There has never been a more dominant performance at a major championship than at the US Open in 2000, when Tiger Woods finished at least 15 shots clear of everyone else in the field to seal the first leg of the Tiger Slam at Pebble Beach.
Tiger Woods may have possibly played better in his career – including at The Open Championship in the very next major – but nothing summed up the gulf between Woods and the rest of the best players in the world than what happened at the 2000 US Open.
Woods led by one after the first round at Pebble Beach. That lead increased to six at the halfway stage, and had reached double figures with one round to play.
Someone seemingly did not tell Woods that the tournament was in the bag heading into Sunday. Incredibly, the American did not make a single bogey in the final round to move 15 shots clear.
How Miguel Angel Jimenez reacted to finishing second to Tiger Woods at the 2000 US Open
Remarkably, a handful of players inside the top 10 were 19 shots adrift.
In fact, the two players who finished tied for second – Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els – were as close to Woods as they were to Kirk Triplett, who was down in 56th.
And it seems that the other players in the field could not help but laugh at Woods’ performance. Speaking on the Fore Play Podcast in 2021, Butch Harmon shared the brilliant comment Jimenez made as Woods walked down the final hole.
“You couldn’t beat him. There’s a great story about that. Ernie Els and Miguel Ángel Jiménez finished tied for second, 15 behind, and Ernie was playing in the last group with Tiger, and I was doing Sky Sports which I’ve done for 24 years so I came down from my tower behind 18 green, I just wanted to be able to congratulate him because I had to go back up and finish,” he said.
“So I was standing there waiting for Tiger to finish and Jimenez was standing right next to me, he and Ernie were tied for second 15 behind. Jimenez is pretty funny too, Miguel’s a funny guy and he looks at this USGA guy and he goes, ‘excuse me sir, can you tell me where the playoff starts between me and Ernie for the other tournament’, which was a great line. Just so nonchalant standing behind the 18th green because this guy’s in a different tournament than we are.”
The frightening claim Els made after finishing 15 shots behind Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach
Els was one of the greatest players of his generation. He won four major titles and stood toe to toe with Woods on a number of occasions – including during the 2003 Presidents Cup. He had also taken Woods to a playoff at the Mercedes Championship at the beginning of the year.
And yet, the South African suggested that there was virtually no chance of getting within a handful of shots of Woods that week – as he reacted to playing alongside him that day at Pebble Beach.
“Well, I don’t know how much more there is to say about him. We’ve talked about him for two years now, and I guess we’re going to talk about him for the next three. Whatever I say is going to be an understatement. At the moment, he’s just a great player. He’s only 24 years old. It seems like we’re not playing in the same ballpark right now. When he’s on, you don’t have much of a chance. This week, myself, with my own game, I played one good round of golf. But still, I guess if I played out of my mind, I probably still would have lost by five, six, seven. He’s a phenomenal player. That’s an understatement, probably,” he said.
Of course, no-one else would win a major title until the US Open the following year. By that time, Woods had already cemented his spot as arguably the greatest talent the game has seen.
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