Article on Tiger's Consecutive Rounds Beating the Field Streak.

How do we measure greatness in sport?

No one would dispute, for example, the monumental achievement of Roger Bannister's sub-four-minute mile in 1954. Or Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Or Bob Beamon's propulsive, world record–shattering leap—29 feet 2½ inches—in winning the long jump gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. What Bannister, Larsen and Beamon accomplished were moments of greatness, and certainly, those moments endure. But a more convincing measure of athletic dominance is stringing together solid performances—steady good play that becomes great play. In a word: consistency. Or, a streak. These are the sports feats of our imagination, the standards of greatness that inspire our ultimate respect and awe.

As records go, golf's longest beat-the-field streak may not sound as sexy as the Yankee Clipper's historic achievement, but it's almost certainly as astonishing in its dimension—maybe more so. A beat-the-field streak is the number of consecutive rounds in which a player's score is better than the average score of the field for that round. For example, if a player shoots 69 when the field average is 70.8, the player has "beaten the field." A Tour player stringing together a long run of fine rounds would be a great measure of dominance and consistency.

Considering all players at all PGA Tour events since 1983, what would you conjecture is the record for the longest number of consecutive rounds beating the field? I put the question to dozens of golfers, fans, and Tour professionals, and their estimates ranged from 15 to about 35 rounds. Those rough guesses would be spot-on, were the sport limited to mere mortals. For example, Mark O'Meara has the second-longest beat-the-field streak, with an impressive 33 consecutive rounds in 1992. When I made O'Meara aware of his feat, he was surprised. "That's an interesting stat," he said, "and one I take pride in." Peter Jacobsen ranks fourth on the list, with 30 straight rounds beating the field. Again, impressive. Of all the people I asked about the streak, Jacobsen, by far, made the loftiest guess. "Tiger could have some crazy number," he said. "It could be in the 60s." Jacobsen is right in two respects: the record-setting number belongs to Tiger Woods, and it's crazy. Crazier than crazy.

From August 1999 through November 2000, Woods beat the field's average score in an astounding 89 consecutive PGA Tour tournament rounds. That is roughly three times the length of the streak posted by his nearest competitor. (Only official PGA Tour stroke-play events are counted for this streak, so the WGC-Match Play, for example, is not included.)

Tiger's 89-round streak is nearly three times longer than his closest challenger's.