Tiger Woods' Largest Margins of Victory

What is the most strokes by which Tiger Woods ever won a pro golf tournament? Woods' largest margin of victory is 15 strokes, and his two largest winning margins both happened in major championships.

We'll take a look here at all the PGA Tour events that Woods won by seven strokes or more. There are 12 such tournaments.

  • 15 stroke winning margin — 2000 U.S. Open. Woods' scores were 65-69-71-67 for a 12-under total of 272. The runners-up were Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez. This is tied for the second-highest margin of victory in PGA Tour history and is the largest margin of victory ever in the U.S. Open and also the largest winning margin in any of the men's majors.
  • 12 strokes — 1997 Masters. Woods shot 70-66-65-69 to finish at 18-under 270. The runner-up was Tom Kite. This is The Masters record for largest margin of victory.
  • 11 strokes — 2000 WGC NEC Invitational. 64-61-67-67—259, 21-under. Runners-up: Justin Leonard, Phillip Price.
  • 11 strokes — 2003 Bay Hill Invitational. Woods' scores were 70-65-66-68 for a 19-under total of 269. There were four runners-up: Stewart Cink, Brad Faxon, Kenny Perry and Kirk Triplett.
  • 8 strokes — 2000 British Open. 67-66-67-69, 19-under 269. Runners-up: Thomas Bjorn and Ernie Els. This is tied for the largest margin of victory in any British Open from 1900 to the present.
  • 8 strokes — 2006 WGG American Express Championship. 63-64-67-67, 23-under 261. Runners-up: Ian Poulter, Adam Scott.
  • 8 strokes — 2007 WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Woods had rounds of 68-70-69-65 for a total of 272, 8-under-par. The runners-up were Justin Rose and Rory Sabbatini.
  • 8 strokes — 2007 Tour Championship. Woods' scores were 64-63-64-66, 23-under 257. Runners-up: Mark Calcavecchia, Zach Johnson.
  • 8 strokes — 2008 Buick Invitational. 67-65-66-71—269, 19-under-par. Ryuji Imada finished second.
  • 8 strokes — 2009 BMW Championship. 68-67-62-68, 19-under 265. The second-place finishers were Jim Furyk and Marc Leishman.
  • 7 strokes — 2001 Memorial. 68-69-68-66, 17-under 271. Runners-up: Paul Azinger and Sergio Garcia.
  • 7 strokes — 2013 WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Woods' scores were 66-61-68-70 for a 15-under-par total of 265. Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson tied for second.
All of these were big tournaments. There are three majors, four World Golf Championships, plus Arnie's tournament and Jack's tournament included. Woods had two wins by seven strokes, six wins by eight strokes, two wins by 11 strokes, plus one win by a 12-shot margin of victory and one by a 15-shot margin of victory.

Just how impressive is this record? What's some context? Consider Woods' best contemporaries and biggest rivals. Vijay Singh had no PGA Tour wins by seven strokes or more. Phil Mickelson had one: He won the 2006 BellSouth Classic by 13.

What about the aforementioned Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus? Palmer's biggest margin of victory was 12 strokes at the 1962 Phoenix Invitational, and he also had two 7-shot wins. Nicklaus' biggest winning margin on the PGA Tour was nine strokes, which he accomplished twice (1965 Masters and 1972 Walt Disney World Golf Classic). Nicklaus also had one 8-shot win and one 7-shot win.

More Big Winning Margins By Tiger Woods

If we look at non-PGA Tour tournaments, we can find a few more events that Woods won by seven shots or more.
  • 14 strokes — 2002 PGA Grand Slam of Golf
  • 10 strokes — 1997 Asian Honda Classic
  • 9 strokes — 1999 World Cup of Golf
  • 8 strokes — 2004 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament
  • 7 strokes — 2005 PGA Grand Slam of Golf
  • 7 strokes — 2007 Target World Challenge
The PGA Grand Slam of Golf was a four-person, 36-hole "silly season" event; the Target World Challenge is Woods' own, end-of-year, limited-field tournament. The Asian Honda Classic is from the Asian Tour and the Dunlop from the Japan Tour. The World Cup of Golf featured 2-person teams representing their countries, but also kept individual standings, which is what is cited above.

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