Talk to any golfer who played against Tiger Woods, and they’ll tell you about at least one shot so sublime that they were sure neither they nor anyone else could hit.
He was just different. Better.
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When Woods hit a 2-iron on the par-5 10th hole at TPC Sugarloaf, Stewart Cink said, “This is a skill set I don’t have.” Padraig Harrington once saw Woods hit an 8-iron so well at Firestone that it hit him in the head for triple bogey.
Nick Price played the opening two rounds of the 2000 British Open with Woods at St. Andrews, but felt the tournament was over. Mark O’Meara played a practice round with Tiger at Pebble Beach before the 2000 U.S. Open and told his wife before the championship started, “Tiger will win. And not only will he win, he will blow the field away.” Woods won by 15 points.
In the years that followed, many of the game’s greats couldn’t relate to Woods. And now, you can finally do it.
Even Woods can’t beat the time. He turns 50 on Tuesday.
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This is a milestone for everyone, but golf is different. This is because it is a sport where players can play long after they have retired in other sports. Phil Mickelson won a major at age 50, and Jack Nicklaus stormed out early Sunday at the Masters at age 58.
Woods’ case is complicated.
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He is now eligible to compete in the 50 and older PGA Tour Champions. He has also undergone more surgeries than the 15 major championships he has won. This is the first year he has not played in a single tournament due to a torn Achilles tendon in March and a seventh hip surgery in September.
“I’ll probably play 25 events on both tours, so that should cover most of the year, right?” Woods quipped when asked about turning 50 in the Bahamas.
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He won the US Open just eight days before reconstructive surgery on his left knee. He won the Masters two years after surgery to fix his hip. However, he hasn’t changed since his car accident in Los Angeles in 2021. Woods has played 11 times over the past five seasons, but has finished only four of them and is less than 16 strokes away from winning the championship.
“What point do we go back to?” Woods said. “I want to go back to playing golf again.”
Therefore, this celebration is more focused on looking back on the past than on the future.
Ernie Els showed the most foresight when he lost again at Kapalua in 2000. No one finished second to Woods like the Big Easy. Woods tied for eagle on the 18th in regulation and birdied the 18th in the playoff, making a 40-foot birdie putt on the second hole of overtime. Vintage Tiger.
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“I think he’s creating a legend,” Els said that day. “He’s 24 years old. When he’s in his 40s, he’ll probably be bigger than Elvis.”
Of course, that’s debatable. Woods’ influence on golf is undeniable.
Woods sank the putt, ending his dominant performance at the 1997 Masters. – Stephen Monday/Allsports/Getty Images
Woods kisses the claret jug after winning the 2000 British Open – David Cannon/All Sports/Getty Images
The popularity skyrocketed, and so did the prize money. Woods made golf different and made it cool. And perhaps his greatest legacy is that he unwittingly inspired a generation of players who aspired to be just like him. Scottie Scheffler said nothing inspired him more than watching Woods’ strength in his loss at the 2020 Masters. Woods shot a 10 on the 12th hole and had five birdies in the remaining six holes. He tied for 38th place.
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“Tiger approached each shot differently. It was like the last shot he was going to take,” Scheffler said. This was the only time the two played together. Scheffler is now approaching three years, the longest reign as world No. 1 since Woods.
But it started with its skill set that was different from others.
“He’s the only person I’ve ever known who consistently exceeded expectations,” Tom Lehman said. “No matter how hard you pushed him, he found a way to surpass them.”
Woods stares down his tee shot at the 2002 U.S. Open. – Mike Seeger/Reuters
Lehman recalls a moment on the 17th hole at Memorial. The greens were rock hard and felt impossible to get close to. Lehman hit his 5-iron as high and far as he could and was delighted to see the ball fly out 25 feet from the cup.
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“He launched this shot into the air and it came down like a parachute,” Lehman said. “It landed on the edge of the cup and bounced two feet and stopped. I think he must have hit a 7-iron. I said, ‘Tiger, what club was that?'” He said, “It was a little, three-finger 5-iron.” He just cut it in there.
“That’s what comes to mind when I think of him. Only one guy can make that shot. And he did it often.”
Woods became the youngest player in history to complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 24. By the age of 30, he had won 50 world championships and 10 majors.
It wasn’t as easy as he thought. The late Dan Jenkins once said when Woods was at his best, “There are only two things that can stop Tiger: an injury or a bad marriage.” It turns out it was both. At the end of 2009, his path was derailed when multiple extramarital affairs were discovered, and the wounds piled up. He returned to No. 1 in the world in 2013 and tied Sam Snead for the most wins on the PGA Tour with 82.
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“If he hadn’t gotten injured, he would have won 25 majors and 125 wins,” said Couples.
Matt Kuchar took a different view. He felt the injury contributed to Woods’ legend, particularly his 2008 U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines.
Woods celebrates making a birdie on the 18th hole to advance to the playoffs at the 2008 U.S. Open. – Matt Sullivan/Reuters
That week, Woods was playing with shredded ligaments in his left knee and two stress fractures in his left leg. What is often overlooked is that Woods hadn’t walked 18 holes into the opening round at Torrey Pines since the Masters.
“The injury gave me a bigger legacy,” Kuchar said. “What he did at Torrey Pines, what he did at the (2019) Masters, is Hoganesque in a way. At some point, like most people, I ruled him out. And he won again.”
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Woods has been busy off the ropes. As the tour was in the midst of a battle with Saudi Arabia-owned LIV Golf, he was appointed to the PGA Tour policy committee in 2023 without term limits. He is currently the head of the Future Competition Committee, which is responsible for rebuilding the tour model.
The next question is when and where he will play. Woods is the only player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Amateur, and U.S. Open. The U.S. Senior Open will be held at the course in Scioto, Ohio, where Jack Nicklaus learned to play.
April at Augusta won’t be the same without Woods. He set a Masters record in 2024 with his 24th consecutive appearance. How much more? How much time left?
“People want to meet him,” Kuchar said. “And if he hits 76, people will still want to see him. He’s unique in our sport.”
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