"Fifth Green Jacket" – When Tiger Woods prioritized Masters glory over a special PGA Tour record

For Tiger Woods, the Masters tournament has always held a special importance. In 2007, the former World No.1 was on a hot streak of seven wins on the PGA Tour. He won the 2007 Buick Invitational by two strokes over Charles Howell III.

In 2007, when asked to choose between extending his winning streak or winning another Masters, Woods said (via Herald Tribune):

"A fifth green jacket."

He further said:

"My whole goal is to get ready for Augusta and make sure my game is peaking toward that."

Tiger Woods started his winning streak at the 2006 Open Championship and his seventh win was at the 2007 Buick Invitational. He was only behind Byron Nelson, who had 11 consecutive career wins. Talking about it, he said:

"As far as how special seven is, you're in elite company. There's only one person ahead of you. He's one of the greatest legends in the history of the game. To be in company like with Mr. Nelson ... it's pretty special."

Tiger Woods couldn't continue with his winning streak after the tournament as he finished as a runner-up at the 2007 Masters. His fifth Major victory didn't come until 2019.

The 49-year-old is expected to compete in the 2025 Masters tournament as his name came up in the player invitees for Augusta National.

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A look at Tiger Woods' record at Masters tournament

Tiger Woods has competed in 26 Masters golf championships. In 26 starts, he had five wins, 12 top-5 finishes, 14 top-10 finishes and 18 top-25 finishes. He has only missed the cut once in 1996.

Woods' wins came in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2019. In 1997, Woods won by a huge margin of 12 strokes over Tom Kite. In 2001, he won by two strokes over David Duval and in 2002, he won by three strokes over Retief Goosen. His fourth Masters victory came in 2005 in playoffs.

His last victory came in 2019 where he won by one shot over Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Xander Schauffele.

Let's take a look at Tiger Woods' record at the Masters tournament since 1995.

• 1995: T41 (293, +5)
• 1996: Missed Cut
• 1997: 1st (270, -18)
• 1998: T8 (285, -3)
• 1999: T18 (289, +1)
• 2000: 5th (284, -4)
• 2001: 1st (272, -16)
• 2002: 1st (276, -12)
• 2003: T15 (290, +2)
• 2004: T22 (290, +2)
• 2005: 1st (276, -12)
• 2006: T3 (284, -4)
• 2007: T2 (291, +3)
• 2008: 2nd (283, -5)
• 2009: T6 (280, -8)
• 2010: T4 (277, -11)
• 2011: T4 (278, -10)
• 2012: T40 (293, +5)
• 2013: T4 (283, -5)
• 2015: T17 (283, -5)
• 2018: T32 (289, +1)
• 2019: 1st (275, -13)
• 2020: T38 (287, -1)
• 2022: 47th (301, +13)
• 2023: Withdraw (147, +3)
• 2024: T60 (304, +16)