Tiger Woods explains the many ways he disrupted golf in his time (Imagn)

Tiger Woods dominated golf in a way so few have. He’s an 82-time winner on the PGA Tour and he has 15 major victories. He leads all golfers in the former stat, and is the second all-time in the latter. He is still an active golfer, but he makes appearances rather infrequently thanks to his health.

Without Woods, golf today probably would have looked a little different. The golfer himself acknowledged that he disrupted the sport a little bit during his heyday, saying (12:13):

“I was bringing something different to the sport just because of my ethnicity. I was different than most of the sport already. How I played was different. We were just making a switch from persimmon to metal [clubs] at that time. I was outdriving a lot of people… Certain players were looking at certain spots. That didn’t exist to me. I took it right over the top.”

A number of his celebrations have also become iconic over the years, including his pumped fist after huge shots. Now, golfers are a lot more prone to releasing their emotions if they do something special or great, like Bryson DeChambeau’s winning putt at the 2024 US Open.

In Woods’ day, it was more frowned upon:

“If you choose to react to it, to let that get to you, that’s on you. I’m living in the moment. I’m controlling me at that particular time, and the fans, they’re engaged to what they’re seeing at that moment. Their excitement level dictates what comes out of me a lot of times.”

In more ways than one, Woods was a trailblazer for the sport of golf.

Tiger Woods tempers expectations for 2025 season

Tiger Woods said he wanted to play once every month in 2024. He couldn’t quite keep to that, as he withdrew from the Genesis Invitational, finished last at the Masters, and missed the cut on the other three majors without any other appearances until the PNC Championship.

In 2025, he wants to play more, but he knows the challenge he faces. Via CBS Sports, he said:

“I’ve had a lot of procedures over the course of time. I’m not going to feel what I used to feel. The recovery is going to be the hardest part. I can do it for a day here and there, but over the course of rounds, weeks, months, it gets harder.”

Tiger Woods’ form got progressively worse in 2024 from start to finish, and he ended up needing a back surgery for a microdecompression of his spine. He took some time off before playing the PNC with his son Charlie Woods, but he still envisions some difficulty playing often next year.