Golf
How Many Times Has Tiger Woods Won the British Open?
![Tiger Woods won the 2005 Open Championship at St. Andrews.](https://www.sportscasting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Tiger-Woods.jpg)
Tiger Woods has won seemingly everywhere there is to win in professional golf. He has 82 PGA Tour victories in his career, 15 major championship titles, and is one of just five players in golf history to complete the Career Grand Slam by winning all four majors.
Over the course of his legendary career, Woods has competed in the British Open 21 times. But how many times has he held up the Claret Jug at golf’s oldest major championship?
Tiger Woods’ first British Open title came during the “Tiger Slam”
![Tiger Woods won the 2005 Open Championship at St. Andrews.](https://www.sportscasting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Tiger-Woods-1024x817.jpg)
Every die-hard golf fan remembers the epic string of golf Woods put together from 2000-01 to complete the first-ever “Tiger Slam.” Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes over the rest of the field at Pebble Beach, eeked past Bob May in a playoff to win the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla, and outdueled David Duval in the 2001 Masters to win his fourth straight major championship.
In the middle of it all, Woods won his first career Open Championship at none other than the Old Course at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf.
Tiger fired a 5-under 67 in the first round of the tournament, which put him one stroke behind Ernie Els for the early lead. He followed that up with a 6-under 66 in round two, and he never looked back from there.
Woods shot another 67 in the third round to stretch his lead to six, and he capped off the tournament with a 3-under 69 to eventually win by eight strokes over the rest of the field.
It was a dominant display of golf that fans had already come to expect from the 24-year-old phenom.
How many times has Tiger Woods won the British Open?
After Woods triumphed at the 2000 British Open, he went four straight years without lifting up another Claret Jug. That changed in 2005 when he won the 134th Open at — you guessed it — St. Andrews.
The field actually made Woods fight for the title this time around, as Colin Montgomerie and José María Olazábal both challenged him down the stretch on Sunday. But the greatest finisher in golf outlasted the two veterans and won by five strokes in the end at 14-under par.
A year later, Tiger went back-to-back at the Open Championship, this time at Royal Liverpool. Chris DiMarco was Woods’ main challenger on Sunday, but he again fought off the pressure and held on to win by two strokes at 18-under par. It was one of the most emotional wins of Woods’ entire career, as the win came just three months after the passing of his father, Earl Woods.
Tiger got close to winning another Open on a few other occasions after 2006, but he hasn’t been named the Champion Golfer of the Year since then. He still stands today with three British Open titles.
Tiger’s close calls at the Open Championship
Woods found himself back in contention at the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham. He started the final round five strokes back of leader Adam Scott, but a 3-over 73 on Sunday foiled his chances of winning another Open. He finished tied for third.
In 2013, Tiger was just two strokes back of leader Lee Westwood entering the final round at Muirfield, but an uncharacteristic 3-over 74 in the final round dropped him back to a tie for sixth.
Most recently, Woods held the solo lead of the 2018 Open at Carnoustie during the final round, but a double bogey on the 11th and a bogey on the 12th put him in a hole he couldn’t climb out of. He finished the tournament in solo second.
RELATED: Rory McIlroy Contemplated Stealing From Tiger Woods the First Time He Saw the Golf Legend Play Live