Tiger Woods Suffers a Massive Setback for the First Time in His Career

Tiger Woods has dropped again on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). The 82-time record Tour winner had fallen outside the Top 1000 for the first time in 2017, owing to a car accident that seldom helped him in contesting events. It’s a similar story this time, with Woods suffering yet another car crash and gradually making his comeback this year.

What is Tiger Woods’ OWGR?

OWGR is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers that started in 1986. The ratings are created over a rolling two-year period.

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After the 150th Open Championship this year, Woods has dropped to an all-time low ranking, at 1102. He could only contest in three tournaments this year – the Open Championship, the PGA Championship, and the Masters Tournament. He had planned to compete in every Major Championship this year, but issues with his surgically repaired right leg didn’t allow him to contest at the US Open.

How did Tiger Woods perform this year?

In the competitions he contested, Tiger’s performance was wayward. He withdrew from the PGA Championship citing injury, a day after shooting his highest shot at the event by carding a 79. Despite the clear signs of pain since the first round, Woods continued to battle but barely managed to make the cut. Elsewhere, Woods was among a host of stars who couldn’t make the cut at the 150th Open Championship, while he did make the cut and showed promise in the Masters Tournament, finishing T47.

What is Woods’ best-ever position?

Needless to say, the 46-year-old has been ranked first in the OWGR on multiple occasions. During his amateur years, he was attributed with the lowest ranking of 743 in 1994. Since then, it has been an upward trajectory for Woods, who was ranked World No.1 as early as 1997. In the two decades of dominance, he has spent a whopping 683 weeks of his professional career at the summit and spent 281 consecutive weeks at the top, which remains the longest-ever streak at the peak.

So far, only three golfers have spent an entire calendar year on top of the rankings – Nick Faldo once (1993), Greg Norman once (1996), and Tiger Woods a record eight times (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).

Will Tiger ever scale the Top again?

If the 15-time Major winner finds his mojo back, he can. Tiger’s injuries have hampered the last few years of his career, having only been able to contest 12 events in the last two years. Woods is susceptible to making a comeback, as he did while defying all odds to win the 2019 Masters Tournament. So who knows, we could be in for a final hurrah in the conclusive years of Woods’ glorious career.

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