The first hole Tiger Woods ever played on the PGA Tour he birdied. It was in 1992 on the par-5 1st hole at Riviera Country Club in the Los Angeles Open. When he would normally have been in a geometry class at Western High School, the 16-year-old Tiger was instead about to play a round on the PGA Tour.
He remembers: “I teed the ball up and I was totally fine with my practice swings, no big deal. I get over the golf ball, no big deal. Look down the fairway, like ho hum, it's an easy tee shot from No. 1 at Riv. I take it back and the club felt like it weighed like eight tons. I didn't know if I could get it to the top of my swing. … I’d never felt the club get that heavy. I was nervous, like I always am before an event, but I had never felt so awkward going back.”
Despite this he faded a 3-wood into the middle of the fairway and made a two-putt birdie. He had started as he was to go on. Although it was his only birdie of the round, another 5,577 birdies on the PGA Tour were to follow, up until the end of 2023.
Tiger Woods joined the PGA Tour full time in 1997, having turned pro in August 1996, aged 20 (remember that bit of info if you plan on tackling our Tiger Woods quiz). That 1997 season he topped the charts for birdies per round on the PGA Tour, with 4.25, having made 344 birdies in his 1,458 holes. He also made 14 eagles that season.
In eight seasons Tiger Woods topped the PGA Tour stats for most average birdies per 18 holes. As well as in that 1997 season, he also did so in 1999 (4.31); 2000 (4.92); 2002 (4.47); 2005 (4.57); 2006 (4.65), 2007 (4.03) and 2009 (4.15).
It remains to be seen how many more PGA Tour birdies Tiger will make before his legendary career comes to a close, but he returned to action at Riviera in February and is planning more starts throughout the course of the season. It's possible that we see him at The Players Championship, but if not, he'll almost certainly be in the field for The Masters in April.
Woods has also taken up a position as the vice-chairman of the PGA Tour Enterprises board of directors.
