Tiger Woods has the joint most wins in the history of the PGA Tour.

Woods is also second on the list of most major champion wins, and he would arguably have the most had he avoided injury throughout his entire career.

Back in 1996, the now 49-year-old completely changed the face of professional golf and the PGA Tour when he burst onto the scene.

His raw power and athleticism was like nothing ever seen before at the elite level of professional golf.

Jack Nicklaus won more majors than Woods, but the Stanford University graduate arguably had more of a transcendent impact on the game.

Woods suggested back in 2016 that he was easily as good as Nicklaus in his prime, and that’s certainly a fair argument to make.

One thing that isn’t up for debate is that the 82-time PGA Tour winner is the reason why golf is as popular as it is today.

Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Woods currently holds numerous PGA Tour records including his incredible eight wins at Torrey Pines, including his 2008 US Open triumph.

However, he experienced plenty of controversial incidents with some of his fellow PGA Tour players throughout his time in the game as well.

Three golfers who Tiger Woods very publicly fell out with on the PGA Tour

Woods has been involved in some very public falling outs with some of his competitors throughout the years.

Sergio Garcia is perhaps the player who is most famous for never seeing eye-to-eye with Tiger.

The bad blood started way back in 2002 at The US Open at Bethpage black, when Garcia complained that play would have been paused for the day due to the horrendous weather, had Woods been out there playing.

Then, after playing together in the third round of THE PLAYERS Championship in 2013, Garcia made it clear he was very pleased that he wouldn’t be playing with Woods during the final round.

He said: “I’m not going to lie, he’s not my favourite guy to play with. He’s not the nicest guy on tour.

“It’s good for both of us. We don’t enjoy each other’s company. You don’t have to be a rocket engineer to figure that out.“

Those comments from Garcia came about after Woods pulled a club from his bag while the Spaniard was preparing to hit his second shot on the second hole.

Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Garcia took umbrage to what he perceived to be unsportsmanlike behaviour from Woods.

The two golfers never publicly put their problems with one another to bed, and they are definitely not close friends today.

Why Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods didn’t play a practice round together for 20 years

In 1998, Phil Mickelson won a $500 bet against Woods during a practice round ahead of the Nissan Open at Valencia Country Club.

It was alleged that Woods didn’t take lightly to the so-called ‘smack-talk’ that ensued from Mickelson.

The pair didn’t play a practice round together until the 2018 Masters after that incident in 1998.

Surprisingly, the duo were paired together by U.S. team captain Hal Sutton at the 2004 Ryder Cup.

The tension between the duo was clear to see as they lost to Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood during the foursomes and four-ball matches on Friday.

And as recently as 2022, Woods publicly criticised Mickelson for ‘polarising’ professional golf, after ‘lefty’ joined LIV Golf from the PGA Tour (BBC).

24 March 2001: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson wait to hit at TPC at Sawgrass during the third round of play at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Harry How/ALLSPORT
However, it is widely accepted that both players have a mutual respect for each other, albeit begrudgingly.

Vijay Singh is another top player who was never overly friendly with Woods.

During the Presidents Cup in 2000, Paul Tesori – Singh’s caddie during the competition between the USA and the Internationals – wore a hat that read ‘Tiger Who?’ on the back.

Woods was not amused one little bit by what he perceived to be a real lack of respect from Tesori and Singh.

During the early-2000s, Singh was a genuine problem for Woods, and he held the world number one spot for 32 weeks in total from 2004-2005.

The Fijian never backed down from Woods, but it was a shame that he and his caddie didn’t show a little more respect to the greatest to ever play the game back in 2000.

Woods gets on just fine with Singh and Mickelson now, but the same can’t be said for Garcia.

It’s clear that the American and the Spaniard will simply never see eye-to-eye.