U.S. Open 2008
With the U.S. Open at stake, Tiger Woods sank a 12-foot birdie putt Sunday to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate. Tiger's heroics at 18 set up Monday's real drama: Tiger's mind vs. Tiger's knee.
Tiger's Dominace:
As of April 2008, Woods has won 64 official PGA Tour events, an additional 22 individual professional titles, owns two team titles in the two-man WGC-World Cup, and won the inaugural FedEx Cup playoffs. He has successfully defended a title 21 times on the PGA Tour, has finished runner-up 24 times, third place 17 times, and has won 29% (64 out of 220) of his professional starts on the PGA Tour. He has hit a combined total eighteen holes-in-one in the course of his lifetime, his first at the age of six. He has a 31-6 record when leading after 36 holes in Tour events, and a 43–3 record when leading after 54 holes. Woods is 13-0 when going into the final round of major with at least a share of the lead, and he has never lost any tournament when leading by more than one shot after 54 holes. He has been heralded as "the greatest closer in history" by multiple golf experts.He owns the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history.
He has been the PGA Player of the Year a record nine times, the PGA Tour Money Leader a record-tying eight times (with Jack Nicklaus), the Vardon Trophy winner a record seven times, and the recipient of the Byron Nelson Award a record eight times. He has spent over nine years atop the world rankings in his 12-year career. Woods is one of five players (along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player) to have won all four professional major championships in his career, known as the "Career Grand Slam", and was the youngest to do so. Bobby Jones won all four of what were in his era considered major championships. Woods is the only player to have won all four professional major championships in a row, accomplishing the feat in the 2000-2001 seasons. Woods's win at the 2005 Open Championship made him only the second golfer (after Nicklaus) to have won all four majors more than once. Woods holds at least a share of the scoring record in relation to par in all four majors, and also holds the margin of victory record in two majors, The Masters and the U.S. Open.
With his victory at the 2006 WGC-American Express Championship, he became the first player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons. His victory in the Buick Invitational in January 2007 placed him 2nd for the longest PGA Tour win streak at 7 straight, trailing only Byron Nelson's streak of 11 wins in 1945. At the 2003 Tour Championship, Woods set the all-time record for most consecutive cuts, starting in 1998, with 114 (passing Nelson's previous record of 113) and extended this mark to 142 before it ended on May 13, 2005 at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Many consider this to be one of the most remarkable golf accomplishments of all time, given the margin by which he broke the old record (and against stronger fields in terms of depth than those in Nelson's day) and given that during the streak, the next longest streak by any other player was usually only in the 10s or 20s.
In winning the 2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods became the first golfer to win four PGA Tour events five or more times.
When Woods turned pro, Mike "Fluff" Cowan was his caddie until March 8, 1999.He was replaced by Steve Williams, who has become a close friend of Woods and is often credited with helping Woods with key shots and putts.