having collected trophies all across the world.

The 2019 Masters Victory

Prior to the Tournament - It had been fourteen years since Tiger Woods had won a Major Championship. He was now forty-three years of age. In those ensueing years, there had been notable personal problems and many injuries to his knees with his first surgery in 2008, elbow injuries, and four back surgeries.

Sunday's Round 4 - Inclement weather in Georgia on April 14, 2019, was sketchy, so tournament starting times were pushed forward to early morning. Woods had a three shot lead going into the final round. Several of the world's best players were nipping at his heels; Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, and Brooks Koepka. Others were not far behind; Jason Day, Wade Simpson, Francisco Molinari, and Tony Finau. Dustin Johson was charging; when Patrick Cantley eagled 15, he briefly took the lead, but gave it back with two bogies. Francisco Molinari, who had been leading the tournament for much of the first three days, took a double bogey on the 15th hole to end his chase as Woods, playing with Molinari, birdied the hole. On the next hole, Woods almost aced the par three, stopping two feet from the hole. At the end of the day, Woods would be one stroke in front of the first group, thirteen under par, and victorious for the 15th time in the Majors and 5th time in Masters history. He still trailed Jack Nicklaus in both with 18 Majors and 6 Green Jackets. The Masters Tournament began in 1934, built by Bobby Jones and Alistair MacKenzie. The land had been purchased by Bobby Jones from a fruit farmer for $70,000, and would be chrissened as Augusta National after only two years of construction.

Quote from Tiger Woods - "When I tapped the putt in, I don't know what I did, but I know I screamed. To have my kids there, it has come full circle. My dad was here in '97, now I'm the dad with two kids there."

Tiger Woods Ties Sam Snead

In October of 2019, six months after his Master's victory, Tiger Woods went to Japan to play in the Zozo Championship, the first PGA event held in Asia. He won the tournament by three strokes over Hideki Matsuyama. This victory was his 82nd, tying him with Sam Snead for most victories on the PGA tour. Snead was a preeminent player during his 1934 to 1982 career. He joined the PGA Tour in 1936. During his first full season in 1937, Snead won six times. In 1950, he would win eleven times. He won seven Majors (Masters Tournament in 1949, 1952, 1954, the PGA Championship in 1942, 1949, and 1951. Slamming Sammy Snead, as he was called, won the British Open in 1946, but never won the U.S. Open. Snead, like many other sports stars during World War II, missed more than two seasons of professional play as he served in the U.S. Navy, missing fourteen Majors, which were cancelled. His last PGA Tour victory was on April 4, 1965 at the Greater Greensboro Open. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

Tiger Woods actually played once with Sam Snead at six years of age. As Tiger recalled, though some thought the event was played on a different course, the younger Tiger stated after tying Snead's 82 victories, ...

"Well, I played with Sam at I think it was Calabasas Country Club. He was doing an outing there, and I came out to play the 17th and 18th with him. I remember hitting the ball into a little creek and playing it out of the water and making bogey. I bogeyed the last, and he went par-par. It's the only time I got the chance to play with Sam Snead and was 2 down through two."

His statement on tying Snead himself ...

"It's just crazy. It's a lot. I've been able to be consistent most of my career ... Today was one of those days where I was able to pull it out. I can still manage my way around the golf course. I know how to play. I was able to do that this week."

Photo above: Tiger Woods in 2018, Peetles1, Wikipedia Commons C.C. 4.0. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Below: Montage (left) Tiger Woods in 2014, Keith Allison, Wikipedia Commons C.C. 2.0; (right) Sam Snead in 1967, ABC Television. Both courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Info source: tigerwoods.com; masters.com; "Masters Tournement, Complete History of this Iconic Tournament," 2024, Brenton Barker, golfmonster.com; "Tiger Woods Wins the 2019 Masters," 2019, pga.com; "Tiger Woods Wins 2019 Masters to Capture First Green Jacket since 2005," 2019, Brian Pascus, CBS Sports; "The Story Behind the First Time Tiger Woods met Sam Snead - and the cool Photo of Them Together," 2019, Ryan Herrington, golfdisgest.com; "Tiger Woods Ties Sam Snead's PGA Tour Victory Record at 82," 2019, apnews.com; Wikipedia Commons.

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