Twenty-five years ago, the 2000 U.S. Open held at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California was a complex event. It began as a memorial for defending champion Payne Stewart, who had tragically passed away in a plane crash less than eight months prior. It also marked the final U.S. Open appearance for golf icon Jack Nicklaus, competing in the championship for the 44th time.
Ultimately, however, the tournament became synonymous with the overwhelming dominance of Tiger Woods, who delivered one of the most extraordinary performances ever witnessed in men`s professional golf over the course of the four days.
Woods arrived at Pebble Beach just three weeks after securing his 19th PGA Tour victory – and fourth of the season – with a commanding five-stroke win at the Memorial Tournament. This made him the first player to win Jack Nicklaus`s event in consecutive years.
His form leading up to the Open was exceptional. Woods had claimed victory in 11 of his previous 20 PGA Tour starts. This streak included defeating Ernie Els in a playoff at the season-opening Mercedes Championship in Hawaii, overcoming a seven-stroke deficit in the final seven holes to beat Matt Gogel by two at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on February 9, and cruising to a four-stroke victory at Arnold Palmer`s Bay Hill Invitational on March 19.
At the remarkably young age of 24, Woods had already become the first golfer to exceed $15 million in career earnings from tournaments. He had already secured two legs of the career Grand Slam, winning the Masters in 1997 by a record 12 strokes and the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club in 1999.
Given his recent form and past success, Woods was the overwhelming favorite entering the U.S. Open, especially after tying for third place, just two strokes behind Stewart, the previous year at Pinehurst No. 2.
“If the conditions are dry and windy, then it`s a matter of patience,” Nicklaus commented before the tournament. “But if they`re throwing darts, then Tiger will shoot a tremendously low score, no matter what the conditions are. And he`ll probably break the Open record.”
Nicklaus himself held the U.S. Open 72-hole scoring record of 272, set in 1980 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey. Lee Janzen had tied this mark at the same course in 1993.
However, it was clear that the U.S. Open scoring record was under serious threat if Woods maintained his incredible level of play.
“He had already arrived in a big way in one tournament [at the 1997 Masters], but that was the start of Tiger winning tournaments by a lot of shots,” said Stewart Cink. “Not just winning but like oh-my-gosh winning, more than five or six shots. That`s just unheard of considering how close all of us are together as far as skill.”
Australia`s Stuart Appleby, a three-time PGA Tour winner at the time, summarized Woods` competitive standing succinctly: “Tiger would be favored anywhere. Put him in a car park and he`d be favored.”
“Never Seen Anything Like It”
Upon Woods` arrival at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Sunday to begin his preparations, it quickly became apparent to his caddie, Steve Williams, and swing coach, Butch Harmon, that he was once again poised for victory on the Monterey Peninsula.
Three weeks prior, Woods had competed in the Deutsche Bank Open in Hamburg, Germany, reportedly receiving a significant appearance fee to defend his European Tour title. In the final round there, his second shot on the 11th found the water, leading to a double bogey. He finished tied for third, four strokes behind winner Lee Westwood, marking only the second time in his career up to that point that he failed to win after holding a 54-hole lead.
After observing Woods hitting balls on the driving range Monday morning, both Williams and Harmon suggested he scale back his practice routine before the tournament officially began.
“We didn`t want Tiger to overdo it before the tournament started because both of us had never seen him strike the ball with such precision and just the way he was shaping the shots,” Williams recounted. “We didn`t want Tiger to play too much before the tournament because he was so geared and ready to play well.”
Sam Reeves, a close friend of Harmon`s who had watched Woods` swing development from their early days together, shared his astonishment.
“I`ve never seen anything like it,” Reeves told Williams. “I`ve never seen him hit the ball that well.”
Woods played two practice rounds with his good friend Mark O`Meara. On the 16th tee box Tuesday, NBC`s lead golf announcer, Johnny Miller, the 1973 U.S. Open champion, joined their group.
“Johnny wasn`t convinced that Tiger was going to be the next best thing,” Williams recalled. “And Mark O`Meara basically told him, `Hey, just watch this kid play for a few holes. This guy`s going to be the best player you`ve ever seen.`”
The conditions were favorable, with light wind and sunshine, when Woods teed off in the first round Thursday morning alongside Jim Furyk and Sweden`s Jesper Parnevik. Unusual for a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the notoriously difficult greens were soft and receptive.
Woods put on a clinic, carding a bogey-free 6-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jiménez. This score represented the lowest opening round ever recorded in a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
After spending several hours on the practice putting green the previous evening, dissatisfied with how his ball was rolling on the bumpy poa annua surfaces, Woods needed only 24 putts in the first 18 holes, one-putting 12 times.
When Woods reached a share of the lead with a birdie on the 14th hole, Miller made a striking declaration on the NBC broadcast.
“I think it`s going to be very tight with the rest of the field, but I really do believe, I`ve got this hunch, that Tiger`s going to break every U.S. Open record this week and maybe win by a big margin,” Miller stated. “… I just had the feeling that if he could get off to a great start, which he has done, it could be a week that he just says, `See ya, guys.`”
Golfers teeing off in the morning enjoyed a distinct advantage before a thick, soupy fog rolled in during the afternoon, suspending play with seventy-five players still on the course.
“He put up a very good score,” Sergio Garcia commented after his round. “But if you shoot 1 or 2 under, he could struggle very easily on this course. You can go 2 or 3 over just like that. The tournament`s not over. It just started.”
“It`s Just Not a Fair Fight”
Due to the necessity for numerous golfers to complete their opening rounds Friday morning, Woods` tee time for the second round wasn`t until 4:40 p.m. PT.
As Woods prepared to tee off on the first hole, Jack Nicklaus was concluding his U.S. Open career, walking up the 18th fairway for the final time, visibly emotional. He tipped his cap to the appreciative crowd, who gave the Golden Bear a standing ovation after he landed his second shot on the par-5 green with a 3-wood. He finished the hole with a three-putt for par.
In his 44th and final U.S. Open, Nicklaus posted an 11-over 82 for the round, missing the cut with a 36-hole total of 13-over 155.
“I think the U.S. Open to me is a complete examination of a golfer,” Nicklaus reflected after his round. “The competition, what it does to you inside, how hard it is to work at it. I enjoy that. I enjoy the punishment.”
At that moment, however, no one possessed a game as complete and dominant as Tiger Woods. After carding his first bogey of the tournament on the fifth hole, Woods pushed his tee shot on the uphill sixth into the right rough. Most players in this situation would simply punch out short of the green.
Tiger Woods was not most players.
“I`ve often said the part of Tiger`s game that`s most underrated is his play out of the rough,” Steve Williams noted. “He is a phenomenal player of moving the ball out of the rough and getting it very, very close to pin high. He`s just got a freakish ability, and he`s very strong.”
For this shot, Woods needed not only to muscle the ball out of the thick rough but also clear a tree growing on the side of a cliff to execute the blind shot from approximately 202 yards.
When Woods called for a 7-iron, Williams didn`t hesitate.
“After caddying for Tiger for a little while, you sometimes prefer him to play it safe,” Williams said. “But that was one where I knew straightaway he could get the club on it. Whether he could get it to the green, I didn`t know. I certainly believed he could get it up over the hill.”
Woods took a powerful swing, and his ball somehow cleared the cliff, landed just in front of the green, bounced, and rolled to within 18 feet of the cup.
NBC on-course reporter Roger Maltbie`s commentary on the broadcast perfectly captured the moment: “It`s not a fair fight.”
Tiger missed the eagle putt but secured a birdie.
“An amazing shot that sort of just set the tone for the rest of the week,” Williams commented later.
On the spectacular cliffside par-3 seventh, Woods hit his tee shot to 5 feet and sank another birdie putt, moving him to 8 under par. Another birdie on the 11th extended his lead to two strokes over the field.
As the fog returned, Woods reached the 12th hole in near darkness. Play was suspended shortly after he teed off, but Woods and his playing partners were permitted to finish the hole.
Someone had mentioned to Woods that no one had made a birdie on the challenging, rock-hard green throughout the entire day. He hit a towering 5-iron shot that came to rest about 30 feet away and then incredibly sank the winding birdie putt he could barely see.
“Tiger loves making a statement,” Williams remarked. “Everybody else wanted to mark the ball and come back the next day. But, you know, Tiger likes to leave with an exclamation mark.”
Woods completed the 12th hole 3 under par for his second round and 9 under for the tournament, establishing a 3-stroke lead over Jiménez.
“We have a long way to go — the second round isn`t even over,” Woods stated. “This is a more demanding course than Augusta was then. I need to continue to play well in the morning.”
The Missing Golf Balls
Woods was back on the driving range at 5:07 a.m. PT Saturday morning, hitting balls under the watchful eye of Butch Harmon. It was planned to be a brief warmup, leaving no time for putting practice.
When Woods arrived at the 13th tee, Steve Williams discovered a significant problem.
“When we got to the tee and I put my hand in the bag, there were only three balls,” Williams revealed. “I didn`t know why; there should have been half a dozen.”
Woods had been unhappy with his putting stroke the previous night and had taken three balls from his bag to practice on the carpet in his hotel room. He had forgotten to return them to his bag.
Given how well Woods was hitting the ball, Williams didn`t anticipate needing more than three balls over the remaining six holes of the round. He decided to keep his discovery to himself to avoid adding any pressure on Woods.
On the 13th hole, Woods drove his tee shot into the rough. His subsequent powerful swing to get the ball out scuffed it. After making par, he tossed the damaged ball to a young fan standing near the 13th green.
“The kid was just so excited, showing his dad he`s got a ball with Tiger`s name on it,” Williams recalled. “And I`m thinking, `Geez, maybe I should just get that ball back, just in case, and have the kid come and meet me at the 18th green.`”
“But, I mean, you can`t do that in front of all the people around Tiger. He`ll go, `What in the hell is going on here?`”
Woods went on to make another birdie on the par-5 14th and recorded pars on holes 15 through 17. Crucially, he didn`t lose a ball or give another one away.
However, a potential disaster struck on the 18th tee when Woods pulled his drive left, sending it towards the treacherous rocks along the Pacific Ocean coast.
Tiger was unaware he was down to just one golf ball. Had he lost that last one, he couldn`t have borrowed one from his playing partners. Under the Rules of Golf, he was required to finish the round using the same type of ball, and he was the only player in the field using Nike balls. Using a different type would incur a two-stroke penalty.
As Woods reached for his driver again, Williams cautiously suggested he might consider using a 2-iron off the tee instead.
“Tiger said, `Get your f******g hand off that driver head cover!`” Williams recounted in his recent book, “Together We Roared,” co-written with golf writer Evin Priest. “I didn`t want to tell him it`s our last golf ball because he probably would have told me to get my ass onto 17-Mile Drive and onto a Greyhound bus out of there.”
Fortunately for Williams, Woods` second tee shot was perfectly straight and landed safely on dry land. He made a bogey on the hole, finishing his second round with a 2-under 69. His 36-hole total of 8 under par gave him a remarkable six-stroke lead over Jiménez and Denmark`s Thomas Bjørn, breaking the U.S. Open record for the largest advantage at the halfway point.
Only four other golfers in the entire field were under par at that point.
Woods` extraordinary dominance was clearly beginning to affect some of his competitors.
“I think you guys have to realize that there are 156 guys in this tournament,” Jiménez told reporters. “The press thinks there`s just one guy.”
“He Had More”
Heading into the third round with a substantial lead, the tournament outcome seemed all but decided. Woods made one significant error – a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 third hole after his approach shot found the rough. He finally reached the green on his fifth shot and missed the subsequent putt. Remarkably, Woods was seen laughing as he walked towards the fifth tee.
“That`s what impressed me most and signified Tiger was in complete control,” Williams wrote in his book. “When did you ever see Tiger Woods laugh when he made a double- or triple-bogey? Never.”
On a day characterized by howling wind and firming Pebble Beach greens, Woods managed to card an even-par 71. His total remained at 8 under, making him the sole golfer under par and extending his lead to a staggering 10 strokes over Ernie Els, setting a new record for the largest 54-hole lead in U.S. Open history.
“He`s out there in his own tournament, isn`t he?” Padraig Harrington remarked at the time.
With the outcome seemingly decided, NBC Sports executives wondered if golf fans would tune in for the final round on Father`s Day. The opposite proved true, as millions watched, captivated to see just how low Woods would go and by what margin he would win. The final two rounds became the most-watched U.S. Open rounds since viewership tracking began in 1975.
Tiger Woods lifts the trophy after winning the U.S. Open.
Woods capped his performance with a bogey-free 67 in the final round, resulting in a 72-hole total of 12-under 272. He was the only player to finish under par, ending the tournament a phenomenal 15 strokes ahead of Els and Jiménez, who tied for second at 3 over par.
Woods` 15-stroke margin of victory was the largest in major championship history, surpassing Old Tom Morris`s 13-stroke win at the 1862 Open Championship. He also became the first player in the 106-year history of the U.S. Open to finish the tournament double digits under par.
“It was a complete show with one guy,” said NBC golf announcer Dan Hicks. “This was history, and I think people picked up on the fact that how can one single guy be that dominant? How can one guy take it to 12 under par and the next guy be plus-3? We`re never going to see anything like that.”
“I think it was a fascination with a guy at perfection in a game which no one really comes close to,” Hicks continued. “So it`s the absolute Sistine Chapel of major championship performances, and I really believe it will never be equaled.”
As Woods signed his score card after the final round, he turned to Steve Williams and finally asked about the commotion on the 18th tee during the second round, when only Williams knew they were down to their last golf ball.
“He could see I was nervous, and he had a nine-shot lead,” Williams recalled. “What would you be nervous about? He could see something was wrong, but I never mentioned it until I told him. We laughed forever about that.”
Williams also remembers vividly what Woods told him next, a testament to his relentless ambition.
“Steve, I`m going to play even better at the British Open at St. Andrews,” Woods declared. “I want you to get your ass over there, and I want you to know every blade of grass on that course.”
The following month, Williams traveled to St. Andrews in Scotland a week ahead of the tournament. On July 23, 2000, Woods triumphed at the Open Championship, defeating Bjørn and Els by eight strokes to claim the Claret Jug and, at 24, become the youngest golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.
He finished the “Tiger Slam” the following April, winning his second green jacket at the 2001 Masters to simultaneously hold all four professional major championship titles.
“I think Tiger`s skill level was the greatest in history,” Stewart Cink concluded. “The majors identified that to an even greater extent because they had the heavy rough, and his power overcame the heavy rough. They had a lot of length; his power overcame that. They required patience, and he had the best mental game and fortitude the game has ever seen.”
“They just required more of everything — and he had more.”
