Eldrick “Tiger” Woods, a prodigy for the reason that time he was a toddler, delivered on his future of golf greatness with a jaw-dropping 12-stroke victory within the Masters Match on this present day in historical past, April 13, 1997.
“A win for the ages!” broadcaster Jim Nantz enthused, because the gallery erupted when Woods’ closing putt dropped within the 18th gap.
His 12-shot victory over second-place finisher Tom Kite stays the best margin within the historical past of the storied golf match.
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He’s nonetheless the youngest winner in Masters historical past to this present day.
Woods shot an unimaginable 18-under, which stood because the lowest-ever rating within the Masters till it was surpassed by Dustin Johnson in 2020 (-20).
Tiger Woods celebrates after sinking a 4-foot putt to win the U.S. Masters Golf Match with a document low rating of 18 below par on April 13, 1997, on the Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership in Augusta, Georgia. (Stephen Munday/Allsport/Getty Photos)
Golf Digest referred to as the win by the 21-year-old phenom “the daybreak of dominance” and an “epic victory that shook the sport.”
Woods tore up all 4 rounds, together with a scintillating 65 (7-under) third spherical on Saturday that put him in a commanding place getting into the ultimate spherical.
“A win for the ages!” — Jim Nantz, broadcaster
“Tiger’s Grrrreat!” beamed the front-page headline of native newspaper Augusta Chronicle Sunday morning.
The ultimate spherical proved a coronation, not a contest.
Sportsman of the 12 months winner, golfer Tiger Woods, at Sports activities Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the 12 months” award ceremony on the Beacon Theater, in New York Metropolis, Dec. 12, 2000. He had gained the 1996 Sportsman of the 12 months Honors simply months after becoming a member of the PGA Tour. (Evan Agostini/ImageDirect)
Woods, who turned professional solely seven months earlier, laid waste to a area of the best golfers within the sport.
“There’s a brand new period about to daybreak on the most magical setting in golf,” CBS introduced because it opened its final-round broadcast.
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Woods, the community famous, “had energy and beauty like the sport has by no means seen earlier than.”
For practically twenty years he’d been groomed for this second.
“The ultimate spherical of the Masters garnered its highest ranking ever, and tv scores leaped each time he performed a match.” — Masters.com
Woods was famously given a golf membership the second he might stroll by his father Earl Woods, a U.S. Military Inexperienced Beret officer who served in Vietnam.
Tiger proved a pure. He shocked a nationwide TV viewers by driving golf balls at age 2 in entrance of Bob Hope on “The Mike Douglas Present.”
Tiger Woods as a two-year-old golf prodigy on “The Mike Douglas Present,” on Oct. 6, 1978. (CBS by way of Getty Photos)
He dominated novice golf as a youngster, successful a document three consecutive U.S. Junior Championships (1991-93), then including an NCAA golf title (1996) whereas taking part in for Stanford, amongst many different honors.
Woods turned professional in September 1996 and gained two PGA Tour occasions earlier than year-end. Sports activities Illustrated named him its “Sportsman of the 12 months” for 1996 and once more in 2000.
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His innate capacity, coupled with the calls for of a pushed father and his personal quest for excellence, gave Tiger’s ascendancy as knowledgeable an air of inevitability witnessed by tens of millions within the closing spherical of the 1997 Masters.
Woods, with an insurmountable lead, was adopted throughout the ultimate a number of holes by an electrified gallery entranced by the greatness unfolding in entrance of their eyes.
Tiger Woods, 21, makes his triumphant march to the 18th inexperienced to cap his 12-stroke win on the 1997 Masters Match. It was Woods’ first main title and thrust him into the worldwide highlight. (Augusta Nationwide/Getty Photos)
“A rhapsody of complete appreciation and awe at a virtuoso efficiency like Augusta has by no means seen,” Nantz mentioned as Woods stepped onto the 18th inexperienced to safe his crown.
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“It’s right here that I left my youth behind and have become a person,” Woods wrote to the host committee at Augusta Nationwide Saturday evening, the phrases learn on air as he performed his closing putt.
“For that, I’ll eternally be in your debt.”
The recognition of golf soared within the wake of Woods’ masterful Masters.
Tiger Woods of the U.S. celebrates on the 18th inexperienced after successful the Masters at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership on April 14, 2019, in Augusta, Georgia. (Andrew Redington/Getty Photos)
“Woods’ dominant efficiency, and his mass enchantment, had an instantaneous impact” on the game, notes Masters.com, the web site of Augusta Nationwide.
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“The ultimate spherical of the Masters had garnered its highest ranking ever, and tv scores leaped each time he performed a match. His first match after the Masters was the GTE Byron Nelson Golf Basic exterior Dallas, which he gained. The match offered out for the primary time.”
“A rhapsody of complete appreciation and awe at a virtuoso efficiency like Augusta has by no means seen.” — Jim Nantz
It was the primary of what would change into 15 wins in main tournaments by Woods, his assault on Jack Nicklaus’ document 18 main titles thwarted by a collection of non-public scandals and accidents in later years.
“Woods’ win occurred half his life in the past, however the roars it triggered won’t ever fade,” Masters.com wrote in 2017, in a Twentieth-anniversary retrospective of the landmark second in international sports activities historical past.
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“Right this moment … most of us keep in mind the successful second as if it simply occurred. Tiger shook the golf world.”
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