Tiger Woods once shared what he told himself after shooting 40 on his first nine holes at the 1997 Masters

Add as preferred source on Google

You do not need to say too much about Tiger Woods winning the 1997 Masters before it becomes clear just what a remarkable achievement it was, with the 21-year-old clinching victory by 12 shots for his first major title.

Few victories across sport have announced the arrival of greatness quite like Tiger Woods triumphing at the 1997 Masters. His only previous appearance as a professional at Augusta National had seen Woods miss the cut.

And had you been following the boy wonder during the early stages of Thursday’s round, you would have been forgiven for thinking that another missed cut was on the cards.

Woods began his week with a bogey on the first hole. And while another dropped shot at the fourth may not have seemed like a disaster – two over par would have been good enough for a top 20 finish the previous year – bogeys on eight and nine then left Woods with a mountain to climb.

What Tiger Woods told himself after posting 40 on the first nine of the 1997 Masters

Woods would make the turn in 40 before going on to post one of the most incredible back nines Augusta has ever seen. And in 2003, he explained what he told himself before hitting the shot which sparked the entire fightback.

“Yeah I was pretty hot. I was definitely pretty hot. I hit a 2-iron down there on 10 and I remember I made the swing that I was making in the practice rounds and in my warm-up,” he said.

“And I said, all right, here’s the deal. Just make the same swing that you did on this tee shot all the way through the entire back nine. And if I can somehow get it close to par, or if not back to par, I’ll be right where I need to be. I can still win the tournament. And then things just got going. I chipped in on 12, which was a lot of luck. And from there I hit some good shots and I made everything.”

How Tiger Woods fought back to win the 1997 Masters by 12 shots

Woods would make birdies on 10, 12, 13 and 17, as well as an eagle on 15 to somehow end the day at two under par.

That would be enough for fourth spot on his own, three shots back of the lead. By the end of the second round, it would be Woods who found himself at the summit – three shots clear of Colin Montgomerie.

Woods would drop just three shots over his final 63 holes of the tournament, having dropped four in his first nine.

In fact, Woods could have made another 40 on the back nine to conclude his Thursday and, had every other score across the week been exactly the same, still won by two shots over Tom Kite.

It is just incredible that Woods was still thinking about winning the tournament at a time when most players would have assumed that simply making the cut was going to be a monumental task.