Tiger's first green jacket

Buyinggolfonline.com / 2010-04-05

Tiger Woods, a superstar foretold, a golfing legend before the age of 21 and a giant of the game without ever having competed in a major as a professional. The world wants to see how Tiger Woods will cope with his return from disgrace but 13 years ago the question was how he would deal with the pressure of expectation. But before that, let's review Tiger's first green jacket in 1997.

 

Tiger Woods has been prepared for this moment since infancy when his father took him on television aged three to show off his swing. He has won four times in his first 17 starts as a pro but in six starts in the majors (as an amateur) he is yet to finish in the top twenty.

 

The first round - the front nine
Tiger shoots four-over-par 40 on the front nine with his golf clubs, one shot better than Faldo's 41.

 

"When he went out in 40 a few of the wise old souls - including me - said, 'We knew he'd find it tough with the big boys.'" - BBC commentator Peter Alliss

 

The first round - the back nine
He comes back in 30, eagling the 15th, to be -2 for the day, three behind leader John Huston. A US television audience of 44 million tunes in - a tournament record.

 

"If the weather stays like this, you could shoot an over par total and win the title." - Fred Couples, little knowing what was about to happen over the next three days.

 

The second round
A four-under-par 66 sends him to the top of the leaderboard at -8, three shots ahead of Colin Montgomerie.

 

"He's more dominant over the guys he's playing against than I ever was over the ones I played against. He makes the golf course into nothing. If he's playing well, the golf course becomes nothing." - Jack Nicklaus

 

The third round

An astonishing 65 shoots him miles clear of the field. Second placed Costantino Rocca is floundering nine shots behind. Woods ties the 54-hole scoring record.

 

"I appreciated how far he hit his drivers, and how he hit his irons, but I did not appreciate how he can putt. He is nine clear now and I am sure it will be higher tomorrow." - Montgomerie.

 

The fourth round
A final effort of 69 leaves him on -18, a full 12 shots clear of Tom Kite. He becomes the youngest winner of a green jacket, posting the lowest winning score at Augusta (beating Nicklaus and Floyd). He made no bogey on the back nine all week.

 

Afterwards
"Green and black go well together, don't they?" - Earl Woods to his son as they embrace behind the final green.

 

"He may be hailed as the greatest golfer who ever lived, but it is likely that his finest day will always be the overcast Sunday in Augusta when he humiliated the world's best golfers, shot 18-under-par 70-66-65-69-270 (the lowest score in tournament history) and won the Masters by a preposterous 12 shots. It was the soundest whipping in a major this century and second only to Old Tom Morris's 13-shot triumph in the 1862 British Open." - Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated

 

"My dream is for Tiger to be a good person, and I am perfectly happy for him to be a good person. He is a better person than he is a golfer (Why golf is better than sex )." - Earl Woods on his son's future beyond that first major.