Monday Milestone: Young Master
“I think Augusta is where I need to be”
– Tiger Woods
This Week in History:
1997, April 13
Tiger Woods becomes the youngest person to ever win the US Masters with a course record –18 at Augusta National at 21 years and three months of age.
Only when walking down that final fairway on Sunday afternoon can we grasp a sense of the occasion. The tradition of tentative leaders, anxious playing partners, nervous families and panicky caddies in the closing stages of the US Masters complete the hallowed atmosphere at Augusta National.
There are few grander stages in world sport that have more prestige, more sentiment and more tradition than Augusta. The sweeping grounds in America’s south with its history and noble character inspired one of the greatest world golf courses. With Amen Corner; the Eisenhower Tree; Rae’s Creek and Magnolia Lane, Augusta is eternal, and every year at this time it waits for us.
On a particular Sunday afternoon each April the theatre up those final fairways cannot be understated. Sometimes players are locked together like last year when American Bubba Watson and South African Louis Oosthuizen were tied after seventy-two holes, resulting in a grandstand finish on the second playoff hole.
Sometimes there are astonishing feats, like Jack Nicklaus in 1986 whose famous golden run over the closing holes catapulted him past the field, in a miraculous result, and into his record sixth (and final) green jacket. And sometimes, all the excitement, all the drama, is replaced by sheer awe.
The Milestone stops the Delorean outside the clubhouse in 1997 where a young golf prodigy was wandering up the final stages of the revered tournament in his famous red shirt, trying to comprehend the lead he held as he grappled with the fact he was about to become the youngest ever champion.
In one of the most remarkable performances ever in any sport, the extraordinarily ruthless manner in which Eldrick “Tiger” Woods showed complete domination over the gruelling Augusta course still belies belief. After an almost-human four over par opening nine on Thursday, Tiger proceeded to treat one of the most majestic golf courses on the planet like a local pitch and putt.
His resounding six under par 30 on the back nine to finish his first round two under par was only the beginning. Tiger then produced a six under 66 on the Friday, to lead by three strokes at the halfway mark, before an even more remarkable 65 on the Saturday, giving him a resounding nine stroke lead. In utter command of Augusta, all the hope for the excitement of a classic Master’s finish dissipated into pure wonder at this Californian marvel.
Tiger was just 21 years and three months old when he tapped in for a final round 69 and a twelve stroke victory, the largest winning margin in a steeped Masters tradition that dates back to 1934. Most people at that age are down at the pub, studying, beginning their career, or travelling the world. Tiger however, was winning the US Masters as the youngest ever champion.
Who knows whether Tiger Woods will ever rise to such lofty heights as these again? His story is well documented, and there has been plenty of water under Hogan’s bridge since 1997. But we know what he is capable of. So should Tiger walk the final fairway of Augusta National preparing for another green jacket, this Sunday, nobody will be surprised.
Milestone Five: Tiger’s greatest wins
5. 2001 US Masters – Woods wins by just two strokes, but in doing so, wins the ‘Tiger Slam’ becoming the defending champion in all four golfing majors.
4. 2008 US Open – Tiger’s most recent major win came in a playoff with Rocco Mediate on one leg. His ailing left knee held out just long enough and he would book in for surgery two days after the tournament and miss the rest of the year.
3. 2000 Open Championship – becoming just the fifth golfer to win the career grand slam, victory at St Andrews with a remarkable –19 meant he was an eight stroke victor.
2. 1997 US Masters – Woods reaches the big stage shooting –18 to win his first major championship by a remarkable twelve strokes in a course record that is yet to be beaten.
1. 2000 US Open – In a record that is unlikely to be beaten at Pebble Beach, Woods is the only one to shoot under par, and in doing so, shot a four round total of –12 to win by a remarkable fifteen strokes.
With thanks to Getty Images North America for the picture.
