The red shirt was in control once again Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club. As the shadows from the pine trees started to lengthen over the emerald setting below, Tiger Woods had a 1-shot lead with three holes to play. A fourth green jacket in nine years and his ninth major victory were well within reach.
It was 2005.
Woods and Chris DiMarco had turned the Masters into a two-man show. DiMarco led after 18 and 36 holes before Woods made seven consecutive birdies over two days in a third round delayed by rain to grab the lead after 54.
When they reached the lake-guarded 16th on Sunday, they were six shots clear of the field. And then Woods sailed his 8-iron left of the green.
His ball wound up near the collar of the rough, below the green, 50 feet from the hole. He had to take an adventurous route, pitching the ball 25 feet to the left of the hole and into a large ridge that dissects the green. He needed the ball to make a right turn and head downhill toward the hole. On a lightning-fast green. On a Sunday in a major.
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Making par was unlikely. Bogey was probable. Double bogey was in play.
Tiger pitched in for birdie.
Spinning halfway up the ridge, then making the right turn, the ball slowly started rolling toward the hole.
Then the Nike swoosh hung on the lip for 1.8 seconds before disappearing into the hole.
Instead of losing his lead, Woods walked to the 17th tee two shots clear of stunned DiMarco, who missed his birdie putt from 20 feet. Although Woods bogeyed the last two holes, he defeated DiMarco on the first hole of a playoff with a 15-foot birdie on the 18th.
“It was one of those magical moments in sports history — a time you remember where you were when it happened,” says Marc Patrick, vice president of global marketing for Nike, which cashed in as the shot was replayed over and over and later became a massive hit on YouTube.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the memorable shot. And the 10th anniversary of Tiger’s last win at Augusta National.
Here is what those at the 16th hole that day remember:
Tiger Woods
“Well, the thing is I hit a crappy 8-iron. I pulled it way left, and I thought it was in the water. So I was thankful it wasn’t in the water. I get over there, and I see the ball is up against the cut (of rough). I had to pick the club up steep, and I had to put spin on it, and I had to drive it into the hill.
“But back in those days when we had square grooves, I had that ability to play that shot. And I had already seen that shot, because either a year or two before Davis Love holed a very similar shot. But he was slightly further up the hill, and I saw him give it a little bit extra for it to break. So I kind of knew the line already.
“The shadows were coming down through the trees, and there was a glimmer of light. As I was reading it, I was thinking that if my ball hits that light and then starts to move to the right, I’ve got a good chance. So that’s all I was focused on, hitting that piece of light between the two tree shadows. And I pulled it off.
“I had never been down there before. And I haven’t been down there since.
“I kept telling myself, even though I messed up and I lost a chance to win it outright on the last two holes of regulation, I said, ‘It doesn’t matter, because I’ve still got a chance to win in the playoff.’ And I kept telling myself going back to the tee on 18 that I’ve still got a chance to win in a playoff. And I hit two sweet shots. That 8-iron I hit (to the green) was absolutely phenomenal, right on top of the flag, and then I holed the putt.”
Chris DiMarco, lost the 2005 Masters to Woods in a playoff
“I knew he hit a terrible shot to hit it where he was, but I was thinking to expect the unexpected. I literally prepared myself for every scenario as I walked up to the green.
“Tiger knocking it in was certainly not what I was expecting, but I had prepared for it. It was Tiger Woods, and it is expected that stuff like that happens to him.
“The one thing that I was lucky with in my career is that when I played well in majors I played well down the stretch. I haven’t really blown it down the stretch, at least when I had the chance to win. … If I were to have missed a 3-footer on the last hole with a chance to win, then that probably would have stayed with me a lot longer. I did a lot of really good things. I just didn’t win the tournament, and unfortunately you’re playing against probably one of the greatest players that I’ve ever seen up close.
“Jack Nicklaus is right there with Tiger. It’s neck and neck, but I’ve seen a lot of Tiger Woods up close and personal, and there’s never been anyone close to him.”
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Steve Williams, Woods’ caddie in 13 of 14 majors
“My immediate thought was that it was in the water. But I confirmed with the camera guy that the ball was dry. I didn’t know what was over there. Walking to the green, Tiger asked me, ‘What’s over there?’ I had to be honest and say in all my years of caddying at Augusta I had not been long left of the green.
“Once we got to the ball, I was very relieved to see Tiger had a shot and could get it on the green and most likely make a 4. Tiger had a long look at the shot and pointed out an old pitch mark on the green and asked me what I thought if he landed it in that area. Incredibly, when he pitched the shot it landed exactly on the pitch mark. When the ball started rolling towards the hole I thought, ‘You know what? We can escape with a 3 here.’ What happened next was incredible. I was so pumped I went to high-five Tiger and we missed.
“It’s hard to believe Tiger has not put on the green jacket in 10 years. His game is so suited to playing Augusta, and he has a great understanding of how to play the course. Not many would have believed he would go 10 years without a win at one of his favorite venues.”
Pat O’Brien, DiMarco’s longtime caddie
“I’m trying to forget that shot. That’s a Masters we should have won. We were 13-under par when they blew the horn on Saturday evening, and then we went out and had that bad Sunday morning.
“I certainly didn’t expect to walk off the 16th green two down. Where Tiger hit it wasn’t exactly the garden spot. I was standing right by Chris over by the bunker. Tiger hits it, and I’m watching the damn thing and thinking it looks pretty good. I still didn’t think it was going to go in. But obviously Tiger had it going those days. Over the years we played with Tiger a few times and you knew him and you would kind of expect him to pull off a miracle shot, but that was a little much.
“Then Tiger did us a favor by making two bogeys coming in. It sucked in the playoff. We felt like we should have won that thing, and it’s all of a sudden a playoff and it’s over and you’re done. It still stays with you.
“Tiger has got 13 other majors, you know, so it is what it is. That’s why Tiger is Tiger.
“Chris tried as hard as he could. He didn’t win that year, but he played by far his best golf. Chris lost in the final at the Match Play, lost to Tiger at the Masters, lost to Tiger by one again at Firestone, and he played great when the U.S. won The Presidents Cup. But this time of the year, I think back to Tiger’s shot and think what could have been and what should have been.”
Legendary CBS announcer Verne Lundquist was sitting in the tower behind the green. Lundquist also made his famous “Yes sir” call when Nicklaus made his birdie putt on the 17th hole Sunday when he won the 1986 Masters.
“I just thought it would take a miracle for Tiger to par the hole. I remember someone saying in my ear that Tiger would be lucky to get his shot to stop inside DiMarco’s ball. But Tiger looked at the shot a long time.
“When he hit it, I remember I didn’t think anything initially that it was a remarkable shot. And then you could see he hit the shot with perfect spin, and then you could see it had perfect speed going down the ridge. And it had a perfect line to the hole. And I said something about, ‘Well, here it comes,’ and then, ‘Oh my goodness,’ was, I think, my second line.
“And then when it sat at the cup for 1.8 seconds and fell in, I just reacted the way I think anybody sitting at home reacted, and that was to yell, ‘Oh, wow.’ And then, of course, the crowd went crazy and I said, ‘In your life have you ever seen anything like that?’
“I have been so blessed over 40 years of network television. I’ve just been so fortunate to be there for terrific occasions when something memorable broke out, so for me, that call and the fact that it was Tiger and the fact that he went on to win, places … it’s up there at the top. I say this with humility that I’ve had so many lucky moments like that that I’ve given up trying to rank them.”
This story originally ran on For The Win on April 8, 2015.
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