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Rory McIlroy was watching every shot from Northern Ireland.
Jason Day was waking up at 3 a.m. to catch every round in Australia.
Pat Perez was peeking in on the action from Arizona.
Millions of others around the world were sitting in awe, as well.
On TV sets before them was Tiger Woods pulverizing the revered, opulent Augusta National Golf Club’s grounds and demoralizing, as we would come to learn, his peers en route to a ground-shattering romp in the 1997 Masters.
On the silver anniversary of the historic triumph, those who witnessed Woods’ momentous domination of the golf course and his sport continues to resonate.
Twenty-five years ago, Woods was an unrelenting Goliath who crushed all the outmatched Davids. Over 72 holes at Augusta National, where no black man was allowed to join the club until 1990 and all the caddies were black until 1982, Woods changed the landscape, style and future of the game nearly 50 years to the day after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball.
Woods forced a significant rewrite of the record books; led golfers worldwide into the weight room; changed the perception of the pasty, stale game; powered the Neilson ratings to new heights; forced Madison Avenue to turn a discerning eye toward golf; altered the fashion of a sport; and ignited a generation of hopefuls who wanted to be like Tiger.
All in 270 magnificent strokes.
“He’s Michael Jordan in long pants,” Paul Azinger said that day as Woods wrapped up rounds of 70-66-65-69 to finish at a record 18 under; the field average that year was 74.31. Woods, who was 21 when he slipped on the green jacket and remains the youngest to win the Masters, won by a preposterous 12 strokes, a record that still stands and marks the worst annihilation in a major championship since Old Tom Morris won the British Open by 13 when Abraham Lincoln was president of the Unites States.
“I beat all of us mortals,” said Tom Kite, who finished second.
And no less an authority than Jack Nicklaus put it this way after watching the first Black man win the green jacket in the 61st edition of the Masters.
“He’s more dominant over the guys he’s playing against than I ever was over the ones I played against,” Nicklaus said after he saw a 6-foot-2, 155-pounder with a 30-inch waist break his 17-under Masters record of 271 that stood for 32 years.
And to think, Woods began his first major as a pro alongside defending champion Nick Faldo looking more like a deer caught in the headlights than a tiger hunting prey. He bogeyed holes 1, 4, 8 and 9 on the outward nine in the first round, his 4-over 40 two shots worse than any first nine played by a Masters winner.
But the mixed-race kid with a middle-class background who grew up on a municipal course in the sprawl of Los Angeles resoundingly rebounded with a back-nine 30 to sign for a 70 and stand three shots out of the lead.
“The way he fought, hung in there after a terrible start with expectations on him to perform and to win and he opens up with a 40 on the front nine, he didn’t back down,” three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who missed the cut that year, once said. “He didn’t wilt, he came out and brought his best golf on the back nine and shot 30 to open with a 70 and ultimately won by 12 shots or so.
“It was one of the most impressive performances ever in the game.”
Woods’s assault continued on Friday.
As CBS’ Jim Nantz announced when Woods eagled the 13th: “Let the record show, a little after 5:30 on this Friday, April the 11th, Tiger Woods takes the lead for the first time in the Masters.”
He never relinquished the advantage. Instead, he built on it.
The sea of change had arrived and his 66 was the finest round of the second day. His lead had grown to three over Colin Montgomerie, the top player in Europe and the No. 2 player in the world; Woods was ranked 13th.
“The pressure will be mounting on Mr. Woods,” Montgomerie said after his second round. “I have a lot more experience in major golf than he has. Hopefully, I can prove that through the weekend.”
Oops. Game over.
Woods tripled his lead from three to nine with a bogey-free 65 while Montgomerie finished with a 74. The last round was basically a coronation parade, which ended with a bear hug with his father, Earl, who was six weeks removed from heart-bypass surgery. Also on hand was Lee Elder, who in 1975 became the first Black golfer to play in the Masters.
“When he won the Masters by 12, that’s when I knew he was getting ready to take over the frickin’ world,” said Perez, who defeated Woods by eight shots to win the 1993 Junior World Championships. “It was unreal to watch, and then I watched it for another 20, 25 years.”
Woods set off Augusta National’s alarm bells with his shocking power. He averaged 323 yards off the tee on the measured holes – 25 yards longer than the next player. The longest iron he hit into a par-4 the entire week was 7-iron. He twice hit wedge into the green on the 500-yard, par-5 15th – for his second shot. He hit 9-iron into the green on the 555-yard, downhill par-5 second hole – for his second shot. He hit sand wedge into the green on uphill, 405-yard, par-4 18th – for his second shot.
Thus began the club’s alterations to the course – better known as Tiger-proofing. In his first Masters, the course was 6,925 yards from the first tee through the 18th green. This year it will play 7,510 yards.
Woods also didn’t have a single three-putt over 72 holes.
“I had a poster of Tiger in my bedroom,” McIlroy said. “I had a picture of Tiger winning the ’97 Masters and everything that went along with it – the 270 strokes, 40-30 the first day, all the records. I can even tell you who finished second that day. Tom Kite.
“The win made me want to get a Scotty Cameron putter. And Nike golf balls and all that sort of stuff. I wanted to wear a red shirt the last day of a tournament. I got a tiger headcover. He made me practice more. He made me dream.”
The same was true for Day.
“I wanted to go out and play golf every day and do everything I could to play golf for a living after I watched what Tiger did,” he said. “He really got me into the game with the 1997 Masters. He made me wake up and hit golf balls, made me work harder, made he want it more.”
Here is what Woods did to others and what he did for the sport.
Paul Azinger
“(CBS sportscaster) Jim Nantz summed it up on the last green, ‘It was a win for the ages.’ And the ages were the past and the future. And the future has been nothing but bright since Tiger showed up. The money’s quadrupled, or maybe more. And the interest in the sport probably is five to 10 times greater than it was. Nobody has ever attracted more non-golfers to a sport really than him.
“I had a guy tell me the other day that his mom only watched golf when she was alive because of Tiger. She never watched golf until 1997. And there are thousands and thousands of people like that. And so his impact was monumental.
“He pushed players to get into the gym. He had a significant influence on players feeling the need to work out to keep up because he was out-preparing them and his fitness gave him an edge. And he definitely pushed the players to be better in every aspect of their game.
“He looked like a middle linebacker and he wore tight shirts and his reactions were great in a sport that’s so subdued. He was a showman. I would have to say that there will never ever be anything like it again because Tiger just had it all. He didn’t have a weakness. He’s the only player I ever hit balls next to where, after watching and hearing his shots, I scooped up my balls and moved away because he was causing me to lose confidence.”
Rory McIlroy
“He’s been massively important to the game and sport. He’s meant everything. Just start with the prize money, which went way up because of his popularity when he was in his prime and it kept going up. We are still benefitting 20, 25 years later because of Tiger. Every time you see Tiger we should thank him for the life we live because he made the game popular for the masses, made the game cool, brought in more minorities into a sport that is still predominately white. He broke barriers to at least give hope to minorities that golf is a game for you.
“He’s a guy you can try to emulate, associate with and identify with, and that’s really important. There really aren’t enough accolades for Tiger.”
Brandt Snedeker
“I remember watching him on ESPN and win all those U.S. Amateurs. Seeing how different he was. Just unbelievable talent and being able to do what he did. I remember seeing him burst on the scene in 1996 when he won Vegas and Disney that year. He came out dominating. It was just a different ballgame.
“What he’s done for the Tour is undeniable. The Tour wouldn’t be in the position it’s in without him. He’s been an unbelievable icon of sport, and to have him in golf has been extremely important for the sport’s growth. He pushed everybody out here. He made you reevaluate what you were doing, to make sure you were working as hard as you could. He was doing unbelievable stuff out on the Tour, his physical tools were undeniable, and his work ethic was second to none.”
Pat Perez
“We had a boring sport. And he took it and brought in the entire world and now everybody wanted to be involved in the game or be around him. I don’t think in my life there’s going to be another moment like the 1997 Masters where somebody can take over the game of golf the way that he did. I don’t think anybody would be close enough to do what he did.
“He has influenced everybody that’s ever played in the last 25 years. Anybody in the last 25 years tried to be him or tried to do something he did. And he made the best players in the world work harder and try to get better.”
Pat Perez, Part II
“We had lovely shirts and tan slacks and ugly shoes and visors back then. And Tiger wore Nike. It was so brilliant by Nike to get him. Nike was basketball with Michael Jordan and baseball with Bo Jackson. And now Nike was golf with Tiger. The clothes started to look cool because he was wearing awesome Nike shirts and then he had his own shoes, and it was a cool shoe. Everybody wanted Nike this or Nike that because of Tiger. And MJ, too. And Bo.”
Max Homa
“I’m serious about this: I don’t know if I would be playing golf if it wasn’t for Tiger and how cool he made the game back when I was growing up. The whole landscape of the sport changed because of him. More athletic sport, much bigger sport. He still is the driving force of the game. For me personally, I know a lot of the guys around my age, he was like the reason we played. It was cool to say you played golf because Tiger Woods was playing golf.”
Graeme McDowell
“I was 16 when he won the 1997 Masters. It was at the turning point in my career. I was really just starting to find my competitive feet, you know, and really starting to believe that I could be a good college player and potentially a tour player as well. And so watching him dominate the sport the way did in the late 90s, that was inspiring to me. He was certainly one of my heroes and a guy that really made golf cool and athletic and sexy and just all the things you wanted to be a part of. He made me work my tail off at a very important time in my life.”
Viktor Hovland
“The earliest memories I kind of have that he had an impact on me was just kind of sitting in class and we had school computers, and I would just watch his highlights all day. That’s kind of how his influence has kind of affected me. I was probably 12. It was kind of just an overall motivator, just like seeing what he did on the course, and he had such charisma, the way he did it, the fist pumps, and obviously hitting the shots out of the rough and slicing around trees. It just motivated me just to play golf and have fun essentially.”
Billy Horschel
“He’s done everything for the game. Jack and Arnie did so much, but Tiger made golf cool. He made people think of a golfer as an athlete instead of a fat, chubby guy who drinks a lot and smokes a lot and likes to party. There are still guys who like to drink, who like to party, but there are more athletic guys now than there’s ever been in this game of golf. And he did so much more. There isn’t one aspect of the game that he hasn’t had his hand in in changing.”
Harris English
“I grew up playing all sports and watching him do what he was doing made me want to be the greatest athlete of all time. He brought that course in 1997 to its knees. There have some guys that have done that to courses but they didn’t have the touch. They didn’t have the shot making skills, the wedge game, the iron game, the putting. He meant a lot to me and he’s meant everything to this game. He kind of brought in fitness; he really took it to the next level. He made guys work hard. I was like a lot of kids back then who grew up watching Tiger and we all wanted to be like him and he pushed the best players in the game to a level that’s never been seen before. Think about that. He did all that. That’s something.”
Brooks Koepka
“The only reason I’m playing golf is because Tiger made the game cool. Seeing him do what he did when I was growing up, how he dominated the game, how he made it cool for anyone to play, how cool he was, that made me want that. Growing up you want to be the best and you want to play the best and I do that now because of Tiger.”
Bubba Watson
“There are so many memories of Tiger but 1997 stands out and I remember that huge red sweater he was wearing. And the fist pumps. And all those shots he hit that no one else could hit. I was just about to graduate high school. And I’m thinking, I want to be there one day. I want to do what he’s doing. I want to be a professional, I want to be a guy that has a chance to play the Masters. That’s what Tiger did to me. That was the first time I really started working hard on my game.
“I learned by watching him. I never hit a cut until I turned so called pro and a lot was because of Tiger. I’d go out to the range and try to emulate what he was doing. As far as golf, there are only a handful of people in our history, and in all the sports, for that matter, who make people be glued to the TV, and Tiger was one of those guys. Because he did and does things that people can’t do. He inspired so many others. How many people can say they did that?”
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