Matt Fitzpatrick just won his third U.S Open Championship, making him the first player to win three in a row since Tiger Woods back in 2002-04. That’s not all though; he also became the 12th male golfer ever and only the second after Jack Nicklaus to get into this highly exclusive club of golfers who have won 3 US Opens or more at some point during their careers even if they don’t happen on consecutive years like Matt’s did this year.
In the sport of golf, Tiger Woods has accomplished a lot. He is the game’s all-time greatest money winner, the winner of 82 PGA Tour victories, one of only six players to complete the career Grand Slam, a 15-time major champion, two-time FedEx Cup champion, and the holder of multiple scoring records.
Despite all of Woods’ achievements and membership in select clubs (he is the sole member in several of them), he is not a part of the club that Matt Fitzpatrick entered on Sunday by winning the U.S. Open. And he never will be, for that matter.
It’s not like Tiger had the opportunity to join this club and passed it up. He just never had a chance, to put it plainly.
The opportunity for Tiger Woods to win a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open on the same course was never presented.
After winning the 108th U.S. Open Championship at the Torrey Pines South Golf Course, Tiger Woods poses with the trophy. Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
You probably already know that Matt Fitzpatrick won the 2013 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, if you watched more than 10 seconds of the 2022 U.S. Open final round. And of course, he triumphed in the 2022 U.S. Open on Sunday at the same location, defeating Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler by a thrilling one-shot margin.
Fitzpatrick became only the second male golfer to win the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open on the same course by winning his first major tournament and first professional victory in the country. The first person to accomplish so was Jack Nicklaus, who triumphed in both at Pebble Beach.
At Kansas’ Prairie Dunes Country Club, Juli Inkster became the first female golfer to win both the U.S. Women’s Open and the U.S. Women’s Amateur on the same venue.
Tiger Woods never had the opportunity to play in a U.S. Open at any of the three venues where he won three straight U.S. Amateur championships in the mid-1990s, therefore he was unable to join this very elite club.
At TPC Sawgrass in 1994, Woods won his first U.S. Amateur title. That would never be an option since The Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s signature tournament, is held there. Tiger did succeed in winning The Players twice, so that’s something.
At Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, site of the inaugural U.S. Open in 1895, he won his second victory in 1995. The only one, however, was that. At Oregon’s Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, which twice held the U.S. Women’s Open but never the men’s event, Tiger won his third U.S. Amateur title.
Tiger can at least claim to be one of only 13 players overall to have won both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open. He also has the distinction of being the only golfer to have won the U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Open three times apiece.
Statistics provided by USOpen.com
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Ranking Tiger Woods’ U.S. Open victories