For nearly eight months, Tiger Woods carried around the burden of expectation and pondered the budding history that awaited at the 2001 Masters.
While he’d grown accustomed to living in the spotlight, a laser beam of attention tracked Woods after defeating Bob May in a dramatic playoff at Valhalla to win the 2000 PGA Championship. In a year in which he won nine times, Tiger’s PGA triumph was his third consecutive major conquest, a nail-biter following a record 15-shot runaway in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and an 8-shot waltz in the British Open at St. Andrews.
A victory at Augusta National and Woods would become the only player ever to hold all four professional major titles at one time. Grand Slam? Tiger Slam? Woods didn’t want to argue the terminology; he just wanted to get on with it.
2001 Masters: Final leaderboard
“Do I feel the burden of it? No,” Woods said two days before the ceremonial tee shots. “To be honest with you, it is a special tournament, and we are here at the Masters, and that is very special. But, you know what, I guarantee you, come Sunday night, win or lose, life is going to go on. The sun will come up on Monday. People obviously are excited about what could transpire, and so am I. But it’s not life or death. I enjoy competing and it is fun. Take it as that.”
Woods headed into the Masters after victories in his previous two starts – at Arnie’s Bay Hill Invitational and the PGA Tour’s Players Championship.
Woods opened with a 70 and followed with a 66 to get within two of the lead through 36 holes. A 68 in the third round put him atop the famous white scoreboards by one and gave way to a final-day, final-group pairing with Phil Mickelson.
David Duval was three shots back and birdied seven of the first 10 holes to move into a tie with Woods, who followed a bogey at the first with birdies at two, seven and eight. Meanwhile, Mickelson had a share of the lead after four of the first five holes but bogeyed six and then remained one, two or three shots behind the rest of the way.
Woods regained the lead when he nearly holed out his approach on the 11th, fell back into a tie with a bogey on 12, then grabbed the solo lead again with a birdie on the 13th. Looking to regain the advantage, he shockingly three-putted for par on the 15th from just 18 feet. Duval, however, bogeyed 16 to fall one back, missed birdie chances from 10 and 6 feet on the final two holes, and wound up in second as Woods parred 16, 17 and birdied 18 from 18 feet to win by two at 16-under 272.
[jwplayer nFqOmIQ8-9JtFt04J]
Woods walked to the side of the 18th green and buried his head in his cap as Mickelson took the last stroke of the tournament.
“When I didn’t have any more shots to play, that’s when I started to realize what I had done; I won the tournament, and I started getting a little emotional, and I was trying to pull it together,” Woods said.
It was his sixth major title, his fifth in the last six played, his second green jacket. And he earned a clean sweep of all four majors in 294 days.
“I have a better appreciation for winning a major championship,” Woods said. “To win four of them in succession, it’s hard to believe. I don’t think I’ve ever accomplished anything this great.”
The achievement was so great the most powerful man in golf heard from the most powerful man in the world.
“We all apologize for the delay, ladies and gentlemen,” Billy Payne, then chairman of the media committee, said as he introduced Woods at the post-round interview with the media. “President (George H. W.) Bush just called Tiger and expressed his congratulations.”
A worthy call indeed.
This is the seventh story in a series looking at each of Tiger Woods’ appearances at the Masters.
WATCH EVERY MASTERS TOURNAMENT – SUBSCRIBE TO ESPN+
Watch the full collection of official Masters films, which has a one-hour recap of every Masters from 1960 all the way up to 2018.
We recommend interesting sports viewing and streaming opportunities. If you sign up to a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.
[lawrence-related id=778033488,778033108,778033103,778033094,778033071,778033067]