Memories from players who competed against Tiger Woods and the shots that stand out in honor of Woods turning 50 on Dec. 30:
Nick Price, 2005 Match Play Championship, La Costa Resort
“He’s in grass I promise you is this deep,” Price said, holding his hands about 6 inches apart. “It was 230 yards to the flag. I was in the fairway and I hit a hybrid just on the front edge of the green. He hit 5-iron out of there and pitched it on the green, and I have no idea … in a million years, I couldn’t hit that shot. The ball came out like it was in the fairway and pitched in the green about 12 feet. The guy was never in trouble.”
Stewart Cink, 1998 BellSouth Classic, TPC Sugarloaf
“I was in the last group with him in Atlanta on a par 5. We both had 265 to the hole, and this was one when they were wound balls. I laid a 3-wood right of the green on the 10th at TPC Sugarloaf. And from the same distance — and I wasn’t short — Tiger hits 2-iron straight up in the air, and it was like the same shape as a 7-iron for me, flew onto the green and released like this far (indicating 2 feet). And it was then I was like, ‘OK, he just hit his 2-iron as far as I hit my 3-wood, and it flew as high as my 7-iron and it stopped like a pitching wedge.’ This is a skill set I don’t have.”
Padraig Harrington, 2009 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone
“I would think the shot he hit into Bridgestone on the 16th as one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen, one of the craziest shots I’ve ever seen, one of the most spectacular shots I’ve ever seen, and pretty close to the only shot I feel in my career that got into my head.”
(Woods was on the slope of a bunker and hit 8-iron to 2 feet on a brick-hard green. Harrington from the fairway hit a shot that one-hopped over the green).
“It was the only shot that really went deeply … it wasn’t just his good shot, it affected my next shot. I went long and chipped it in the water. And then I didn’t realize I should have dropped it where I was. It panicked me. That’s how good that golf shot was.”
Matt Kuchar, 1998 Masters, opening hole
“I could not have been more nervous ever in my life. Both of us hit good drives. The pin was middle back — I remember it clear as can be. I hit it 20 feet short of the pin where you had to hit it. He hit it and one-hopped over the green. I looked at my dad like, ‘I can’t believe he hit it there.’ You can’t get up-and-down. It’s a bogey right off the bat. And he hit the most amazing chip. It had more spin than I’ve ever seen on a short chip. That thing was a foot from the hole when it finished. I’d never seen anybody pull off a shot like that. I didn’t know that was even possible.”
Tom Lehman, 2007 Memorial, Muirfield Village
“The 17th hole got redone every other year. This was a new green, the green was rock-hard and the pin was front left. We hit our tee shots right next to each other — hit 3-wood, I hit driver. I hit this 5-iron as hard and as high as I could. It lands by the hole and bounds 25 feet by the hole. He hits this shot way up in the air and it was coming down like a parachute, lands by the cup and bounces 2 feet and stops. I figure he must have hit a 7-iron. I said, ‘Tiger, what club was that?’ He said, ‘That was a little, three-finger 5-iron.’ He just filleted it in there. When I think of him, that’s what I think of. Only one guy could hit that shot.”
Jim Furyk, 2005 Presidents Cup, Robert Trent Jones Golf Club
“We were paired together and he hit a shot to a downhill, long, skinny green with a little tail in back left, and the pin was back there over a bunker. I hit this pretty 5-iron, it hit hard and took a big tumble and just trickled through the green. He took 6-iron and hit this high cut against a little breeze, and it came down soft and hit it to 3 feet. I just laughed. I couldn’t hit that shot. I immediately looked at the two guys we were playing (Vijay Singh and Stuart Appleby) and I’m sure I had the biggest grin on my face because I was like, ‘Well, we know you can’t hit that shot so what are we going to do now?’ I couldn’t hit it, they couldn’t hit it, just my partner.”
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