If you’re big on stats, if numbers impress you, Tiger Woods has them all covered.
82 PGA Tour wins. That’s tied for first all-time with Sam Snead.
15 major titles. Only Jack Nicklaus has won more.
264 consecutive weeks as the #1 ranked golfer in the world from from August 1999 to September 2004.
281 consecutive weeks at #1 from June 2005 to October 2010 .
Here’s another number to throw at you.
50.
Tiger Woods turned 50 years old on December 30. That means he’s now eligible for the PGA Tour Champions. The Regions Tradition at Greystone is a major on the PGA Tour Champions. It’s set for April 29-May 3. There’s hope on the part of tournament officials that Woods will play in the Regions Tradition this spring. For that to happen, Woods has to be healthy.
“I think our biggest challenge will be Tiger’s back,” Gene Hallman, the Chairman and CEO of Eventive Sports, who runs the Regions Tradition, said on the day Tiger hit the big 5-0. “He had his seventh back procedure in October. And he’s just been cleared to chip and putt at this time. He could not even play in his own tournament last month in the Bahamas. So it’s still a process to get back. Tiger doesn’t even know what his schedule is, whether he’s gonna be in Augusta, much less Birmingham. So we’re patiently biding our time. We’re not trying to be overly aggressive. I’m sure every Champions Tour event is after Tiger. But this is a major championship on the Champions Tour. I think he would love Greystone. The five par-5’s and its length would play to him really well. And I think the reputation among the other players because they so often lean on the other players and their opinions on where to go. I think would be a resounding ‘Yes, you need to go to Birmingham.’ So we’ll see. I’m very hopeful if not this coming year but at some point we see Tiger Woods at Greystone.”
Of course from a tournament organizer’s standpoint, hope alone does not make for hosting a successful event. And hope alone won’t be enough to ensure hosting a tournament with Tiger Woods participating will run smoothly.
“We have an entire operational plan that’s in place called the Tiger Plan,” Hallman said. “And if he were to come, more bleachers, more buses, more concessions, more merchandise. Everything gets ramped up two to three levels, which is something we want to have happen because ultimately that would be great for the tournament and Children’s Hospital (Children’s of Alabama, the chief charity beneficiary) as well.”
Hallman said the crowds would be “fantastic.” One of the top draws of the tournament is the Celebrity Pro-Am on Wednesday of tournament week. As you can imagine, the pro-am group featuring Tiger Woods would attract a lot of interest from fans and also from golfers who want to be in that group.
“That’s one of those experiences that is priceless.” Hallman said. “It would be a special thing. We would pair him with Coach Saban or someone noteworthy like that. It would be the pairing of all time. We never got (Jack) Nicklaus to the tournament. So this is our next big objective to get Tiger to the tournament. When this tournament began 34 years ago (1992) Tiger was in high school. And never did I imagine there would be a day where we’d be going after Tiger on the Champions Tour.”
Another reason Woods would be drawn to the Regions Tradition is he has good memories about two previous appearances in the Birmingham area.
“He came to Birmingham and did a clinic with his foundation (in 2001) and raised a lot of money,” Hallman said. “His dad was with him. It was a great experience. It was at Highland Park. Thousands and thousands of people turned out for the clinic. I know he’s got favorable memories of that. And then he played at Shoal Creek in the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate (1994) and actually I met him at that point back when he was in college at Stanford. He won the tournament and Stanford won the team event. So he has very fond memories of this place. We hope we can play on that to gt him back here in Birmingham in 2026.”
