It’s hard to believe, but Tiger Woods has been playing the PGA Championship for a quarter-century.
As the PGA Championship is the lone major championship to feature only professional players, it’s the only one in which Woods didn’t play during his amateur days. Tiger turned pro 18 days following the conclusion of the 1996 edition, so the first for which he was eligible was in 1997 at Winged Foot, where he tied for 29th.
Including that first appearance, Woods has made 22 starts at the PGA Championship, including this most recent start at Southern Hills. And while it took him quite a while to miss a cut at the tournament he’s won four times, it’s happened a lot more in recent years.
Tiger Woods made the cut at the PGA Championship in each of his first 13 appearances
As mentioned, Tiger made his PGA Championship debut in 1997. Woods was tied for fifth after three rounds at Winged Foot but fell way down the leaderboard on Sunday.
He tied for 10th the following year at Sahalee Country Club. He then notched the first of four PGA Championship victories the next year at Medinah, holding off 19-year-old Sergio Garcia in a wild Sunday showdown between two young guns. Woods won again in dramatic fashion in 2000 and went back-to-back a second time with victories in 2006 and 2007.
Tiger wasn’t in contention every year, but he was around for the weekend in each of his first 13 appearances.
1997: T-29
1998: T-10
1999: Won
2000: Won
2001: T-29
2002: 2nd
2003: T-39
2004: T-24
2005: T-4
2006: Won
2007: Won
2009: 2nd
2010: T-28
Woods missed the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills after undergoing leg surgery following his incredible U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines.
Tiger has missed the cut at the PGA Championship four times in his last nine appearances
Tiger Woods plays his shot from the sixth tee during the first round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club on May 19, 2022 | Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Tiger missed the cut at the PGA Championship for the first time in his career in 2011. His start at the Atlanta Athletic Club was just his second after returning from a lengthy hiatus due to injuries, and it didn’t go well. He opened with a 7-over round of 77 and followed up with a 3-over 73 to finish at 10-over, six strokes off the cut line.
Since then, he’s missed the weekend three more times. In 2014 at Valhalla, Woods shot a pair of 74s on the par-71 track to miss the cut by five strokes. The following year at Whistling Straits, Tiger went home early yet again after firing rounds of 75 and 73 at the par-72 layout, two shots too many.
Woods’ major championship season in 2019 got off to a great start with a win at The Masters, but he missed the cut at the PGA Championship a month later, shooting 72-73 at par-70 Bethpage Black to miss the weekend by a single stroke.
Tiger’s only top-10 finish since 2009 was a solo second in 2018 at Bellerive Country Club, where he shot a final-round 64 to finish two strokes back of Brooks Koepka.
2011: Missed cut
2012: T-11
2013: T-40
2014: Missed cut
2015: Missed cut
2018: 2
2019: Missed cut
2020: T-37
2022: WD
Due to various injuries, Woods missed the PGA Championship in 2016, 2017, and 2021. As for his status at Southern Hills, he was in danger of missing yet another cut following a 4-over 74 in the first round. But he came back with a strong 1-under 69 in Round 2 to make the weekend. Tiger withdrew after the third round following a 9-over round of 79.
