Not that anyone needs to make a case for Tiger Woods’ greatness and his dominance in the four major golf tournaments during the first decade of this century, but consider the following stat:

During the first decade of the 2000’s (the 2000-2009 PGA Tour seasons) Woods won or was within four shots of the winner at the end of the tournament in 23 of the 40 major events (British Open, Masters, PGA Championship, U.S .Open). Phil Mickelson was a distant second with 14.

Following are the nine golfers who either won or finished within four shots of the winner in the most majors during the decade of the 2000’s.

1. Tiger Woods, 23

2. Phil Mickelson, 14

3. Ernie Els, 9

4. Retief Goosen, 8

5. Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, 6

7. Stewart Cink, David Duval, Jim Furyk, 4