Will Tiger Woods win a major in 2019?

Golf Monthly | The return of the Tiger in 2018 was not only fruitful for the man himself after he picked up his first victory since 2013, but also for the world of golf.

Walking up the 18th at East Lake, in his iconic ‘Sunday red’, a stampede of raucous golf fans were going berserk at what they were witnessing.

There were rows, and rows, and rows of fans – quite rightly too – all eager to get the slightest glimpse of Woods’ astonishing feat.

In reality, it had been coming.

He began 2018 with a trio of top-12 finishes including a tie-for-second at the Valspar Championship. He was then T6th at The 147th Open Championship after leading late Sunday afternoon, and runner-up to the superb Brooks Koepka at Bellerive in the USPGA Championship.

He only missed the cut twice in 19 tournaments, one of which was in the US Open at the controversial Shinnecock Hills – it wasn’t to everybody’s liking.

He made a top-20 finish in just over 50 percent of his events – all just 13 months after he was allowed to start chipping and putting again, following his spinal fusion surgery.

It breeds further cause for increased optimism that Woods can go one step further and win his first major since the 2008 US Open.

One factor in his favor is that he has played and won on 3 of the 4 major venues on the calendar this year.

His first ever major victory came at Augusta National in 1997 at the age of 21, breaking multiple records. Not only becoming the youngest ever winner of the Masters (at the time) but also breaking the records for winning margin (12 strokes) and winning score (18-under-par).

Woods also went on to win the Masters back-to-back in 2001 and 2002 before beating Chris DiMarco in a sudden death play-off in 2005 to record a 4th green jacket.

Bethpage Black is the host of this year’s USPGA Championship, where it will host a Major for the 3rd time.

It is another venue the 43-year-old has won at too. In the 2002 US Open, a particularly tough scoring tournament, Woods finished as the only player with a score under par to win. He was then T6th at the 2009 US Open, 4 back of Lucas Glover.