Tiger Woods

Quite simply an all-time great, Woods is a three-time Open Champion whose tally of 15 major wins is bettered only by Jack Nicklaus (18) in the men's game. 

He is the only man to hold all four majors at the same time. In 2000, Woods won the US Open by a scarcely believable 15 strokes and The Open by eight with a then record 19-under-par at St Andrews, before adding the PGA Championship in a play-off and completing his clean sweep at the following year's Masters.

After four back operations and a slump down the world rankings to 1,199th, he led with eight holes to go at Carnoustie in 2018 and then achieved his 80th PGA Tour title at the Tour Championship, followed a week later by his first Ryder Cup appearance since 2012. Sensationally, he then won the 2019 Masters to claim his 15th major title 11 years after his previous win at the 2008 US Open.

In October 2019, Woods equalled Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins when he triumphed in the ZOZO Championship in Japan, which in turn led to him picking himself for the Presidents Cup. He was unbeaten as playing-captain.

His first major, the 1997 Masters, was achieved by a record 12 shots when he was only 21, while he has twice won The Open at St Andrews and once at Royal Liverpool, as well as claiming a record 18 World Golf Championships.

Woods suffered serious leg injuries in a car crash in February 2021, preventing him from playing a main tour event for the rest of the year. However, he made a remarkable and much-celebrated return to competitive action in the 2022 Masters, where he was amazingly only four shots off the lead after his opening-round 71. Further injury problems, however, have limited his appearances since then.