Tiger Woods ties Sam Snead record with 82nd PGA Tour win in Japan

October 28, 2019

Tiger Woods has won for the 82nd time on the PGA Tour, equalling the record held by Sam Snead.

It took a day longer than usual but Tiger Woods has chalked up PGA Tour win number 82 thanks to a three-stroke victory at the ZOZO Championship in Japan.

A stack of golfers were required to come back on Monday to complete their final rounds after torrential rain postponed all play on Friday. Since then tournament organisers of the ZOZO Championship were playing catch up with all groups still in the threesomes they began with on Saturday morning.

Woods stumbled ever so slightly making bogey at his first hole back out on Monday but rolled in birdie number 27 for the week at the final hole, the best in the field, to beat home-town hero Hideki Matsuyama by three strokes.

Woods wasn’t really considered a threat before the ZOZO Championship began.

Having not played a tournament since the BMW Championship where he finished T37 after withdrawing the week before, Tiger had knee surgery two months ago and looked scratchy at best during the Challenge SKINS event played earlier in the week.

And yet Woods looked unbeatable for most of the week looking especially at home on the greens.

The victory means Woods has now equalled Sam Snead’s record for most number of wins on the PGA Tour, something Woods has repeatedly said was a goal across his career.

Steve DiMeglio at Golfweek reported on just why another Tiger Woods victory was considered unlikely:

In his latest resurrection, Woods won the inaugural, storm-delayed Zozo Championship at Accordia Narashino Country Club 11 weeks after last playing and two months after having surgery for the fifth time on his troublesome left knee.

No one saw this coming, but then, we should know by now never to doubt the guy. Even after his chances seemed to vanish with three bogeys to start the tournament, Woods rose like a phoenix in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Woods is captain of the US Presidents Cup team to take on the Internationals in Melbourne in December and having yet to earn an automatic playing spot in the team, reporters were quick to ask if this means Woods will be packing the clubs when he flies out to Australia.