The 15-time major champion Tiger Woods is widely known for the Tiger Slam era of the early 2000s, but his amateur career also stands out. And his record remains unbroken!

On December 29, speaking on SiriusXM’s “Golf U,” Stanford men’s golf head coach and former teammate Conrad Ray reflected on Woods’ amateur career, 

“It’s hard to fathom, Kyle. I mean three and three, you know, having in hand six, six USGA championships clearly exhibits that he was, he’s the best and the best that will ever be.”

Tiger Woods won three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur titles from 1991 to 1993 and three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles from 1994 to 1996, giving him six USGA amateur championships in six straight years. 

Ray added, “I mean, it’s just incredible stuff, Kyle. You can’t make it up, and it just adds to the lore of Tiger and his ability at that level.”

Woods is one of two players to win the U.S. Junior Amateur more than once, alongside Jordan Spieth, and remains the only three-time winner of the event. He is also the only player to win three U.S. Amateur titles in a row. 

With three U.S. Amateur victories, Woods ranks third on the tournament’s all-time wins list, behind Bobby Jones with five and Jerome Travers with four.

Woods won his first U.S. Junior Amateur in 1991 at age 15, becoming the youngest winner at the time, followed by titles in 1992 and 1993 to become the only three-time champion. 

Woods later won the U.S. Amateur at TPC Sawgrass in 1994 as the youngest winner of the event. In the final, he came back from 6 down after 13 holes to win 2-up, the largest comeback in the event’s championship match history.

 “Don’t forget that final in all those USGA championships is a 36-hole final, and it is a war of attrition, and I just have just vivid memories of him in all three of those putting it on display, you know, the uppercut fist pump on 17 at Sawgrass, right?”

Woods retained the title at Newport Country Club in 1995 and secured a third straight victory at Pumpkin Ridge in 1996, completing six USGA amateur championships in six consecutive years.

After his final U.S. Amateur win in 1996, 20-year-old Tiger Woods signed a five-year endorsement agreement with Nike that was widely reported to be valued at $40 million. The deal was announced alongside Nike’s “Hello, World” campaign.

At the age of nine, Tiger Woods committed his father, Earl, saying, 

“I’m going to be professionally excellent,” and he went on to fulfill that goal in the years that followed.

What was Tiger Woods doing before his amateur career

Before his amateur career, Tiger Woods had already been appearing in national media segments during his early childhood.

Between the ages of two and five, Woods was featured on CBS News and The Mike Douglas Show, where he appeared in a putting segment with Bob Hope, and later appeared on That’s Incredible. 

At age fourteen, Woods won the Optimist International Junior World Championship for the fifth time, won the Insurance Youth Golf Classic (Big “I”) National as its youngest winner, and was named Southern California Player of the Year.

Long before Woods' professional career took off, Woods was seemingly already shaking up the golf ecosystem. What do you think, and what is your favorite Tiger Woods moment?

Written by

Aditi Singh

Edited by

Joyita Das