The major championship where Tiger Woods hit more poor shots than Steve Williams had ever seen before but still won

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Tiger Woods has surely hit a number of the greatest and most iconic shots of all-time, whether it be the bunker shot on the 18th at the 2000 Canadian Open, the chip from the back of 16 at the 2005 Masters, or the putt to make the playoff at the 2008 US Open.

Every golf fan can probably recall a moment where it seemed only Tiger Woods could pull off the shot he attempted. He only seemed to get better as the pressure intensified. It was frightening just how often the 15-time major champion would produce a moment of magic when anything less would have cost him the tournament.

But it almost gets overlooked that so much of Woods’ brilliance came to the fore after he had put himself in trouble.

Woods was no stranger to needing the recovery game of Seve Ballesteros. So that perhaps stood him in good stead for arguably his greatest ever major championship victory.

The major Steve Williams cannot believe Tiger Woods actually won

There is an element of sadness looking back at the 2008 US Open now. Few would have ever imagined that it would be the penultimate major win of Woods’ career – as things stand – and that the golfing world would have to wait more than a decade for the next major triumph.

It would prove to be Woods’ final appearance of the 2008 season as he essentially played that week with a broken leg. Nevertheless, he still managed to complete 91 holes in the tournament itself to beat Rocco Mediate in a playoff.

And speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Steve Williams admitted that he still cannot quite believe how Woods managed to get the victory.

“Unquestionably [his greatest major win]. I remember I flew in from New Zealand to California on Saturday and I was driving down the freeway to San Diego there, and Hank Haney, we were talking to Hank on the phone and he says, ‘Steve, Tiger’s got no right playing in this tournament, he’s playing terrible, he’s got no right playing in the tournament’. His practice was very ordinary, it was only nine holes each day and it was very average,” he said.

“I still think today it was an amazing thing. And I’ve often talked about the golf gods, sometimes I think there are golf gods because I almost feel like everybody let him win the tournament. His name got up there on the leaderboard, he made that incredible finish to Friday’s round. His name got up there and it’s as if they let him win. I know they didn’t. But I felt the winning score should have been several shots lower than that. It just didn’t seem that difficult. And major championships are won by not the greatest amount of good shots, it’s the least amount of bad shots – but he hit more poor shots in that major championship than probably almost any tournament he played in – and still won the tournament.

“He made three double bogeys on the first hole. It was an incredible feat given what I saw prior to each round and after, with his trainer just trying to get him to the point where he could walk and play.”

Tiger Woods received an apology after winning the 2008 US Open

One of the most memorable comments from that week at Torrey Pines came from Retief Goosen, who admitted to thinking that Woods was exaggerating the problem during the tournament, noting that he seemed to only show he was hurt after hitting a bad shot.

Goosen – who won the US Open twice in his career – would subsequently issue a full apology to Woods following the news that he had undergone surgery.

“I wholeheartedly apologise for that and intend to contact Tiger to explain this to him,” he wrote at the time.

“To be honest, the fact that Tiger won the US Open while suffering that sort of injury is incredible. Clearly this Goose was no match for a one-legged Tiger!

“I wish Tiger a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming him back on Tour as soon as possible.

“I am a huge admirer of Tiger and for what he has achieved in golf and we are all lucky to have the privilege to be playing in the same era as one of, if not the, best player of all time.”

In Goosen’s defence, no-one should be able to win a major championship with a broken leg and a knee which needs reconstructive surgery immediately after.

And not only did Woods win, but he did so playing more than five competitive rounds of golf across the week. It is arguably one of the greatest sporting achievements of all-time.