For Tiger’s 2000 campaign to rank as the unequivocal greatest of all time, it had serious leapfrogging to do, over best seasons by Jones, Hogan, Nicklaus. Here are the epics that Woods surpassed, including a ’24 campaign that echoed the Big Cat at his peak.
1. Tiger Woods — 2000
Nine wins, including three majors
Woods didn’t just win a bunch in 2000, he won by a bunch — the U.S. Open by 15, the Open Championship by eight, the Memorial by five — then polished things off the next spring, winning the ’01 Masters Tournament to complete the Tiger Slam.
2. Byron Nelson—1945
18 wins, including one major
In this astonishing year, Nelson set a few records never to be broken, not only winning a preposterous 18 times but taking 11 tournaments in a row. From early March to early August of ’45, not a single player beat him.
3. Bobby Jones—1930
Four wins, including the Calendar Grand Slam
It might be the most famous season of golf ever, with Jones winning every major (which then included the U.S. and British Ams) and earning himself a second ticker-tape parade in NYC.
4. Ben Hogan—1953
Five wins, including three majors
You can only win the tournaments you play, and Hogan won nearly all of them in ’53 — five in six tries. The majors? Played three, won three.
5. Tiger Woods—2006
Eight wins, including two majors
Woods’ second-best season came mostly in the aftermath of his father Earl’s death. After missing the cut at the U.S. Open, he won all six events he played the rest of the year, including an Open Championship and PGA Championship.
6. Arnold Palmer—1962
Eight wins, including two majors
The King’s last stand before the Bear ran with the baton, Palmer’s ’62 season saw him win classic Tour events (Palm Springs, Phoenix, Colonial), the Masters in an 18-hole playoff and, his tour de force, a six-shot win in the Open at Troon.
7. Ben Hogan—1948
Ten wins, including two majors
Two weeks after withdrawing from the ’48 Texas Open, Hogan finished top 10 in the next 19 events, winning nine times. He claimed his first U.S. Open that summer, a two-shot win at Riviera that helped define the renowned L.A. track as “Hogan’s Alley.”
8. Jack Nicklaus—1972
Seven wins, including two majors
It’s a testament to Nicklaus, golf’s greatest and most dominant champion, that his best season doesn’t crack our top seven — in part because he had so many like it in which he took the first two majors of the year… and just kept rolling.
9. Arnold Palmer—1960
Eight wins, including two majors
Likely Palmer’s most unforgettable season, stealing the Masters from Ken Venturi, then stating his intentions before the final round of the U.S. Open — shoot 65 for a final score of 280 — and doing it, beating Ben Hogan in the process.
10. Scottie Scheffler—2024
Seven wins, including one major, and Olympic Gold
Scheffler’s 2024 redefined “greatest season” for the post-Tiger generation. It included a second green jacket, gold in Paris, the silver FedEx Cup and even more green — a mind-boggling $50-plus million in on-course earnings.
