Tiger Woods Won 3 U.S. Open Titles, but Never Even Got a Chance to Get Into the Highly Exclusive Club Matt Fitzpatrick Just Joined
Tiger Woods has done a lot of things in the game of golf. He’s a 15-time major champion, an 82-time PGA Tour winner, one of just six players to win the career Grand Slam, a two-time FedEx Cup champion, the game’s all-time leading money winner, and holds several scoring records.
But for all of Woods’ accomplishments and all the exclusive clubs of which he’s a member (he’s the only member in some), he’s not in the one Matt Fitzpatrick joined by winning the U.S. Open on Sunday. And, for that matter, he never will be.
Now, it’s not as if Tiger had the chance to get into this club and couldn’t do it. It’s simply that he never even got a chance.
Tiger Woods never had the chance to win a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open on the same course
If you watched more than 10 seconds of the final round of the 2022 U.S. Open, you’re likely aware that Matt Fitzpatrick won the 2013 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. And, of course, he won the 2022 U.S. Open on Sunday at the same venue, a dramatic one-shot win over Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler.
In claiming his first major championship and first professional win in the United States, Fitzpatrick became just the second male golfer to win the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open on the same course. Jack Nicklaus was the first to do so, winning both at Pebble Beach.
Juli Inkster is the only female golfer to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open on the same course, accomplishing the historic feat at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Kansas.
As for Tiger Woods, he simply never had the chance to join this highly exclusive club because he never played a U.S. Open at any of the three courses where he won his three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles in the mid-90s.
Woods won his first U.S. Amateur in 1994 at TPC Sawgrass. As that’s the home of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, The Players Championship, that would never be an option. But at least Tiger won The Players twice, so that’s something.
He won his second in 1995 at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, which hosted the very first U.S. Open in 1895. But that was the only one. Tiger won his third U.S. Amateur at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Oregon, which has twice hosted the U.S. Women’s Open but never the men’s version.
At least Tiger can say he’s one of 13 overall players to win a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open, right? And he stands alone as the only player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur, the U.S. Amateur, and the U.S. Open, winning each three times.
Stats courtesy of USOpen.com
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