Tiger in a Dead Sprint to Five Victories, but is it His Fastest Ever?

Tiger in a Dead Sprint to Five Victories, but is it His Fastest Ever?











Adam Fonseca May 29, 2013 3:46 PM




COMMENTARY | If Tiger Woods wins the 2013 Memorial Tournament this week, it will not only mark his fifth victory of the year, but it will be the fastest he has ever reached five victories in a season.

That fact alone is almost mind-boggling, especial
ly when discussing a talent the likes of Woods. In 2000, arguably Tiger's best year on Tour where he won an astounding nine times, he didn't record his fifth victory of the year until winning the US Open on June 18. This week's Memorial Tournament will conclude on June 2, barring an unlikely Monday finish.



A victory this week will not mark the fastest Tiger has accumulated five wins at any stretch during the year, however.

After winning the Farmers Insurance Open on January 28 of this year, Tiger has won four times in 105 days, most recently at The Players Championship on May 12. If he wins at Muirfield Village, his fifth victory will come 126 days after his first victory of the season.

In 2000, Woods won five tournaments between May 28 and August 27 of that year, or 81 days. His victories included The Memorial, the US Open, the British Open, the PGA Championship and the NEC Invitational. He also won the Bell Canadian Open two weeks later on September 10, 2000, marking his sixth win in 95 days. Pretty impressive stuff.

In 2006, Woods broke his own 'speed victory' record. He won his third British Open title on July 23. Woods then captured his second Buick Open (August 6), his third PGA Championship (August 20), his fifth Bridgestone Invitational (August 27) and his first Deutsche Bank Championship (September 4). That's five victories in a little less than three months, or 43 days. Woods proceeded to win the American Express Championship on October 1, 2006 some 27 days later.

What does this all mean? Woods is winning tournaments at a pace that we have not seen from him since what a 'younger Tiger' did years ago.

He has won four times in seven events on Tour this season, or 57 percent. During his five-win stretch in 2000, Woods played seven tournaments and won five, or 71 percent. In 2006, Woods amazed us all by playing in - and winning - all five tournaments he entered between July 23 and September 4.

As Yahoo's own Shane Bacon reported earlier this week, golf fans are expecting Tiger to win every tournament he enters for the first time in years. It doesn't matter if you are a fan of Woods or not; you cannot overlook the fact that he is literally more likely to win a golf tournament than the opposite. We haven't been able to say that about the World No. 1 in a long, long time.Tiger Woods has won The Memorial five times in his career. He is the overwhelming favorite heading into Jack Nicklaus's tournament once again. Barring a major set-back, there is little reason to suspect that he will not be in the winner's circle again come Sunday.



Adam Fonseca has covered professional golf since 2005. His work can be found on numerous digital outlets including the Back9Network and SB Nation. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife. Follow Adam on Twitter @chicagoduffer.