Simply the best

Tiger Woods’ feat of holding all four major golf championships at the same time, at the age of 25, is certainly the greatest achievement ever in golf and possibly in all sports.

In a sport with as many vagaries and in which luck plays such an enormous role his dominance defies belief and sets him on a pinnacle that transcends his own sport.

It is staggering to think that he has accomplished the record he has in just five years - having turned professional late in the 1996 season.

Ahead of that he had already become the first man to win three successive United States junior titles as well as three successive US Amateur championships and in becoming the first man ever to hold the four majors simultaneously it means he has already won six majors.

Before him only four players were able to win all four titles at one or other time in their careers.

This is how it stacks up:

Although Woods is still well short of Nicklaus’ amazing 18 achieved over a span of 18 years, it is noteworthy that he has set exceptional scoring records in three of the majors.

When he won his first, the Masters in 1997, it was with a record total and by a record 12 strokes and last year he also claimed both benchmarks in the US Open and the British Open - taking the former by an incredible 15 strokes at Pebble Beach and the latter by 8 strokes at St Andrews.

In 2001 he fashioned one of the greatest seasons in the history of golf; compiling a record that was the stuff of fantasy.

Highlights included three consecutive major championship titles and a career Grand Slam, nine PGA Tour victories and Tour single-season earnings record of $8,286,821. He became only the second player to win three majors in one season, joining Ben Hogan (1953); he was 53-under par in four majors, with the next best being Ernie Els on 18-under; his nine PGA Tour victories in a season were the most since Sam Snead won 11 in 1950 and his 20th career win at US Open made him youngest player in Tour history to win 20 times.

His dominance is so complete that in the euphoria of his triumph at Augusta the fact that he won his previous two tournaments - the Bay Hill Invitational and The Players Championship - was all but forgotten.

His winnings in 2001 have ballooned to $3,263,857 - a figure made more remarkable when you consider that he is $1,371,355 clear of second-placed Phil Mickelson - and his world ranking is so emphatic that he could probably stop playing for two years and still top the list.

To paraphrase a remark the great Bobby Jones once made about a young Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods is playing a game with which the rest are not familiar.