Tiger Woods is second in the all-time PGA Tour victories with 78, and in all-time majors with 14. He also has the most WGC tournament wins with 17, but has only one win at The Players Championship.

Only one win at golf’s unofficial ‘fifth major’? It’s mind-baffling.

His lone win came in 2001. He shot 66 on Saturday to have the low score of the day and positioned himself within two strokes of then leader Jerry Kelley. But a poor work with his wedges had vexed Woods and he hit the practice green right away.

Practice paid off for him as he was able to play a nearly flawless rain-delayed final round, on which the key shot was his third on the 532-yard par-5 second hole. He perfectly executed a bump-and-run and buried the chip for a tide-turning eagle that tied him for the lead.

He would return on Monday to complete a flawless back nine and win by a shot over Vijay Singh. He achieved earning the only important title missing from his resume. When asked on the post round interview about his practice for the final round, he set the record straight: “I was practicing for Augusta”.

ON the Sunday post-tournament interview, he got us a clearer picture about how that practice helped him on the eagle chip on the second hole Sunday: “It's the same chip you would find there on number 11 if you bail out to the right and have to chip it across the green”. He said this referring to Augusta’s 11th hole.

Back then, The Players was played in late March, two weeks before The Masters. In 2007 it was moved to mid-May, as part of a restructuring of the PGA Tour. So The Players was his prep tournament for The Masters, the year’s true first major.

A year before, in 2000, he finished second to Hal Sutton. The tournament came down to the 72nd hole where Sutton exclaimed out the now famous “Be the right club” to his beautiful approach shot with a six-iron from 179 yards away that setup his eight-feet birdie-putt for the win.

He turned pro in 1996 and he played the tournament for the first time in 1997. Unfortunately for Woods, his history at The Players hasn’t been one of beauty.

Since 2002, he has recorded just one top-10 finish and has shot only seven sub-70 rounds in his past 35 attempts. It’s one of the least productive stops in his career. Like many players, the Pete Dye design just doesn’t suit him or he doesn’t like it.

But this year, Woods seems to be hitting all cylinders and has all systems go for The Players. He's already a three-time winner on the Tour this season and leads the circuit in strokes gained-putting, adjusted scoring, par breakers, par-3 scoring (T1) and par-5 scoring.

Take also into consideration that he has straightened his personal life thanks to his relationship with Lindsay Vonn. Now, all the planets are aligning for him to have a big performance at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course.

Don’t forget to watch the World’s No. 1, or you just might miss him earning PGA Tour No. 79.