3. 17th hole, TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course
Third round of 2001 Players Championship
We return to the famous island green, where seven years prior Woods knocked in a 14-footer for birdie to go 1 up and won the 1994 U.S. Amateur a hole later. This time around, a lot of cash was on the line – a $6 million purse, to be exact, with $1.08 million to the winner.
Woods came into the Players off a victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week before, where he nailed a 15-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to beat Phil Mickelson by one. Well, the two were in contention again in The Players and were paired for the third round under bright skies.
At the 17th, despite the wind at his back, Woods hit 9-iron instead of wedge on the 137-yard hole, fearing he could spin the wedge back into the water. The 9-iron, however, was too much club and the ball nearly flew the green. After a large bounce, the ball came to rest on the fringe, less than three feet from the island’s edge and 60 feet from the pin located on the front of the green. And between Woods and the hole was a large ridge and a wickedly fast putting surface.
The putt went right, then broke left down the ridge, picked up speed and then nearly did a right-hand turn. NBC golf analyst Gary Koch, speaking to lead analyst Johnny Miller and millions watching on TV, described the ball’s journey with an iconic call that still rings clear to this day.
“Johnny, that’s better than most,” Koch began. “That is better than most,” he added with perfect timing. “Better than most,” he energetically said when the ball disappeared to complete the birdie. Koch, who would later say the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and Miller didn’t say a word for 45 seconds as a fist-pumping Woods roared along with the thousands of fans on hand.
“I was trying to just get the right speed,” Woods said. “I’ve had that putt before, but not quite that deep into the green. I’ve missed it to the right every time. And I know I just need the ball coming off the slope, going at the hole, because when it goes at the hole, from where I’m standing, as it catches the slope it will go straight left. And as it goes left, it just dies and comes back to the right.
“It started peeling back to the right. I kind of had a pretty good feeling I would have a chance. I just had a good feeling about it.
“It just snuck in somehow from the right.”
And Woods later snuck out a 1-shot victory for the first of his two titles in the PGA Tour’s flagship event.