Woods wins No. 82; ties all-time TOUR record

By
Mo Yoshimoto,

By
Mo Yoshimoto

Published October 28, 2019 08:30 AM

The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP

Accordia Golf Narashino CC

Chiba, Japan

Winner’s Share: $1,755,000

This was the inaugural ZOZO, first-ever PGA TOUR event in Japan, and due to a washout on Friday, went to an unscheduled Monday finish.

Making his season debut and first start in 10 weeks, World No. 10 Tiger Woods hung up a 3-under-par 32-35=67 in the two-day final round for a 72-hole tally of 19-under 261, good for a three-shot victory over runner-up and home hero Hideki Matsuyama (67), and his 82^nd TOUR title in 359 events (345 pro), matching Sam Snead for the all-time TOUR record in wins.

Snead recorded his 82^nd in 1965 (in his 425^th start), so Woods ties a record that stood for 54 years, and it took him 66 less events to reach 82 than it took Snead.

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The 43-year-old showed zero signs of rust, and during his time off, underwent a fifth (left) knee surgery two months ago, which just adds to his lore.

He won his first TOUR title 23 years ago (this month) at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational in his 19^th career start (5^th pro), a 90-hole event, where he came from four back (T7) with 8-under 64 and defeated now-Hall-of-Famer Davis Love III in a playoff.

Final Leaderboard (pre-tourney odds outright):

1- (-19) Tiger Woods (33/1)

2- (-16) Hideki Matsuyama (16/1)

3- (-13) Rory McIlroy (8/1)

3- (-13) Sungjae Im (33/1)

5- (-12) Gary Woodland (25/1)

Note: No ShotLink, so no Strokes Gained stats. If there were, Woods would’ve posted a 17.022 SG: Total.

Note: Due to weather delays, there was no re-grouping between Rounds 3 & 4.

Woods’ Position by Round:

R1: T1

R2: 1 (by 2)

R3: 1 (by 3)

Before we dive further into all of the superlatives, let’s back up a bit.

The Stanford product won five times in 2013, en route to Player of the Year honors (for a record 11^th time), the last of which was the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone.

He then went 5 years, 1 month (1,876 days) and 42 starts, before winning his next at the season-ending TOUR Championship in 2018.

Inclusive of the win at East Lake, the South Florida resident has now won three times in his last 14 starts, a 21.4% winning clip, which, even in his early 40s, is just slightly off his (updated) overall Win Percentage of 22.8%, which is No. 1 all-time.

The game’s preeminent closer improves to 55-for-59 as a 54-hole leader/co-leader, and has converted his last nine consecutive and 24 of his last 25.

Woods was in command from the get-go, leading or co-leading after each of the first three rounds, and adds his first trophy since winning the 83^rd Masters (and 15^th major) back in April, which was just seven short starts ago.

Woods ended last season with four top 10s in just 12 events played.

His last six were nothing to write home about: two missed cuts, one mid-tourney WD, and one top 10.

Woods’ post-season last two starts, a WD at THE NORTHERN TRUST, and a T37 at the BMW Championship. At 42^nd in the final FedExCup standings, he was eliminated and unable to defend the TOUR Championship.

Turns out, however, he was playing injured, which led to yet another knee surgery in August.

Fast forward to this week.

Woods warmed up with an 18-hole exhibition in the Japan Skins, where he finished T2. Apparently, after the surgery and long layoff, that was all the pre-tourney action he needed.

Incidentally, three of the four participants in the Skins finished 1, 2, and T3, respectively, at the ZOZO. More on that later.

Matsuyama, chasing his sixth TOUR win in 154 events, first since the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone, battled and did his best to catch him, but Woods, in his signature final-round red (with black vest), was having none of it.

Unfortunately, due to no re-grouping between R3 and R4, this (basically) two-man battle took place out of separate threesomes, Woods out of the final group and Matsuyama out of the penultimate.

McIlroy, the reigning Player of the Year, and Korea’s Im, the reigning Rookie of the Year, shared 3^rd-place, but were six adrift.

Woods on Monday:

After kicking off with 64-64-66, he began with a three-shot lead and was three clear through 11 holes on Sunday when play was suspended.

Woods returned (with 45 others) on Monday and played his final seven holes in 1-under, answering a bogey-5 at 12 with two birdie-4s at 14 and 18 to win by three.

In all, he landed 10 (of 13) fairways and 13 greens in regulation with 28 total putts.

The California native outflanked two bogeys at holes 4 and 12 (his first hole in Monday’s restart), with five circles at 1, 5, 6, 14, and just for good measure, 18.

For the week, he totaled 27 birdies, No. 1 in that stat, against eight bogeys, three of which came on his first three holes in R1.

How Woods Won the Tournament:

Ranked 1^st (or T1) in: Total Birdies; Birdie or Better Percentage; Par-3 Scoring; Putts per GIR

Ranked 2^nd (or T2) in: N/A

Note: See “Leaders in Selected Stats” at the bottom, along with his full stats.

Lowest-Ranked Stat(s): Scrambling (26^th); Total Bogeys (T19)

Woods’ TOUR Career:

Starts: 359

Cuts Made: 326 (90.8%)

Top 25s: 269 (74.9%)

Top 10s: 198 (55.1%)

Top 3s: 132 (36.7%)

Wins: 82 (22.8%)

Wins by Season (in the FEC era):

2020: 1

2019: 1

2018: 1

2017: --

2016: --

2015: --

2014: --

2013: 5

2012: 3

2011: --

2010: --

2009: 6

2008: 4

2007: 7

*Note: Woods’ best season, win-wise, was 9 in 20 starts in 2000.

By the Numbers:

1, 2, 3: On Monday of tournament week, Woods finished T2 at the Japan Skins. Three of the four who competed in that exhibition, finished 1 (Woods), 2 (Matsuyama), and T3 (McIlroy) in the ZOZO. The outlier of the four was Skins winner, Jason Day, who finished T22 in the ZOZO on 6-under 274 (73-66-67-68).

0: Number of holes played in Round 2 on Friday as heavy rain – 9.79 inches at the nearest reporting station – nixed the entire day.

29: Due to Friday’s washout, Woods played 29 holes on Sunday before play was suspended (darkness), which he did in 6-under.

140: The par-4 10^th, 376 yards on the official scorecard, played as a 140-yard par 4 in R2 (on Saturday), as the majority of the fairway was still under water.

1/8: Woods’ revised outright betting entering R4.

79: Of Wood’s 82 wins, 79 have come in stroke-play events, 55 as a 54-hole leader/co-leader.

64: Woods’ 64 was his lowest round to open a season in his career, previously 66.

8: This is the eighth time Woods has won in his first start of the season, first since 2013 (Farmers Insurance; Torrey Pines).

10: First start for Woods since Aug. 15^th (10 weeks ago) at the BMW Championship, where he finished T37 and was eliminated from the Playoffs.

13: This was Woods’ first event in Japan in 13 years. He finished P2 (to Padraig Harrington) at the 2006 Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour as a 2-time defending champion.

9: Runner-up Matsuyama, who won eight times in Japan on the Japan Golf Tour, was tops among 9 Japanese flags that teed it up. It’s his fifth runner-up in 154 career events, first since T2 at the 2017 U.S. Open.

1: Through seven (non-team) events this season, the pre-tourney fave/co-fave has won one time: Justin Thomas (13/2) at THE CJ CUP. Last season, two fave/co-faves won (in 45 non-team events): Rory McIlroy (12/1 co-fave) at THE PLAYERS, and Collin Morikawa at the Barracuda (10/1).

9: Last week’s CJ CUP winner Thomas, was a 7/1 fave this week and backdoored a T17 on 7-under 273 (70-69-69-65). It’s his ninth consecutive top-20 finish worldwide, beginning the run with a T9 at the Scottish Open back in July.

T41: For a second straight week (CJ CUP), Viktor Hovland, in on a sponsor invite, was the only rookie in the field (of 21). By default, he took top-rookie honors with T41 on 1-under 279 (75-65-67-72).

13: Woods is the first winner in his 40s since Jim Herman (41) at last season’s opposite-field Barbasol 13 events ago.