Tag: Tiger Woods Masters

Tiger Woods at the Masters (2004): More swing changes ahead of 10th career start

Tiger Woods was working through another swing change heading into the 2004 Masters, which marked his 10th start at Augusta National.

Tiger Woods was working through another swing change heading into the 2004 Masters, which marked his 10th – yes, 10th – start at Augusta National.

He had won the World Golf Championships Match Play that year and posted four other top-10s in seven starts before turning onto Magnolia Lane. But at each stop, he was questioned and questioned and questioned about his new swing.

“I feel like I’m playing well,” Woods said ahead of the tournament. “Things that I’ve been working on are starting to come together, which is great. It’s exciting.”

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But Woods signed for a dull 75 in the first round – he shot 40 on the front nine just as he did in 1997. Unlike in 1997, however, when he dramatically rebounded to rout the field, Woods was never a factor in 2004.

He flashed some good form during a second-round 69 but stumbled to another 75 in the third round and finished with a 71 to wind up at 2-over 290 in a tie for 22nd.

His final round was not without drama, however, as he vomited in a garbage can after playing the first hole.

2004 Masters: Final leaderboard

“I ate something that didn’t agree with me,” Woods said. “I felt kind of sick on the range and got progressively worse. On the first green, I had to lighten the load a little bit.”

Much of his data on the stat sheet left him feeling ill, too. While he tied for sixth in greens in regulation (72.2 percent), he needed 123 putts as he finished 11 shots back.

“No,” Woods said when asked if there was an issue with his swing. “I’m very close to putting it all together. I made actually nothing today. I just need to make a few more putts, get the ball a little closer to the hole, and it will be all good.

“I didn’t make any putts this week, at all. Any putt that I had within 10 feet for birdie, I didn’t make them, and you have to make those. Occasionally I had a couple of par putts, four or five feet, and I didn’t make those, either. You can’t go around here and not putt well and expect to win.

“I’m disappointed because I didn’t win. That’s obviously the ultimate goal. I felt like I hit the ball well enough to do it, but I just didn’t make any putts.”

As for putts, Phil Mickelson delivered one for the ages. Lefty canned an 18-footer on the 72nd hole to win his first green jacket and his first major. With one giant leap – OK, a vertically challenged leap – Mickelson put an end to his 0-for-42 futility in major championships.

While Mickelson put an end to his streak, Arnold Palmer capped off his remarkable streak. At age 74, the King, an owner of four green jackets, hiked up the 18th fairway for the final time in competition in what was his 50th consecutive Masters start.

This is the tenth story in a series looking at each of Tiger Woods’ appearances at the Masters. Catch up on the series here.

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.

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Tiger Woods at the Masters (2003): A first-ever Augusta three-peat?

In 2003, Tiger Woods was in line to become the first to win three consecutive green jackets. “I really would like to win this week,” he said.

Tiger Woods is the only player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in three consecutive years.

He’s the only player to bag a three-peat in the U.S. Amateur.

And in 2003, he was in line to become the only one to win three consecutive green jackets.

“I really would like to win this week,” Woods said ahead of the tournament.

“I’ve been able to do certain things in golf that no one’s ever done before. And if you’re ever in that position, you want to take advantage of it because it doesn’t happen all the time. I was in that position to win the Juniors, to win the Amateurs, and now hopefully I can win three straight Masters.”

2003 Masters: Final leaderboard

He headed to the Masters with three victories in five starts that year and was installed as the 7-5 favorite. Someone not named Woods, however, made history (we’ll get to him in a bit).

Woods opened with a 76 – his worst first-round score in his 22 Masters starts – and shot a second-round 73 to make the cut on the number and stood 11 shots behind the leader.

But Woods vaulted into contention with a bogey-free 66 in Saturday’s third round and went to sleep just four shots behind the leader.

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“Tomorrow you just play one shot at a time and see what happens,” Woods said after the third round. “I played well here and there and then finally today I got something going and I continued it for all 18 holes.

“We all know that anything can happen on that back nine. You just need to get yourself in position. I’m four back. That’s not inconceivable. That’s for sure.”

He got within three with a birdie on two but then his three-peat ran into trouble on the third hole named Flowering Peach. With a strong wind at his back, Woods pulled driver and had a go at the green 350 yards away. Instead he wound up in a batch of trees. He punched out left-handed but needed four more shots to finish off a disastrous double-bogey 6.

“That cost me a lot right there, a lot of mo,” Woods said.

He went on to bogey three of his next five holes and finished with a 75 – tied for his worst final-round in his history in the Masters.

“It was just one of those weeks where I couldn’t really get anything going for an extended period of time,” Woods said. “It’s disappointing. We try to put ourselves in a position to win and you’re not going to win every time. You look at the greatest champions of all time and their winning percentage in all sports, it’s not too good.”

But Woods did end his day on a historical note. He helped Mike Weir slip on the green jacket as he became the first Canadian and first left-handed player to win at Augusta National. Weir defeated Len Mattiace in a playoff.

This is the ninth story in a series looking at each of Tiger Woods’ appearances at the Masters. Catch up on the series here.

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.

Tiger Woods at the Masters (2002): Woods wins back-to-back green jackets

Tiger Woods returned to Augusta National in 2002 and became the third golfer to win back-to-back green jacks at the Masters.

Something was different heading into the 2002 Masters.

No, not with Tiger Woods — he was still the dominant force in the game. He’d won 25 times worldwide since the start of 1999, including five majors, and had four top-10s in seven starts in 2002 when he arrived in Augusta, Georgia.

That included another victory in Arnold Palmer’s annual invitational at Bay Hill.

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Instead, the altered nature of the tournament had everything to do with the iconic course. After Woods began turning Augusta National’s hallowed grounds into a pitch-and-putt in 1997 – hitting wedge to the par-5 15th, sand wedges to the longer par-4s, etc. – the green jackets called renowned architect Tom Fazio with one goal: put some teeth back into the course.

Fazio delivered, which meant new trees were planted, extra tee boxes ingrained and 285 extra yards of length added to nine holes, stretching the course to 7,270 yards. The modifications, naturally, became known as Tiger-proofing.

“This golf course has certainly changed on your approach mentally,” Woods said. “I think it’s more of a mental test now than it was when I first won here, because of the lengthening.”

2002 Masters: Final leaderboard

Well, 100 years after Bobby Jones was born, and in Arnold Palmer’s last Masters, the Tiger-proofing was no match for Tiger. With rounds of 70-69-66-71, Woods finished at 12-under 276 and three shots clear of Retief Goosen when the manual white scoreboards came to a standstill.

But it was far from easy as he joined Jack Nicklaus (1965-66) and Nick Faldo (1989-90) as the only players to win back-to-back green jackets.

“I always felt that I had the game that was good enough to win here at this tournament. But you need to have — and I keep saying it — you’ve got to have some good breaks,” Woods said. “I played well this week, made some good putts when I really needed them, but I had some good breaks as well. I was able to somehow finagle a way to get up-and-down and save a lot of pars this week.”

Woods signed for a 70 after the first round, then played 26 holes on Saturday to finish off his second round and conclude his third round due to a rain delay. He woke at 4:30 a.m. that Saturday, trailing Vijay Singh by six shots, but by nightfall he held co-ownership of the lead at 11 under with Goosen. His third-round 66 was the lowest of the day.

As Masters Sunday took flight, six of the top 7 players in the world were within four shots of the lead – Goosen tied with Woods, Singh two back, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els four back.

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Woods birdied two and three and from there no one got within two shots of him the rest of the way. While Els and Mickelson each birdied the first two holes, their offensive on Woods stalled, as did all the others. Woods let them insert their own daggers and while he made three bogeys, he kept his distance with four birdies.

The extra length did him no harm – he hit 69 percent of his fairways in regulation, 75 percent of his greens. He made 19 birdies, averaged 295 off the tee.

It was his third green jacket, his seventh major championship. And he was just 26. No one had ever gotten to seven major victories at such a young age.

“It’s pretty neat to be able to have my name mentioned with some of the golfing greats, especially at this tournament,” Woods said. “This tournament is very historic and very special to all the players. This is a tournament we really want to win, and to be able to put my name on that trophy three times, it’s really cool.

“It would be nice to win as many majors as Jack did. That would be great. But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I think the thing I keep saying to myself every year is I want to become a better player at the end of the year than I was at the beginning. If I can keep doing that year after year, I’ll have a pretty good career.”

This is the eighth story in a series looking at each of Tiger Woods’ appearances at the Masters. Catch up on the series here.

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.

Tiger Woods at the Masters (2001): Woods sweeps majors in less than a year

Tiger Woods outlasted Phil Mickelson at Augusta National to win the 2001 Masters Tournament and sweep the four majors in less than a year.

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.

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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.

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Tiger Woods at the Masters (2000): Green jacket eludes Woods in most successful year

Tiger Woods entered the 2000 Masters Tournament on a hot streak, but finished fifth after struggling over the weekend at Augusta National.

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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.

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=778033108,778033103,778033094,778033071,778033067]