Tiger Woods' five Memorial Tournament wins

Image: Tiger Woods: A five-time winner of the event hosted by Jack Nicklaus

Tiger Woods will return to a happy hunting ground this week when he features in The Memorial Tournament, an event he has won a record five times.

Woods is making only his fourth competitive start of the year and his first since last month's Players Championship, when the former world No 1 narrowly avoided missing the cut and finished tied-69th.

The 14-time major champion has had well-documented chipping woes and swing issues in previous PGA Tour events this season, but hopes to have erradicated those from his game as he makes his first of five scheduled appearances over the next two months. 

Ahead of his return to Muirfield Village, we look back at Woods' Memorial victories...

1999 – First Memorial victory

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Image: Woods claimed his first title at Muirfield in 1999

Having lost his world No 1 spot to David Duval after going four tournaments without a top-10 finish, Woods bounced back by following up a win in Germany with a two-stroke victory at Muirfield a fortnight later.

Despite sitting three shots adrift of early pacesetter Lee Janzen heading in to the second round, Woods moved top of the leaderboard by firing a second round 66 and held on to the position throughout the weekend.

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Woods went to the final round two ahead of nearest challenger Vijay Singh and although he briefly saw his lead cut in half, made a chip-in par-save at the 14th on his way to a two-under 70 to complete victory.

2000 – History repeats itself

Image: Woods claimed a five-shot win a year later.

With three wins and nine top-five finishes from his first 10 starts in 2000, Tiger headed to Dublin looking to become the first Memorial winner to successfully defend his title and ended up doing so with ease.

After bogeying just one of his first 53 holes, Woods had built himself a formidable six-shot lead heading in to a rain-delayed final round, giving him a chance of breaking Tom Lehman’s tournament record.

Although Woods ended up falling one short of equalling Lehman’s 20-under from six years earlier, the then world No 1 could afford to drop two shots on the back nine and still cruise to a five-shot win over Ernie Els. 

2001 - Three-easy does it

Image: Tiger cruised to a third victory in as many years.

Woods already had four victories and a major Grand Slam already under his belt when he continued his dominant start to the year by storming to the biggest winning margin The Memorial has ever seen.

While Paul Azinger went in to Sunday with the clubhouse lead, his advantage was short-lived as Woods wasted no time in stamping his control and moving further clear of the rest of the field  

An eagle at the par-five second gave Woods the early advantage as Azinger could on bogey, with a six-under 66 seeing Tiger ease to a seven stroke win. 

2009 - Memorial magic

Image: A late comeback made Woods a four-time winner at Muirfield.

Four shots behind Matt Bettencourt and Mark Wilson heading in to the final round, Woods left it late to break out of a tight-leaderboard and become the first player to register four Memorial victories.

Pre-tournament speculation was mounting about how Woods perform in his first appearance since a disappointing end to the previous months Players Championship, but Tiger silenced any critics in style.

Woods had clawed his way back into a four-way tie for the lead after a much-improved fourth round, before producing two perfect birdies at the final two holes to end the week as champion. 

2012 - Record breaking (again)

Image: Woods made a late surge as playing partner Rickie Fowler carded a final round 84

Hopes appeared over for Woods when, two shots adrift of the lead, he sent his 16th tee-shot over the green and into rough. Tiger had other ideas.

A magical 50-foot chip-in birdie saw the world No 1 pull level alongside leader Rory Sabbatini, who went on to bogey the same hole, as Woods finished with a 10-foot birdie at the last to complete a two-shot win.

Victory not only broke Tiger’s own record of most Memorial wins, but also equalled Jack Nicklaus all-time total of 73 PGA Tour triumphs. Superb stuff.

How will Woods fare on his Ohio return? Watch The Memorial Tournament throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. 

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