Just like lots of people forget the many players Jack Nicklaus bumped into second when he was picking up Major Championships for fun in his pomp, there is long list of players who’d have one of the game’s four biggest titles on their CV if they hadn’t run into a certain Tiger Woods.
Here is each one of those victims (players who have managed a Major title at least once are not included).
Miguel Angel Jiménez
Woods won the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach by 15 strokes. It was a procession. Ernie Els will always have his four Major titles, but Miguel Angel Jiménez never managed one.
Thomas Bjørn
"He was absolutely faultless. It was just a question of how many was he going to win by. There was almost a feeling he was saying, 'I’m this good and the rest of you are this poor.' . . . It was a case of him being so much better than everybody else at that moment in time.” Thomas Bjorn, runner-up at St Andrews, where Woods was dominant once again, winning by eight shots.
Bob May
Woods and Bob May finished 72 holes of the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla five strokes ahead of everybody else. It’s not to be for May, though, whose dreams are quashed in the resultant playoff.
Chris DiMarco
The American had the misfortune of running into Woods twice in the heat of battle of a Major Championship Sunday – first came the 2005 Masters, when he lost in a playoff, and then the Open Championship the following year.
Colin Montgomerie
The Scot will always have that tag of ‘best play never to win a Major’ hanging around his neck – at least one of the best. In 2005, at St Andrews, he struggled to land a glove on Woods.
Woody Austin
Tiger Woods won his 13th Major at Southern Hills. The late-blooming pro finished two shots back at the 2007 PGA Championship.
Rocco Mediate
Torrey Pines. Scene of one of Woods’ greatest triumphs. Playing with stress fractures in the tibia of his left leg and torn ligaments in his left knee, Woods claimed his third US Open title in a thrilling Monday playoff duel with big underdog Rocco Mediate.
Xander Schauffele
Schauffele was one of three players to finish second at the 2019 Masters, the others being Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, both of who are multiple Major champions. The talented Schauffele still has plenty of time on his side.
