Tiger Woods A Look Back at His Three U.S. Open Victories
If Tiger Woods is healthy enough, he will now be able to compete in this month’s U.S. Open for the 23rd time.
The USGA announced recently that Woods, a three-time U.S. Open champion, has received and accepted a special exemption into the 124th playing of the U.S. Open, to be played June 13-16 at Pinehurst No. 2.
The 48-year-old Woods last won the U.S. Open in 2008 and the exemption from his 2019 Masters win had run out, setting the table for the USGA to offer its first special exemption since Phil Mickelson in 2021.
Woods had been eligible for every U.S. Open since he first played in 1995 as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion.
This inspired us to take a trip down memory lane and re-visit the three U.S. Open victories by the best golfer who has ever played this game.
In total, Woods has won 82 official PGA Tour events – tied with Sam Snead for the most wins in PGA Tour history, and over the course of his 30-year career he has amassed over $120,000,000 in PGA Tour prize money alone. He also sits in an exclusive group, having won all four of golf’s major championships.
Woods is the only player to win the U.S. Open while ranked the number one player in the world, which he did on all three of those occasions. He also won the U.S. Amateur Championship three years in a row from 1994-1996, the only player to have done so.
2000 U.S. Open – Pebble Beach Golf Links
This was the 100th edition of the U.S. Open, and marked Woods’ 100th tournament as a professional – and what a tournament it was. Woods, 24, was at the peak of his powers at Pebble Beach Golf Links, where rounds of 65, 69, 71 and 67 saw him finish 15 shots ahead of the field.
The win in the 2000 U.S. Open also was his 13th in his past 24 official PGA Tour events. That’s right – 13-11, a .542 winning percentage in golf.
Tiger Woods broke a record for margin of victory, 15 shots, in a major that had stood since the United States was involved in the Civil War. No athletic achievement to be witnessed has much chance to top that.
NBC’s, Dan Hicks, was quoted as saying” the most dominating performance in major championship golf history. Period.”
“It all came together for one magical week…so I gave them something good to watch.” – Tiger Woods
2002 U.S. Open – Bethpage State Park – Black Course
The 2002 U.S. Open Championship was held at the Black Course of Bethpage State Park on Long Island. It was billed as “The People’s Open,” as it was the first to be held on a true public golf course.
I remember walking the Bethpage fairways with my late father, Don Brown Sr., trying to catch a glimpse of the man who had become bigger than any act on Broadway. It was bedlam out there, but you knew you were in the presence of greatness.
The countless New York fans at Bethpage State Park continued to yell ‘’Tiger, you rule!,’’ even the man himself was getting worried about his ear drums.
‘’If I don’t have a hearing problem, I might have one by the end of the week,’’ Woods said, joking. ‘’You come off these tee boxes, and they scream right in your ear. It’s impressive that they can yell that loud. You can hear them four or five holes away.’’
He had a psychological edge that was difficult to measure. Tiger arrived at Bethpage Black by winning 6 of the last 10 major championships and had simply been dominating the professional golf scene.
Some of Woods’ opponents that week referred to him in otherworldly terms.
‘’It’s a difficult thing to compete against him because he is able to do things with the golf ball that not many can even envision,’’ said Phil Mickelson, the world’s second-ranked player. ‘’A lot of people see that as difficult, but it’s also a wonderful challenge, to play against potentially the greatest player of all time.’’
Tiger emerged with his second U.S. Open title in three years by holding off Phil Mickelson by three strokes. Once again, Woods was the only golfer who finished the tournament under par. U.S. Open trophy No. 2 for Woods came, just as his first had, via a wire-to-wire victory.
Broadway did not have a stage big enough for Woods. But in golf, no stage, and no course, seemed too big for him back in the summer of 2002.
2008 U.S. Open – Torrey Pines South Course
Torrey Pines sits on one of the prettiest golf course sites in America, atop coastal bluffs north of San Diego with eye-dazzling views of the Pacific, and will go down in history as host to the greatest major championship victory of all-time.
Two images stand out above all others from Tiger Woods’ 2008 U.S. Open championship at Torrey Pines. Neither one has anything to do Woods beating Rocco Mediate on the 19th hole of a Monday playoff. Both have everything to do with Woods’ victory. Ecstasy and agony.
There is the iconic photo of Woods on the 18th green at Torrey South, pumping both fists and roaring along with the crowd after sinking the 12-foot putt that forced the playoff. The other memorable photo from 2008 shows Woods grimacing – and at times using his club as a cane – whenever he received a pain signal from his ailing left knee.
In this June 15, 2008 photo, Tiger Woods holds onto his left knee after teeing off on the second hole during the fourth round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
Woods announced two days after the tournament that he played with two stress fractures in his left leg and a torn ACL that required reconstructive surgery.
The stirring victory delivered the 14th major championship for Woods, who still had his sights set on Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 major titles. At 32, Tiger was slightly behind the pace of the Golden Bear, who was 30 when he won his 14th major.
Woods called the title at Torrey “probably the best ever.” In doing what he did, nothing seemed impossible for the world’s greatest golfer.
As impressive as Woods’ on-course play was that week, it gained legendary status once people realized that Woods endured to walk the course for five straight days. He had arthroscopic surgery in April to repair cartilage damage just after a second-place finish in the Masters. That kept him off the course until the U.S. Open. In fact, Woods had not walked 18 holes since Sunday at the Masters. He used a cart in a practice round at Torrey Pines a week before the Open.
Hank Haney, Tiger’s swing coach for four years, visited the golfer at his Florida home a month before the Open and watched Woods bend over in pain after getting up from the dinner table. “I remember thinking, ‘That’s not a good sign,’” Haney said.
Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent, explained the situation to Mike Davis of the USGA. He said, “Hardly anyone knows about this, please don’t say anything to the USGA.” “I didn’t tell anyone, but I remember looking at Mark and saying, ‘So he’s going to play on a broken leg?’”
There was a practice round in Newport Beach’s Big Canyon where Woods failed to break 50 over nine holes while wearing a knee brace.
“I was still trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to try and play with a knee brace,” Woods said in the PGA.com story. “Because my knee was moving all over the place.” Woods said he threw the knee brace out the window on the drive down to Torrey Pines. “I was determined, though, to do everything and anything in my power to play in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, which is a course that is close to where I grew up and holds many special memories for me,” Woods said in the statement two days after his win. “Although I will miss the rest of the 2008 season, I’m thrilled with the fact that last week was such a special victory.”
Tiger, competing in his first U.S. Open since 2020, now heads to Pinehurst No. 2 where he once finished tied for third behind champion, Payne Stewart, back in 1999. Does a magical fourth U.S. Open title await? The entire golf world will be watching.
Tiger’s Year-by-Year Scores in the U.S. Open
1995: withdrew (amateur)
1996: tied 82nd (amateur)
1997: tied 19th
1998: tied 18th
1999: tied third
2000: won
2001: tied 12th
2002: won
2003: tied 20th
2004: tied 17th
2005: second
2006: missed cut
2007: tied second
2008: won
2009: tied sixth
2010: tied fourth
2011: did not play
2012: tied 21st
2013: tied 32nd
2014: did not play
2015: missed cut
2016: did not play
2017: did not play
2018: missed cut
2019: tied 21st
2020: missed cut
2021: did not play
2022: did not play
2023: did not play
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