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How Tiger Woods could reach another PGA Tour milestone this week—even if he doesn't win
Joe Scarnici
The stage has been perfectly set for Tiger Woods to make history this week. A long-awaited first win at the course where he made his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old would give him a record 83 career tour titles. It's essentially a Hollywood script being played out in Hollywood.
But even if Woods isn't victorious at Riviera, he can still reach another milestone.
Understandably lost a bit among his 82 wins is the fact Woods has had plenty of other great weeks that didn't result in him holding up a trophy. And thanks to a tie for ninth place at Torrey Pines in his first start of 2020, Tiger is in position to record a 200th career top 10 at the Genesis Invitational.
Two hundred top 10s. You have to be a darn good player just to rack up 200 starts on the PGA Tour, let alone 200 missed cuts. The number is even more impressive when you consider all the time Woods, 44, has missed due to injuries, and the fact he was never one to play a jam-packed schedule when he was healthy and in his prime. In fact, Woods has finished top 10 in more than half (55.27 percent) of his PGA Tour starts (360, which include 14 as an amateur in which he didn't record a top 10).
So how does Tiger stack up with other golf greats in this stat? He would be the 11th player to cross the 200 mark, but only four of those players have a higher percentage of top 10s. Check out this handy chart from the tour:
Holy Hogan! SEVENTY-SIX percent?! Wow. And Byron Nelson wasn't too shabby, either. Of course, the fields weren't quite as deep as they are in today's game, but still, very impressive.
Of active players, Phil Mickelson has the next most top 10s with 195 in 620 starts. He's followed by Jim Furyk with 188 in 616 starts. And both are playing this week at Riviera as well.
But all of the focus will be on the tournament host as he tries to break Sam Snead's record of 82 wins. The odds are certainly in favor of it happening at some point. Catching the Slammer's top-10 total of 330? That's another story.