After Tiger Woods’s historic win at the 1997 Masters, there had been 10 major championships but no victories. So it was fair to say there was some concern at this point in Woods’s career about when major No. 2 would come. And then there was this upstart kid, 19-year-old Sergio Garcia, who made things tense for Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. But Woods eventually closed the event after a crucial putt to win his 2nd major, a feat that opened a door for the next 7 majors in 11 starts for Woods.

The next year, Woods won three consecutive majors, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship, to complete his career grand slam at the age of 24. So when he won the 2001 Masters, he had held all four professional major titles simultaneously, a feat only achieved by Woods, known as the ‘Tiger Slam.’ Since then, we have seen several ups, downs, setbacks, and comebacks throughout the years in his legendary golf career, which still continues.

But at the 25th anniversary of that historic ‘Tiger Slam,’ we have listed the 25 most important moments that crafted the 15x major champion’s golf career, both on and off the course.

1. The ‘Better Than Most’ putt (March 2001)

Though technically just weeks before the Slam happened, there is no better way to start this list than the momentum-shifter at the 2001 Players Championship. On the 17th hole at Sawgrass, Woods faced a long, winding, and almost impossible birdie putt that NBC’s Gary Koch famously described as “better than most” several times as it slowly traveled some 60 feet from the back of the green toward the front pin position.

After the ball dropped and Woods secured the victory, he told reporter Jimmy Roberts, “It means my slump is over,” silencing critics who had questioned his form heading into Augusta.

2. Completion of the Tiger Slam (April 2001)

Woods reached the pinnacle of golf at the 2001 Masters, holding off David Duval and Phil Mickelson to secure his fourth consecutive major title. Asked how he would have scripted the final round, Woods joked, “Ten [shots],” before admitting the thrill came from “challenging yourself to reach another level.” This victory made him the only player to ever hold all four professional majors at once. And it became the benchmark for golf greatness even 25 years later.

3. Won his second U.S. Open at Bethpage Black (June 2002)

At the 2002 U.S. Open, Woods once again proved his prowess by leading from start to finish at Bethpage Black. And he was four strokes ahead of Sergio Garcia going into the final round. Phil Mickelson made a brief run, but he eventually finished three strokes back of Woods. And with the victory, Woods became the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1972 to win both the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same year.

4. The first surgical setback (December 2002)

The physical toll of his high-torque swing was first visible when Woods underwent arthroscopic surgery to drain fluid from his left ACL and remove multiple cysts at the end of 2002. He was forced to skip the first five events of the 2003 season, the longest layoff of his career. The questions about his equipment and health started rising at that time. But Woods remained defiant, saying, “Quite frankly, questioning my equipment is foolish. I’m not going to play with anything that is going to hold me back.”

5. The Buick Invitational return(February 2003)

Returning from his first major knee procedure, Woods chose Torrey Pines to make his stand. He won the event by four shots. The win proved his ability to come back from injury, a narrative that would define the next two decades of the game, time and time.

6. The Hank Haney era begins (2004)

Seeking to protect his knee and find more consistency, Woods split with longtime coach Butch Harmon and moved to Hank Haney in 2004. The decision was met with intense public criticism during a year in which he failed to win a major. But Woods insisted on staying obsessed with improvement. It was also the year when Woods married Elin Nordegren in October.

7. The ‘Greatest Chip’ at Augusta (April 2005)

Just one year later, at the 2005 Masters, Woods produced a shot that defined a generation. A delicate chip from behind the 16th green that hung on the lip of the cup for a full second before dropping in. The dramatic birdie helped him defeat Chris DiMarco in a playoff for his fourth Green Jacket. The moment was so impressive that Verne Lundquist exclaimed on the CBS broadcast, “Oh, wow! In your life, have you seen anything like that?”

8. The Career Grand Slam twice over (July 2005)

Woods returned to the ‘Home of Golf’ at St. Andrews for the 2005 Open Championship and secured a five-shot victory over Colin Montgomerie that completed his second career Grand Slam. He became just the fifth player in history to win two Opens at St. Andrews, a feat Jeff Ritter described as “winning in the stage where Woods was living in rarefied air.” Woods notably did not hit into a single bunker for all four rounds.

9. The End of the 142 consecutive cut streak (May 2005)

From 1998 to 2005, Tiger Woods never missed a 36-hole cut on the PGA Tour.  He made 142 in a row in this span, breaking the record of 113 set by Byron Nelson, and  Jack Nicklaus’s longest cut streak was 105. Woods’s run finally ended at the Byron Nelson Championship when he bogeyed the final hole to miss the weekend by one shot. Currently, the #1 Scottie Scheffler is just halfway to Woods’ records with his 70th consecutive made cut on Tour. Scheffler hasn’t missed any cuts since the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

10. The loss of Earl Woods (May 2006)

The passing of his father and mentor, Earl Woods, in May 2006 was the biggest setback Woods had experienced since start playing golf. It changed his life. He missed the cut at the 2006 U.S. Open, his first as a professional in a major.  He was struggling with the grief of losing his most influential role model. This loss ended the first chapter of his career, as Woods had to find a new ‘burning desire’ to compete without his father’s constant presence.

11. Tears at Hoylake (July 2006)

The final round was tense. While once again Sergio Garcia faded while playing alongside Woods in the final pairing, Chris DiMarco made a charge and cut Woods’s lead to one shot on the back nine. But Woods birdied 14, 15, and 16 to win his first major since his father, Earl, passed away earlier in the year. Upon tapping in the final putt for victory, he collapsed into the arms of his caddie, Steve Williams, and cried for longer than perhaps all of his previous majors combined. But the victory will always be remembered for one more reason.

Woods leaned on his power game for many of his major wins, but not this one. Royal Liverpool was filled with penal, revetted bunkers and unpredictable winds that demanded precision. And Woods dialed perfectly while hitting just one driver all week.

12.  June 2007- Woods became a father

His wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Samantha, a day after Woods finished runner-up in the U.S. Open. Fatherhood brings out Woods’s lighter side as he said, “It’s just time management, and understanding where your priorities are, and our priorities are Sam. That’s the number one priority.

13. The inaugural FedEx Cup champion (September 2007)

Woods became the first-ever FedEx Cup champion in 2007, winning the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in back-to-back starts. He secured a then $10 million bonus, finishing over 12,000 points ahead of runner-up Steve Stricker. It was the largest margin in the history of the playoffs.

14. The one-legged major (June 2008)

At the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, Woods won his 14th major while playing with a ruptured ACL and two stress fractures in his left tibia. Despite being in visible agony, he forced a playoff against Rocco Mediate with a 72nd-hole birdie and later won in 19th holes. Doctors had advised him not to play. But Woods insisted on playing, what many call his ‘most impressive performance’, before he was sidelined for eight months after the win.

15. The car crash on 2009 Thanksgiving

Woods’ career and public image were forever altered on Thanksgiving night in 2009 when he crashed his SUV  into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his Windermere, Florida, home. The next few weeks, his personal life unravels with reports of multiple extramarital affairs. He loses major sponsorship endorsements and spends 45 days in a clinic. It was a low point that stripped away the aura of invincibility he had maintained since 1997.

16. The Masters return (April 2010)

It was one of the most-watched moments in sports history. Woods returned to competition at the 2010 Masters after a five-month absence. His divorce from Elin Nordegren was finalized this year. But despite the intense situation and personal losses, he finished in a tie for fourth place. 

17. The Players’ withdrawal (May 2011)

Physical fragility once again returned at the 2011 Players Championship. Woods was forced to withdraw after just nine holes due to a sprained MCL and a strained Achilles tendon. This injury forced another three-month absence, missing two majors. It highlighted the fragile nature of his knee and eventually led to another coaching change under Sean Foley.

18. Ending the drought at Bay Hill (March 2012)

After a 30-month winless drought, Woods finally returned to the winner’s circle at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The victory at Bay Hill was his 72nd on tour. He later won twice more that year, proving he could still compete at a high level despite his mounting injury.

19. Back Surgery #1 (March 2014)

In 2014, the focus of Woods’ medical history shifted from his knee to his back. He underwent his first microdiscectomy to treat a pinched nerve. The surgery forced him to miss the Masters for the first time in his professional career. Woods said the recovery was tedious, and it became so intense at times that it left him “unable to walk or lie down” without agony.

20. The ALIF Spinal Fusion (April 2017)

After three failed back surgeries, Woods underwent a fourth procedure: an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF) to fuse his L5 and S1 vertebrae. This was a ‘bailout procedure’ intended to save his quality of life, with many believing he would never play professional golf again. But Woods’ goal was clear: live without the pain he had been battling so long.

“When healed, I look forward to getting back to a normal life, playing with my kids, competing in professional golf and living without the pain I have been battling so long,” he said.

21. The Jupiter DUI (May 2017)

Only weeks after his fusion, Woods was arrested in Jupiter, Florida, for suspicion of DUI. The police found him asleep at the wheel of his car in the early morning with the engine running. Woods later said it was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medication. He agreed to pay a $250 fine and was later released.

22. The running of the fans (September 2018)

In September 2017, doctors cleared Woods to begin swinging a club again, although he admits it is possible that he may not play competitive golf again in his career. But he returned. And at the 2018 Tour Championship at East Lake, he provided one of the most iconic images in golf history, when a massive crowd swarmed the 18th fairway to follow Woods to his 80th victory. Woods said, the moment “gives me chills,” while Rory McIlroy compared the atmosphere to “Jack in ’80 at Baltusrol.”

The win proved that he had successfully ‘pieced together a golf swing’ after years of physical doubt.

23. The 15th major at Augusta (April 2019)

Completing the “greatest comeback story in sports,” Woods won the 2019 Masters at age 43. It was his first major in eleven years. He embraced his children, mirroring his own 1997 embrace with his father to complete a full circle moment and a sense of historical closure. Figures like Serena Williams were ‘literally in tears’, and Steph Curry called it the greatest comeback story in sports. Later that year, Woods secured his 82nd PGA Tour victory at the Zozo Championship in Japan, tying Sam Snead’s record.

24. Survival in Los Angeles (February 2021)

Tragedy struck again in 2021 when Woods was involved in a high-speed rollover crash in California. While on the way to a video shoot in Los Angeles, two days after the conclusion of his Genesis Invitational, Tiger Woods’s Genesis SUV(speeding between 84 and 87 mph on a 45 mph stretch of road) sailed off the road and hit a tree. It resulted in “multiple leg injuries” so severe that amputation was considered. He described the subsequent rehab as the ‘toughest of my career,’ having to relearn how to walk.

25. The institutional era and 2026 setback (Post 2021-2026)

Though Woods again returned to golf and somehow managed to make the weekend in the next two Masters, the following year, the California car crash was basically the beginning of the end. Woods transitioned into an administrative figure of the game, co-founding the TGL league and being appointed Chairman of the PGA Tour’s Future Competition Committee to build the game from scratch. And personally, he found stability in a relationship with Vanessa Trump, which began in early 2025.

However, just when his return to golf looks inevitable with the Masters 2026 return, the 25th anniversary of the Tiger Slam, has been shadowed by a new car crash and DUI arrest in March 2026 on Jupiter Island, Florida. And this time, according to him, his body ‘doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25.’