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As the world welcomed a new millennium — and remained far removed from the stone age as the Y2K scare vanished when computers correctly shifted from 1999 to 2000 — Tiger Woods was at the zenith of his powers.
With his retooled swing fully on point, Woods went on a 12-month heater that left authors scrambling to revise the record books and his fellow pros struggling to keep pace with his dust.
In 20 starts, he finished first or second 13 times. His nine wins were the most in a single year since Sam Snead won 11 times 50 years earlier. The $9.2 million in earnings broke his single-season record set the previous season by $2.6 million.
He destroyed picturesque Pebble Beach and bludgeoned his colleagues to win the U.S. Open by a record 15 shots. He became the youngest, at 24, to complete the career Grand Slam when he won the Claret Jug at St. Andrews by eight. He finally put away Bob May in a playoff to win the PGA Championship a second consecutive year. He won Jack Nicklaus’ and Arnold Palmer’s tournaments. And he teamed with David Duval to close his year out with a win in the World Cup.
2000 Masters: Final leaderboard
But in his best year of so many, the green jacket eluded Woods despite rolling down Magnolia Lane with three wins and three runner-up finishes in seven PGA Tour starts under his belt. The field or Woods? Some bettors took Woods.
But a first-round 75 included a double-bogey 6 at No. 10 and a triple-bogey 6 at the 12th. A second-round 72 left him at 3 over and nine shots behind the pace-setting Duval. Tiger stirred up some hope with a 68 in the third round – he was the only player to break 70 that day – and he trailed Vijay Singh by six shots with 54 holes to play.
“At least I gave myself a chance after Thursday,” Woods said.
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But as he arrived at the first tee for Masters Sunday, something seemed amiss. Instead of wearing his Sunday red shirt, he was sporting some weird blend of horizontal black-and-white stripes splashed with purple tones. What was that?
After making the turn in 33 strokes — and you know what can happen on the back nine on Sunday among the Georgia pines — Woods couldn’t sustain his charge and signed for a 69. That left him at 4-under 284 and in fifth place, six shots behind Singh, who had never finished better than a tie for 17th in six starts at Augusta. In winning his second major, Singh beat Ernie Els by three.
“For some reason, the golfing gods weren’t looking down on me this week,” Woods said.
This is the sixth story in a series looking at each of Tiger Woods’ appearances at the Masters.
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