There are golfers who execute pictures and golfers who create pictures. Tiger Woods is likely one of the latter. All through his almost 30-year skilled profession, the Californian has produced a group that might simply fill a complete wing of the Louvre, together with among the most memorable and celebrated pictures within the historical past of the game. Right here, on his fiftieth anniversary, we've compiled a collection of 10 pictures that finest encapsulate what Tiger Woods has been all about, contemplating not solely the standard or spectacular nature of the shot, but in addition the context during which they had been made.
Tiger Woods, historical past
The chip shot on the sixteenth at Augusta
“Right here it comes. Good Lord. Oh wow! You've by no means seen something prefer it.” That is how the legendary Verne Lundqvist addressed the CBS viewers as probably the most well-known chip shot in historical past, the one executed by Tiger Woods from the sting of the sixteenth inexperienced at Augusta Nationwide through the closing spherical of the 2005 Masters, the place he received his fourth inexperienced jacket, rolled towards the outlet. From the place the place his tee shot landed, with the ball positioned between the tough and the left-hand entrance inexperienced, there was no logical approach to assault the flagstick. Tiger contemplated, meticulously inspected the inexperienced, took a couple of apply swings, and conjured up a shot that was merely inexplicable. Chris DiMarco, with whom he was locked in a head-to-head battle for the title, was one stroke behind and had his ball within the heart of the inexperienced, with a birdie alternative. This stroke of genius from Tiger shut the door on any comeback.
The Putt to Power a Playoff on the 2008 US Open
In a US Open performed with a torn ACL and two stress fractures in a single foot, Tiger, his face contorted with ache after each swing, reached the ultimate gap needing a birdie to tie for the lead with Rocco Mediate. He left himself a four-meter putt that sank to the correct fringe of the outlet. On Monday, when the playoff was nonetheless being performed over 18 holes, a battered Tiger once more reached the ultimate section one stroke behind and sank one other birdie to tie. On the primary sudden-death gap, he made par, whereas Mediate bogeyed, crowning Tiger, who the subsequent day introduced he would miss the remainder of the season to bear knee surgical procedure.
The Gamers' seventeenth Putt
On the notorious island inexperienced of the seventeenth at Sawgrass, Tiger produced a Kafkaesque putt through the third spherical, which traveled over 18 meters and three completely different slopes, reaching the outlet. It has gone down in historical past because the "Higher than Most" putt, an outline given by Gary Koch through the NBC broadcast. The next day, Tiger would safe his first victory on the PGA Tour's flagship event.
A Nighttime Dart
At Firestone, certainly one of his favourite programs, the place he received eight occasions, and with evening falling over Akron and the flag barely seen, Tiger executed what entered the collective reminiscence because the "Darkish Shot": an 8-iron that landed lower than half a meter from the 18th gap, sealing his 11-stroke victory on the WGC-NEC Invitational.
The Bunker Shot at Hazeltine
That is actually the shot Tiger as soon as described as the perfect shot of his profession. With a lie that might have left anybody else hoping to seek out the green once more, Woods hit a surprising 3-iron and left himself a birdie putt, which, after all, he sank to complete the again 9 of the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine.
The Tremendous Artwork of the Bounce Again
One of many issues that made Tiger an unparalleled predator was his capacity to get better strokes after dropping them, and this chip is the epitome of it. After developing brief on his first try, in a scenario the place he wanted par to maintain Vijay Singh at bay—Singh was threatening what would turn out to be the primary of his 5 Memorial titles—Woods holed it out from the tough and downhill.
His First Gap-in-One as a Skilled
It took Tiger Woods three and a half rounds to report his first hole-in-one as knowledgeable. A couple of days after Nike introduced him to the world with that "Hi there, world," within the closing spherical of the Better Milwaukee Open, on the par-3 14th gap of the Brown Deer Park Golf Course, Tiger hit a 6-iron straight into the web, which rolled down the center after a few bounces.
An Automaton Below Stress
One other factor that units Woods aside is his uncanny capacity to generate precisely the shot he wants on the actual second. On this event, through the 2001 World Cup, he wanted an eagle for the US to make the playoff alongside New Zealand, Denmark, and South Africa. Tiger did simply that, and his teammate on the American workforce, David Duval, couldn't assist however burst out laughing.
Phoenix Rave
On the sixteenth gap of TPC Scottsdale, the place golf turns right into a rave, Tiger scored his second hole-in-one as knowledgeable through the 1997 Phoenix Open. On this case, as in so many others, an image is price a thousand phrases.
The Redemption Shot
Tiger really received the 2019 Masters on the twelfth gap, when he discovered a inexperienced that neither Brooks Koepka, nor Tony Finau, nor Francesco Molinari, who might have challenged him on the ultimate spherical, might attain. All of them ended up in Rae's Creek, the stream that protects the entrance of the inexperienced, and signed for double bogeys that opened the door for Tiger's comeback, which he sealed with this spectacular shot on the sixteenth.
