TIGER WOODS
2000 U.S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA
THE majors season in 2000 will be remembered for Tiger Woods’ phenomenal run of capturing three major championships in 67 days, but without doubt the most dominant performance of his career came during the 100th US Open at Pebble Beach.
The highly anticipated millennial US Open was effectively over after the first day. Woods made the most of an early tee-time to pluck a methodical six-under-par 65 from the legendary American course and rocketed to the top of the leaderboard. OK, so his lead was only a stroke from eventual co-runner-up Miguel Angel Jimenez, but Tiger’s opening salvo was instructive as much for the surgical manner in which he dismantled Pebble Beach as it was for the score he carded and the lead he established. On a day when the fog rolled in and prevented 75 players from completing their round on Thursday, Woods revelled in the soft, benign conditions. He was bogey-free, needing a mere 24 putts in snaring six birdies with precision. Indeed, Tiger played the first 22 holes and the last 26 holes without a bogey, made 21 birdies for the week and didn’t three-putt once. The rest of the field made an average of five bogeys per round; Woods made just six all week.
“It seemed like any time he made a small mistake, he’d make a great chip or hole a tough eight-footer,” said Jim Furyk, who played with Woods in the first two rounds. “He got everything out of his rounds.” The rest of the tournament became a cakewalk for Tiger as a second-round 69 saw his lead swell to six strokes, a lead that grew to ten shots after three rounds and eventually to 15 from Jimenez and Ernie Els at the conclusion. It remains the largest margin of victory in any of golf’s 432 major championships, while his 12-under aggregate made him the first man to complete a US Open at double-digits under par.
Els, Woods’ playing partner in the final round, summed up the week best.
“Whatever I say is going to be an understatement,” said the 1994 and ’97 US Open champ.“It seems like we’re not playing in the same ball-park right now. If I could play like that, like he just did the past four days in a major championship, that would be my ultimate golfing week. He just played a perfect US Open week. He did nothing wrong. When you’re a little kid … and dream about winning championships and running away from the field, that’s kind of how you have to play. And that’s kind of perfect at the moment.”
Of course, what transpired at that US Open was merely the beginning of a historical run that saw Woods claim the Open Championship and US PGA in 2000 and the 2001 Masters to complete the “Tiger Slam”. And it all began on a calm, foggy Thursday at Pebble Beach.