Steve Williams was probably the envy of many golf fans around the turn of the century, with the New Zealander having the beat seat in the house as Tiger Woods won 13 of his major titles.
Tiger Woods spent around a decade at the top of the game before his penultimate major win at the 2008 US Open. In that time, the 49-year-old established himself as arguably the greatest talent the game has ever had.
Steve Williams obviously played a key role during the best years in Woods’ career. While their time together would end on a sour note, it was a partnership which seemed to be unbeatable at times.
And of course, it was Williams who was on the bag for what was arguably the best achievement in sporting history: The Tiger Slam.
The major Tiger Woods wanted to win more than any other tournament
Woods won the final three majors of the 2000 season – having finished fifth at the Masters earlier in the year – and followed that by winning at Augusta National at the start of 2001. It is only time in the game’s history that any player has held all four of the current major titles at the same time.
It is hard to imagine the anticipation ahead of that particular event. And it seems that Woods was feeling the nerves behind the scenes too.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Williams explained that he has not seen Woods more determined to win an event than he was that week.
“There was so much talk about it. To actually go there, he practices hard for every major championship, but he was really, from the start of the season in 2001, he was eyeing that major championship like no other tournament that he’d played in. There certainly was a lot of pressure, but there was a lot of fun involved with that pressure because it’s the ultimate chance to do something realistically, probably no-one is ever going to do, so you’ve got to see that as a fun thing. It’s a challenge, and make it fun,” he said.
“And for Tiger to actually pull that off, I don’t think there’s ever been any golf event where a player’s been under more scrutiny than that, and more pressure, because ultimately, if you asked him, he said, ‘yeah I might be able to do it again’. But you can’t do it again until you do it the first time. So there was a huge amount of pressure, no question about that. But it’s good pressure, and for him to pull it off was unbelievable.”
How Tiger Woods did indeed win the 2001 Masters
Woods did not fly out of the blocks by any means that week in Georgia. Chris DiMarco led after the first round after posting a 65, while Woods would find himself five shots back on two under par.
In fact, DiMarco would remain ahead at the halfway stage, having got to 10 under par. However, Woods had started to make his charge after a 66 on Friday. And by the end of Saturday, Woods was leading by one over Phil Mickelson.
However, there was plenty of contenders with 18 holes to play. Five shots separated the top 10.
Despite the pressure, Woods still managed to mock Mickelson during the final round. And he did manage to outshine his longtime foe, with a 68 winning Woods a second green jacket.
If the Tiger Slam is not the greatest sporting achievement of all-time, it most definitely has to be in the conversation.
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