Tiger Woods’ most memorable Masters moments: From his maiden win at 21 and an iconic chip shot on 16, to the greatest comeback EVER in 2019 and a miracle return in 2022 after nearly losing his leg in a car crash
- The 15-time major winner will tee it up in his 25th Masters appearance Thursday
- Woods made his first appearance as an amateur in 1995 and returned last year
- Click here for all your latest international sports news from DailyMail.com
The Masters has spanned the entirety of Tiger Woods’s career, through the good, the bad and the ugly.
From his first appearance as an amateur in 1995, to his first win just two years later and of course his redeeming comeback triumph in 2019, Woods has countlessly delivered on golf’s biggest stage.
With five Green Jackets contributing to his 15 major wins, the icon has naturally gifted golf fans some touches of magic, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
With the highs have also come the lows, both on and off the course. Yet, through public scandal, injuries and a horrific car crash, the 15-time major winner always found his way back down Magnolia Lane.
As the 47-year-old prepares to tee it up at Augusta National once again this week, 12 months after his miracle return, DailyMail.com takes a look through the golfing great’s most memorable moments from the Masters.
Tiger Woods has five Masters wins, his first dating back to 1997 and his most recent in 2019
2009 duel with Mickelson
2009 was well into the Woods and Mickelson era. The two were at the height of their careers and their rivalry well and truly ignited.
Prior to the 2009 final round, Phil Mickelson and Woods had only been paired together once at Augusta back in 2001 when the latter came out on top.
That was before any sort of rivalry properly existed between the pair but eight years later their feud was in full swing and it did not fail to deliver.
Neither man was really in contention, both being seven shots back, but there was no question that this was the main Sunday showdown.
The scene was set with the handshake between Woods and Mickelson on the first tee. No smiles were exchanged.
Neither Woods nor Phil Mickelson won but their Sunday showdown delivered entertainment
It started off as the Phil Show with the lefty birdying the tricky par-four fifth to suddenly find himself just four shots off the lead. Meanwhile, Woods, while having avoided marring his card by making a lengthy par conversion had just one birdie and sits six back and two behind Phil.
Woods was left in the dust and it began to get to him on the seventh, when he hit his approach and immediately started berating the wind. ‘How ’bout that gust? HOW ‘BOUT THAT GUST?!’ he shouts. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
Mickelson only compounded the misery seconds later by playing a snap hook from the rough around a few trees and almost holing out.
But Woods eventually responded, uncorking a three-wood and doing that recoil-backpedal move he made famous to find the eighth green in two and bang in the long eagle putt. Game on.
He got one up on Mickelson at 12, playing a cut to the center of the green and setting up a good look at birdie. Mickelson pulled it right of the flag and watching as his ball rolled back into Rae’s Creek.
Despite the epic duel, neither end up winning but they provided enough electricity to make it feel like they were the only pairing that mattered.
That drop on 15, 2013
Wood was once again stalking the lead at Augusta in second round of 2013 when his wedge shot on 15 hit the flagstick into the pond and all hell broke loose.
He was in contention late in the second round with a birdie set to put him atop the leaderboard and a dialed wedge looked destined to stop a matter of inches from the hole for that coveted birdie.
But a series of unfortunate events followed. Instead of setting up the perfect birdie chance, Woods’s Nike ball had other ideas, landing softly, taking a few hops before hitting the pin and pinging off towards the pond guarding the front of the green.
It was a horrible break but nothing that should have been of major concern with a drop and one-shot penalty still making a bogey-six within reach.
Woods appeared to have hit yet another perfect shot – remarkably almost along the exact same trajectory as the first – and it came to rest within inches of the hole for a tap in. Or so we thought.
The 15-time major winner’s drop on 15 caused disqualification controversy in 2013
It wasn’t until hours later, once Woods had finished his round that he had an even worse break.
Amid the focus on the ricocheting ball and the second attempt in to the green, no one noticed that Woods had taken an improper drop in the fairway. Well, no one except one eagle-eyed TV viewer.
The viewer happened to be David Eger, a longtime and respected rules official who had worked in an official capacity for both the United States Golf Association and the PGA Tour. Watching the drop, he questioned whether it was legal, with Woods dropping onto the fairway, and alerted Augusta National officials.
Once officials were alerted, it spread to the public and the theory Woods could be disqualified for signing for an incorrect scorecard spread like wildfire.
But he was merely called in by the officials, handed the two-shot penalty and sent on his way. A lucky escape.
Back-to-back Green Jackets, 2002
Out of all five of his Masters win, 2002 was a slightly anticlimactic one.
Despite shooting a six-under 66 Saturday to tie for the lead with Retief Goosen and the likes of Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson all in the top four to set up an expected thrilling Sunday, the rest proved to be no match for Woods – once again.
Two early birdies put Tiger in a comfortable position, while Goosen shot a 39 through the first nine and Els’s chances of a comeback were swiftly crushed by a triple-bogey on 13.
However, the win was memorable for a different reason.
It is the one and only time Woods has defended a Masters win, slipping into the Green Jacket for a consecutive year.
He joined Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only back-to-back winners in Masters history.
Woods became just the third player in Masters history to go back to back at Augusta
Broken four-iron to save par, 2007
After already enduring a difficult day on Sunday, things got worse for Woods as he snapped one of his middle irons while punching out from behind a tree on the 11th hole.
His drive landed to the right and slightly behind one of the pines that had been planted in recent years specifically to make the layout at Augusta more difficult.
He took a swing to punch the ball back into the fairway and the shaft of the four-iron wrapped into trunk of the tree and bent in half.
Woods let go of the club immediately after impact, knowing he could have broken his arm or hand had he held on.
While he himself sustained no damage, the same couldn’t be said for his club. He picked it up after his shot, upon which it broke into two.
The sacrifice was worth it as Woods went on to save par and stay at five over, but was still three behind the leaders with six holes left.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=xY3PKV7iKl8%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
Seven-birdie streak en route to playoff win, 2005
Through two rain-soaked rounds in 2005, Woods trailed Chris Di Marco by six shots but that all began to change on the Saturday.
He dropped in three straight birdies to close Saturday and pull within four shots of DiMarco, who led at 13-under heading into the final round.
Even more impressively, Woods backed it up by opening Sunday with four more birdies in a row.
In doing so, he tied a Masters record with seven consecutive birdies and, not only caught DiMarco, but surpassed him into a three shot lead as his fellow American began to struggle early Sunday.
Woods sunk seven straight birdies on his way to clinching his fourth Green Jacket in 2005
‘Not bad, huh?’ Woods said. ‘It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Most majors, you’re not going to be making a whole bunch of birdies. You’re going to be making a bunch of pars.’
However, despite a sensation birdie chip on 16, Woods bogeyed both the 17 and 18, while DiMarco parred 17 and lipped out a chip on 18, seeing the 15-time major winner’s lead squandered and the tournament go down to a sudden death playoff.
But the seven-birdie streak didn’t go to waste. On the first playoff hole, DiMarco tapped in for par but Woods sunk a 15-foot birdie for the Green Jacket and the fist pumping ensued.
Tiger Woods birdies the first playoff hole to win the 2005 Masters. #MastersRewind
Finishing the Tiger Grand Slam, 2001
Tiger Woods clinched his second Masters victory in 2001 but it meant so much more than just another Green Jacket.
After winning the PGA Championship, US Open and the British Open in 2000, Woods headed to Augusta with history on the line.
His wins the previous year meant he already had the career Grand Slam locked up, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus but no golfer had ever held all four majors at the same time.
DiMarco had shot a stunning opening 65 but Woods shot himself in contention with a 66 and 68 on the Friday and Saturday to take the 54-hole lead into the final round.
He outplayed Mickelson and held off a charge from David Duval with a string of eight final-day birdies.
He ended the tournament in empathic fashion, sinking a a birdie on the 18th to finish 16-under for the tournament and slip into the Green jacket for a second time.
The win finished what we still remember as the Tiger Slam, even over two decades later.
The icon wrapped up what is known as the Tiger Slam after winning all four majors 2000-2001
Chip-in on 16, 2005
DiMarco inched within one, Woods missed the green on the par-three 16th and all of a sudden the door was left open.
But Woods, calm and collected as ever, wasn’t giving a shot back that easily. Instead, he played the 16th green with perfect precision.
Off to the left side of the green on the par-3 after his tee shot, Woods found himself with a tricky second shot from about 16 feet away.
Using the slope of the green, he punched it to the left of the pin and watched it trickle slowly towards the hole.
As it looked as if the ball would just come short, it had just enough juice to make one more half-rotation and lipped of the cup into the hole.
Augusta National roared as an ecstatic Woods flung his arms into the air. ‘Oh, wow!’ CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist exclaimed. ‘In your life have you seen anything like that?!’
Woods went on to claim his fourth Masters win over DiMarco in a playoff, marking his last victory at Augusta National until 2019 aged 43.
Woods’s chip on 16th trickled towards the hole and lipped over the edge of the cup
An ecstatic Woods flung his arms into the air and celebrated with caddie Steve Williams
First Masters win, 1997
A 21-year-old Woods came into his first Masters as a pro with a lot of hype surrounding him but it he didn’t start off so hot.
He shot a disappointing 40 in the first nine in the opening round but in the typical fashion that fans have come to know and love, Woods remained resilient and turned it around with a back-nine 30.
From there, Woods was unstoppable. No one else came close as he trail blazed his way to his first Masters win and the records came tumbling down.
He didn’t just win, he obliterated the field with his 12-shot lead over Tom Kite in second, setting a record for largest margin of victory at a major.
Woods also became the youngest Masters winner and the first African-American to clinch a Green Jacket.
His hug with his father, Earl, also became one of the most memorable – and touching – Masters clips.
Woods also became the youngest Masters winner with his first victory in 1997
Defeating the odds to make a Masters return, 2022
There was a point in 2021, and even early 2022, when it seemed that we would never see the great play a tournament again, never mind a Masters, after his horror car crash in February 2021 that almost cost him his leg.
But just 14 months later, the 15-time major winner made his return on the greatest stage of them all.
Going into Masters week last year, it seemed like a long-shot that he would tee it up at Augusta, yet Tiger fever was still in full swing.
Fan accounts were tracking his plane, conspiracy theories circled about his name not featuring on the Past Winners Not Competing list and the man himself carried out a scouting trip the week before, building cautious optimism in the golfing world
Woods rewarded the hysteria by striding on to the first tee at Augusta in a bright pink shirt to match the famous azaleas at the Georgia course and stirring the soul of golf amid the tumultuous reports of LIV Golf’s arrival.
But this wasn’t just a token appearance. Not for Woods. It never is.
The man said it himself in his pre-tournament press conference, he was there to win – he wouldn’t play if he didn’t think he’d have a shot.
While the win evaded him and he ultimately finished 13-over, he still inspired the tournament. Woods produced a Masters miracle, making the cut line when the likes of Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele didn’t.
And, while he may have got the win in 2019, this was arguably his greatest comeback.
Woods made a triumphant return in Augusta’s Azalea pink 14 months after his car crash
Comeback win, 2019
While his return is arguably his greatest personal comeback, 2019 just knocks it off the top spot because Tiger did what Tiger does best – win.
The victory also reverberated further than sport. After a fall from grace, his personal life dragged through the mud, and four back operations, the once flawless athlete was left scandalized.
The road to redemption was long, and at times appeared never-ending, but he silenced the doubters.
Heading into the final round, Woods sat two strokes behind Francesco Molinari and his 13-under score, playing alongside Tony Finau in a trio due to weather.
Through 11 holes, Molinari maintained his two-shot lead but painfully collapsed on the 12th.
Both Molinari and Finau found Rae’s Creek and carded a double bogey. Woods meanwhile, played it safe, finding the middle of the green and two-putting for a par.
From there Woods steamrolled ahead, with birdies on the 13th, 15th and 16th holes propelling him to a two-shot advantage heading down the 18th.
He played the final hole cautiously, two putting for a bogey to wrap up his first Masters in in 14 years and his 15th major,
As Woods converted the final putt, his mother and children standing by to join in the celebrations, the ultimate redemption tale was complete.
His 2019 comeback win is arguably his greatest as it rounded off his road to redemption
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