The Decade By The Numbers

A breakdown of the majors of the past decade produces some surprising -- and not-so-surprising -- results

Tiger Woods' 15-stroke win in the 2000 U.S. Open was the most one-sided of the decade.

By John Antonini

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

August 20, 2009

Y.E. Yang's stunning upset of Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National closed the door on the majors for the decade. Here's a statistical look at the 40 championships.

Most victories: 12, Woods. Beginning with the Tiger slam in 2000-01, Woods' dirty dozen includes a proportionally correct three at each major. He won six from 2000-04 and six from 2005-09. His longest stretch without a victory was 10 events, starting at the 2002 British Open. Incredibly, he only had three top-10 finishes during that spell.

Others with multiple majors: Padraig Harrington (2007 and 2008 British, 2008 PGA) and Phil Mickelson (2004 and 2006 Masters, 2005 PGA) won three. Angel Cabrera (2007 U.S., 2009 Masters), Retief Goosen (2001 and 2004 U.S. Open) and Vijay Singh (2000 Masters, 2004 PGA) won two.

Most top 10s: 25, Woods. There's no one on the top-10 list that you wouldn't expect.
20, Mickelson
20, Els
15, Singh
14, Garcia
12, Harrington
12, Goosen
10, Weir
10, Furyk
8, Love

The only player with a top-10 in his only major: Matt Bettencourt, 2009 U.S. Open.

Iron men: Four players appeared in every major during the decade -- Stuart Appleby, Garcia, Singh and Weir. Appleby, with only three top-10s, is clearly the odd man out in this quartet.

Most cuts made: 37, Mickelson. Lefty played in 39 majors and missed only two cuts, at the 2007 U.S. and British Opens. Woods played in 38 majors and made 36 cuts. Els (35), Singh (33) and Weir and Goosen (32 each) round out the top five.

Most cuts missed (including WD's): 23, Michael Campbell. The former U.S. Open winner has appeared in every major since his win at Pinehurst in 2005. He has missed the cut or withdrawn in 11 of them. John Daly, who qualifies for the British Open and PGA Championship as a past champion, is second with 20 missed cuts this decade.

Most consecutive missed cuts: 12, Gary Player. Ten Masters and two British Opens.

Most consecutive missed cuts (or WD's) by a non-senior: 11, David Duval and Mark Brooks.

Best finish by an amateur: T-5, Chris Wood, 2008 British Open. When Wood called his sister during the 2008 British, she asked if he was playing in that "golf thingy." By validating his performance at Royal Birkdale with a T-3 at Turnberry this past July, Wood became the only player to have top-five finishes in his first two "golf thingys."

Highest World Ranking by a winner: No, not Yang, who was 110th when he beat Woods at Hazeltine National. Not even close. Ben Curtis, who won in his first-ever major, was ranked 396th when he shocked the field at Royal St. George's in the 2003 British Open. That week's Golf World said the upset made "the previous standard for modern-era shockers -- Daly's triumph at the 1991 PGA Championship -- seem like Nixon over McGovern."

Largest winning margin: 15 strokes, Woods, 2000 U.S. Open. Woods followed his 15-stroke win over Els at Pebble Beach with the second-largest rout of the decade, an eight stroke win over Els at the 2000 British Open. Woods also had the third- and fourth-largest winning margins, by five shots over Colin Montgomerie in the 2005 British and Shaun Micheel at the 2006 PGA.

Largest winning margin by a player not named Woods: Four strokes, Harrington over Ian Poulter, 2008 British Open.

Lowest aggregate score: 265, David Toms, 2001 PGA Championship. Four players completed their major week with scores in the 260s and three came during the '01 PGA at Atlanta AC, where Mickelson (266) and Steve Lowery (268) trailed Toms. That leads us to ...