Tiger Woods’ 2000 season is the benchmark that we measure golfing greatness against.
Scottie Scheffler faced constant comparisons to Woods’ 2000 season this year, which was regarded as the greatest compliment a player can receive.
In 2000, Woods won in nine of his 20 starts and came runner-up four times. That means he finished first or second in 65% of his starts. He won three major championships and went on to complete the “Tiger Slam” in 2001, when he held all four majors simultaneously.
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It’s hard to fathom that level of greatness 25 years on. That’s why Scottie Scheffler called the comparisons to Woods “silly.”
And while we can appreciate those eye-popping numbers today, players such as Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els suffered at the hands of Woods’ success.
Phil Mickelson says what ‘sucked’ about playing against Tiger Woods
Mickelson was one of many players who played second fiddle to Woods during his prime. He didn’t win a major in 2000 and 2001 in large part thanks to Woods.
Speaking in 2018, Mickelson said Woods’ 2000 season is something that can never be replicated, and named the 2000 US Open as the highest level anyone has achieved in the sport.
Woods won that tournament by a record 15 strokes at Pebble Beach in the most dominating performance in major championship history.
Mickelson said, “I don’t think anybody today who wasn’t there to witness it, and I don’t think anybody before, will ever see that level of play again.
“It was the most remarkable golf in the history of the game, and I think unrepeatable. I think it was that good. I look at 2000 as being kind of the benchmark at the U.S. Open and being the greatest golf I’ve ever witnessed, and I believe has ever been played.
“And it sucked to have to play against him. It really did. You look at it and say, ‘How am I going to beat this?’ There was a stretch there for a number of years that it was so impressive that it was hard to imagine that it was actually happening, that he was hitting some of the shots that he was hitting and playing that well.
“The guys today look back and they say, ‘Come on, how much better could he have been?’ and so forth. And it goes to show you that they weren’t there to witness it.”
Incredible Tiger Woods stats show how dominant he really was
Woods recently underwent yet another back surgery to rule him out of competitive action for the foreseeable future. Now that the greatest golfer of all time is in the twilight of his career, it’s easy to forget just how dominant he really was.
Between 1999 and 2004, Woods spent 264 consecutive weeks as world number one. He made 142 consecutive cuts between 1998 and 2005, and won 65 times between 1996 and 2008. That’s more than any other golfer in the same period, by over 30 wins.
Woods is the only player to win all four Majors by at least five strokes. He won The Masters and the US Open by a record margin, and was the youngest player ever to achieve the career Grand Slam.
There’s an endless amount of stats to demonstrate Woods’ dominance. So much so that you can get numb to them. But what really brings the point home is hearing how the all-time greats, like Mickelson, explain how \much better than them Woods really was.\
