It began a decade before, although in many ways the intensity of the dynamic was missed, but when the hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville field on September 11, 2001, there was no denying that a new order had emerged. It was a war against our way of life, a war of terror, and our response would dominate the decade and years come.
Photo above: World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., opened April 29, 2004. Right: Court of Flags at the United Nations, Mateusz Stachowski, SXC Free Images.
April 8, 2001 - Tiger Woods becomes the first golfer to hold all four major golf titles simultaneously by winning the Master's tournament in Augusta, Georgia. This followed a remarkable run in 2000 when Woods claimed victory at the final three majors of that season; the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship.
If there were a Mount Rushmore for golfers, Eldrick Tiger Woods be one of the guaranteed chiseled faces, and one reason for this, among many achievements, was the amazing run through the Major Championships from the U.S. Open in 2000 through winning the Masters in 2001. To win all the majors during a career, the Career Grand Slam, in any order and any year is a fantastic achievement. Woods had done that, at the youngest age, when he won 2000 British Open at St. Andrews. To do this in one stretch, spectacular.
From the time Tiger Woods turned professional out of Stanford University in 1996, to his first professional major victory, that next year, 1997, at the Masters, the golfing world knew that Woods would be its next major star. Many were already calling him the best golfer ever; they were only waiting on time and tournament victories to verify it. While that may not have come quite true; Woods still trails Jack Nicklaus in Major Victories, 15 to 18, it still likely places him 2nd. With debates ongoing about the rest on their own golf statuary mountain; for us Bobby Jones, designer of Augusta National, and Ben Hogan would be on it.
So how did Woods win the 2001 Masters Tournament? Woods, with the pressure of history at his back, opened the tournament on the grounds of the old Fruitlands Nursery, with a score of 70, two under par. His second round of 66 rose him on the leader board, as did his third round of 68, leaving him with a one stroke lead. A final round of 68 won the championship with a total of 272, sixteen under par, winning by two strokes over David Duval, and cemented the legacy of Tiger Woods as being the only man in history to hold all four Major Championships at one time.
In pre-modern times, Bobby Jones had held all major championships in one year, 1930, but two of them were amateur championships at the time, the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur, and thus could not include professional players. Jones was a lawyer by profession and never turned pro.
Tiger Woods Career History
Tiger Woods has won eight-two PGA tournaments, tied for first with Sam Snead. He has won fifteen major championships, including the amazing comeback victory at the Masters at the age of 43 in 2019. Woods, despite making another comeback from a car accident, is still competing in Majors at the age of 46 in 2022.
But to understand the impact Woods has had on the game, not only on the course, but in raising awareness and play among the minority communities, you had to realize how his professional career started. In the fall of 1996, Tiger Woods left Stanford University and turned professional, using his seven invitation exemptions to be invited to tournaments. However, by the end of that year, he had won two of them; the Las Vegas Invitational and Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic, thus making him a fully exempt player for the 1997 season without needing to go to Q-School. He has been, and will be, an exempt player for all regular PGA tournaments through the rest of his career. Once a player wins twenty tournament, they reach that unique status.
For sixteen straight seasons, 1996 to 2009, he won at least one tournament. Injuries broke that streak for two years, but Woods rebounded in 2012 and 2013 to win a total of eight. Injuries again caused Tiger Woods to lose time until 2018 when he won another tournament, and 2019, when he broke through with his fifth Master's victory.
Quotes about the Tiger Slam
"Am I amazed? I'm amazed I was able to play as well as I did when I needed to do it. To win four in succession, that's hard to believe," Tiger Woods.
"If you're a historian, obviously it isn't a Grand Slam. If you're a player, when you look at it, I think it's pretty wild," Fred Couples.
"We have witnessed the greatest golfing feat of our time," Hootie Johnson, chairman of Augusta National.
"Say hello to the Tiger Slam. No, it wasn't the calendar-year Grand Slam, which is why the golf world had to invent a new term, as Tiger Woods became the only player to have ever held the titles to all four major championships at the same time. He claimed the Green Jacket when he made an 18-foot birdie on the 72nd hole to win the Masters by two strokes," pgatour.com.
"It was a landmark victory that will be compared to some of the greatest achievements in sports -- Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941 and Mark Spitz's seven Olympic swimming gold medals in 1972, among others. Legendary golfers like Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson and Gary Player won multiple major championships, but none won four in succession, against the world's best players, competing on some of the world's most difficult courses," Clifton Brown, New York Times.
Photo Above: Tiger Woods playing at his first U.S. Open, 1997, Tim Hipps. Courtesy U.S. Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command (FMWRC) Public Affairs via Wikipedia Commons. Photo below: Tiger Woods extending after his drive, 2007, Keith Allison. Photo has been cropped. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons C.C. 2.0. Information source: Masters.com; augusta.com; tigerwoods.com; golf.com; pgatour.com; "Woods Wins the Masters for his 4th Straight Major," 2001, Clifton Brown, New York Times; Wikipedia Commons.
History Photo Bomb
Bush-Cheney campaign bus on their presidential campaign through the Philadelphia suburbs in 2004.
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Damage across the Gulf Coast from Mississippi to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
