Tiger Woods spent some time this week shooting commercials and playing X-Box against Derek Jeter. Tough life, right? Seeing Woods made me realize how little we cared about pro golf when he left to have his knee reconstructed after winning the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. I checked out the PGA Tour stats page and came to a realization.
If Woods had been healthy and played an entire season, he might have put together the single greatest season in the history of sports. Not just golf, sports! Here no is evidence to support this argument.
Take, for example, the money list. With two events left to play, there will be some serious jockeying for that coveted 125th place (remember, the top 125 get a Tour Card for 2009). With his season shortened by knee surgery, it would be logical to think Tiger might be in danger. Know where he ranks?
Second!!
And he only played six times!!
If Vijay Singh (who played 23 times) had not caught fire and won first two FedEx Cup events, Woods might still be number one. Phil Mickelson sits in 3rd place. Lefty played 21 times and won twice, which brings us to another staggering stat.
Tiger Woods led the PGA Tour in wins in 2008. He won four of his six starts. Singh and Kenny Perry were second with three wins each. So, Tiger won 67% of his tournaments. He usually plays around 20 events a year. If he keeps up that winning percentage (and there's no reason to believe he wouldn't), Woods would have won 13.4 times! Since this is not the World Series and you can't have fractions of events, we'll round it up to 14, with probably at least two majors.
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Woods says he's had pain in his knee for a while now. He became the best golfer ever without operating at full capacity. If the surgery works and he reaches that left, It's downright scary to think what he's going to do.
