5. Arnold Palmer, 1960
The greatest of Arnie's years included Top 10 finishes in all four majors. Two of those were victories - Palmer won the Masters and the U.S. Open. Like Nicklaus in 1972, The King's quest for a Grand Slam came up one stroke short at the British Open, where Kel Nagle edged Arnie. Palmer also finished seventh in the PGA Championship and posted eight victories total.
4. Tiger Woods, 2006
Woods played just 15 events in 2006, taking time off following the death of his father. When he returned at the U.S. Open, Woods missed the cut. But after that, it was all good: dominating wins at the British Open and PGA Championship, eight wins total including six in a row to end the season. Another way of looking at it: Woods won more than half the tournaments he played on the PGA Tour.
3. Ben Hogan, 1953
Hogan played only seven tournaments in 1953, but he still managed to lead the PGA Tour in victories by winning five of them. More remarkably, Hogan won all three majors he entered: the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open (The start of the PGA Championship overlapped with the finish of the British Open, so Hogan was unable to play the PGA). His Masters victory was by five strokes, his U.S. Open victory by six and his British Open victory by four. It's one of just two times in golf history that a golfer has won three professional majors in one year. The other one is ...
2. Tiger Woods, 2000
As we said at the beginning, we firmly believe it's harder to win on the PGA Tour now than it was 10 years ago; harder 10 years ago than it was 10 years before that; and so on. The fields are so much deeper, the number of truly great players in the world so much larger. Like Vijay Singh in 2004, Tiger Woods won nine times in 2000 which, by itself, would earn him consideration for this list. But Tiger, like Jack Nicklaus before him, plays a shorter schedule than most to concentrate on the biggest tournaments. The quality of Woods' victories in 2000 are much higher, overall, than those of Vijay Singh in 2004. And then there are the majors: Tiger won three of them this year, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship. His U.S. Open victory was by 15 strokes. For good measure, Woods won the British Open by eight strokes. He would go on to win the Masters in 2001, making him the only golfer in the sport's history to simultaneously hold the titles in all four professional majors.
