Tiger Bows Out of 2000 with Our Memories Numb

So he didn’t win any of the final three. Tiger Woods, who was favored to win all of them, couldn’t manage win No. 10.

Those are the negatives. The positives, though, make 2000 a year that will be remembered in golf lore forever. If Woods never again duplicates it, there were enough hold-your-breath moments to last a lifetime.

Remember, he was already on a roll when Jan. 9 got here - the date of the Sunday of the Mercedes Championships. He came in riding a four-win streak, beating Phil Mickelson at WGC-NEC, Ernie Els at Disney, Davis Love III in the Tour Championship and Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez in the WGC-American Express in Valderrama in a playoff - running afoul of the 17th, of course, making a triple bogey to force him into overtime.

Then came the Mercedes, and a Sunday duel with Els that may have been his greatest moment ever. Well, at least until his next tournament .

The 18th hole is a 663-yard monster, whittled down to size by these two. When Woods hit the green with his second shot, a 3-wood from 274 yards that came to rest eight feet from the hole, it looked like he was the winner. But wait a minute - Els was about to do the same, ripping a 2-iron that rolled inside Woods to just six feet. Moments later, they both made their eagle putts, and away they went to overtime.

They did it all over in overtime, Els again striking the green in two shots, Woods lying just off. Els got down easily for birdie, but Tiger had to chip and then make a 6-foot putt for his bird.

Now it was a new hole, the par-4 1st, and this time Woods won it. How? With a nice 40-footer, struck just before Els missed his 35-footer by inches.

Whew! Then, one month later, Woods was seven back with only seven holes remaining at Pebble Beach. This was probably the streak. Suddenly, though, it looked possible. Leader Matthew Goggin was chopping it around it 40 strokes of the backside. And Tiger was at 15, holing out from 97 yards with a pitching wedge . nearly holing out again before settling for a tap-in birdie at 16 . parring the 17th and then winding it up with a birdie at the par-5 18th. And you had something in your memory storehouse you thought you would never see again. Woods was the winner by two shots.

Woods was a little more conventional in winning Bay Hill by four shots, but then he was right back at it in The Players Championship. This time he couldn’t quite pull it off, losing to Hal Sutton by a shot. His next three wins, the Memorial, the U.S. Open and the British Open, were all laughers, Tiger winning by a combined 28 shots. Ho-hum.

And then came the PGA Championship and a duel with Bob May that we all decided had to be his finest moment. So many heroics, so many clutch shots . a 15-foot par save at No. 15 while May was missing a six-foot birdie; pulling even with a four-foot birdie on 17; an unlikely birdie by May on 18 from the edge of the green 15 feet away. That produced a British Open-style playoff of three holes which saw Tiger take command early, but it was yet another chapter in Woods’ book of thrilling memories.

There was no new ground broken in the WGC-NEC, Tiger strolling away with the win after leading all four rounds. But do you have room for one more?

It was the Bell Canadian Open and Woods was locked in another duel, leading one Grant Waite by a wafer-thin margin of one shot as they played the 18th.

Woods was having the worst of it after having blocked his drive into a fairway bunker. Now Waite was safely on the green 30 feet away, while Tiger considered his options: surely he would have to lay up, since he had a large pond staring him in the face, 218 yards to the pin, and a narrow green on the back side of the water.

Woods thought for a moment, then reached in the bag for a 6-iron. And he hit in cleanly, catching nothing but ball, striping it over the water and to the back of the green. Game, set and match.

Think of an adjective and Tiger did it. The year 2000 was, indeed, one to remember. I don’t think it has ever been duplicated. I don’t think it ever will. If it does, it can be done by just one.

Eldrick T. Woods.

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