What Is the ’Tiger Slam’ and When Did Tiger Woods Achieve It?

In golf, when one wins the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, and The Open Championship, it is called the career Grand Slam. Not an easy feat to achieve, as only five golfers in the world have won all four – Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, and Tiger Woods. Sarazen was the first to achieve the career Grand Slam in the modern game, the others following through decades.

Out of these five, Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods are the two who have won three major titles in one single year – closest to a single-season Grand Slam. Nevertheless, all these players are considered to be some of the best golfers to ever play.

Woods, however, has his own kind of achievement which sets him apart from the rest.

What is a Tiger Slam?

In 2001, Woods won the Masters. Now, while he was the first golfer in the modern era to have a Grand Slam – he remains the only golfer to have held all of them to his name at the same time. When he won all four of them consecutively, it was probably the closest a player was to achieving a single-season slam. So, the term Tiger Slam was coined to honor Woods’ achievement.

His 2000 year might be his best yet, as he won the Open Championship, the US Open, and the PGA Championship all in the same year.

Woods was only 24 when he won all four, making him the youngest golfer yet to do so.

He had 14 major title wins by 2014 and needed 21 starts in his career to achieve the Grand Slam. Not only that, but Woods also won the Open Championship on his first attempt.