There have been some amazing performances from Tiger Woods over the years but his best and most dominating might well have been his 2000 US Open win at Pebble Beach.
Woods won by a massive 15 strokes at Pebble in a record-setting round that had everything.
Remarkably and even more impressively, Woods was the only player in the field to finish under par for the week, with the fact he finished at -12 all the more astounding.
As we know, Woods simply obliterated the field with both Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els his nearest competitors at +3 come the final day.
Indeed, discussing being out with Tiger that day, four-time major champion Els has admitted he very much felt like a spare part.
Ernie Els describes playing with Tiger Woods in the final round of the 2000 US Open
Being able to be out with Tiger Woods during the week at Pebble Beach will have been memorable in different ways for the players who were alongside him.
For Ernie Els, he had the pleasure of partnering with Woods for the final round.
The tournament was already in the bag, with Woods ten clear of Els anyway.
And for the big South African, the round with Woods turned out to be surreal, not least because he felt very much a bit of sideshow.
“It was like a victory walk for him. It was an amazing walk,” Els reminisced.
“It was tough for me because I was like a sideshow and people knew they were watching history being made. It was really the coming out party of Tiger really showing how he’s going to dominate the game in that era.
“Thinking back, the golf I watched that day was still some of the best I’ve ever seen. A special day.”
What impressed Ernie Els about Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach
Woods’ final round at Pebble Beach saw him somehow shoot four-under par and his winning margin of 15 strokes remains a record to this very day.
For Woods, that time in his career was all about being as dominant as possible and that meant taking care over every single shot.
Indeed, this is something that Els also pointed out, admitting he saw Woods celebrate a putt for par wildly with a few holes remaining.
“Tiger, back in those days, he was very intense. He was really playing every shot 100 percent to his ability. He was not backing off one inch. I remember he made a putt on 16 for par and he was fist-pumping, and I was like, The tournament is over. But obviously he didn’t want to make a bogey,” Els added.
As many have stated before, there hasn’t been much like prime Tiger and this at Pebble Beach will forever go down as one of the greatest displays of golf ever.
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