Held twenty-five years ago, the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California was a period of reflection, marking the life of defending champion Payne Stewart, who had tragically passed away in a plane crash less than eight months prior.
It also served as a farewell to the legendary Jack Nicklaus, an 18-time major champion, participating in his 44th and final U.S. Open.
Ultimately, the tournament became a defining moment for Tiger Woods, who delivered one of the most exceptional performances in the history of men`s golf over the four days.
Woods arrived at Pebble Beach Golf Links just three weeks after securing his 19th PGA Tour victory – and fourth of the season – with a five-stroke win at the Memorial Tournament. This made him the first player to win the event, hosted by Nicklaus, in consecutive years.
Remarkably, Woods had claimed victory in 11 of his previous 20 PGA Tour appearances: triumphing over Ernie Els in a playoff at the season-opening Mercedes Championship in Hawaii; staging a comeback from seven strokes down over the final seven holes to defeat Matt Gogel by two shots at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on February 9; and dominating the field with a four-stroke lead at Arnold Palmer`s tournament, the Bay Hill Invitational, on March 19.
At just 24 years old, Woods had already become the first golfer to surpass $15 million in career on-course earnings. He had won the 1997 Masters by a record 12 strokes and the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club, putting him halfway towards completing the career Grand Slam.
Woods was widely considered the overwhelming favorite to win the U.S. Open, especially after finishing tied for third place, just two strokes behind Stewart, at Pinehurst No. 2 the previous year.
“If the conditions are dry and windy, then it`s a matter of patience,” Nicklaus commented before the tournament. “But if they`re throwing darts, then Tiger will shoot a tremendously low score, no matter what the conditions are. And he`ll probably break the Open record.”
Nicklaus had established the U.S. Open`s 72-hole scoring record of 272 in 1980 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey. Lee Janzen later matched this record at the same course in 1993.
`Never seen anything like it`
Once Woods began his preparations at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Sunday, his caddie, Steve Williams, quickly recognized that Woods was once again the player to beat on the Monterey Peninsula.
Three weeks prior, Woods had competed in the Deutsche Bank Open in Hamburg, Germany. He reportedly received $1 million to attempt to defend his European Tour title. In the final round, his second shot on the 11th hole found the water, resulting in a double bogey. He finished tied for third, four strokes behind winner Lee Westwood. It was only the second time in Woods` career up to that point that he failed to win after holding the 54-hole lead.
After observing Woods hit balls on the practice range Monday morning, Williams and Woods` swing coach, Butch Harmon, suggested he reduce his practice load before the tournament began.
“We didn`t want Tiger to overdo it before the tournament started because both of us had never seen him strike the ball with such precision and just the way he was shaping the shots,” Williams shared. “We didn`t want Tiger to play too much before the tournament because he was so geared and ready to play well.”
Sam Reeves, a close friend of Harmon`s, had watched Woods` swing since the early days of their collaboration.
“I`ve never seen anything like it,” Reeves told Williams. “I`ve never seen him hit the ball that well.”
Woods played two practice rounds with his good friend Mark O`Meara. On the 16th tee box Tuesday, NBC`s lead golf announcer Johnny Miller, the 1973 U.S. Open champion, joined the group.
“Johnny wasn`t convinced that Tiger was going to be the next best thing,” Williams recalled. “And Mark O`Meara basically told him, `Hey, just watch this kid play for a few holes. This guy`s going to be the best player you`ve ever seen.`”
With light wind and sunshine, Woods teed off in the first round Thursday morning alongside Jim Furyk and Sweden`s Jesper Parnevik. Uncharacteristically, Pebble Beach`s challenging greens were soft and receptive.
Woods put on a masterful display, carding a bogey-free 6-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jiménez. This was the lowest round ever recorded in a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
After spending several hours on the practice putting green the previous night due to dissatisfaction with how his ball was rolling on the bumpy poa annua greens, Woods needed only 24 putts over the first 18 holes, one-putting 12 times.
When Woods reached a share of the lead with a birdie on the 14th, Miller made a significant prediction on the NBC broadcast.
“I think it`s going to be very tight with the rest of the field, but I really do believe, I`ve got this hunch, that Tiger`s going to break every U.S. Open record this week and maybe win by a big margin,” Miller stated. “… I just had the feeling that if he could get off to a great start, which he has done, it could be a week that he just says, `See ya, guys.`”
Golfers playing in the morning had a distinct advantage before a thick, dense fog rolled in during the afternoon. Play was suspended with seventy-five players still on the course.
“He put up a very good score,” Sergio Garcia commented after the round. “But if you shoot 1 or 2 under, he could struggle very easily on this course. You can go 2 or 3 over just like that. The tournament`s not over. It just started.”
`It`s just not a fair fight`
Due to numerous golfers needing to complete their opening rounds Friday morning, Woods` second round tee time was delayed until 4:40 p.m. PT.
As he prepared to tee off on No. 1, Jack Nicklaus was concluding his final U.S. Open appearance, wiping away tears as he walked up the 18th fairway. The Golden Bear acknowledged the crowd with a tip of his visor, receiving a standing ovation after hitting his second shot onto the green on the par-5 hole with a 3-wood. He three-putted for a par.
In his last U.S. Open, Nicklaus posted an 11-over 82, missing the cut with a 36-hole total of 13-over 155.
“I think the U.S. Open to me is a complete examination of a golfer,” Nicklaus remarked after his round. “The competition, what it does to you inside, how hard it is to work at it. I enjoy that. I enjoy the punishment.”
At that moment, no one possessed a more complete game than Woods. After bogeying the fifth hole, his first of the tournament, Woods pushed his tee shot on the uphill sixth into the right rough. Most players would typically punch out, leaving their ball short of the green.
Not Woods.
“I`ve often said the part of Tiger`s game that`s most underrated is his play out of the rough,” Williams stated. “He is a phenomenal player of moving the ball out of the rough and getting it very, very close to pin high. He`s just got a freakish ability, and he`s very strong.”
Woods faced a challenging blind shot from approximately 202 yards, requiring him to not only muscle the ball out of the thick rough but also clear a tree growing on the side of a cliff.
When Woods requested a 7-iron, Williams didn`t hesitate.
“After caddying for Tiger for a little while, you sometimes prefer him to play it safe,” Williams said. “But that was one where I knew straightaway he could get the club on it. Whether he could get it to the green, I didn`t know. I certainly believed he could get it up over the hill.”
Woods took a powerful swing at the ball, which somehow cleared the cliff, landed in front of the green, bounced, and stopped just 18 feet from the hole.
NBC on-course reporter Roger Maltbie`s comment on the broadcast perfectly captured the moment: “It`s not a fair fight.”
Woods missed the eagle putt but secured a birdie.
“An amazing shot that sort of just set the tone for the rest of the week,” Williams reflected.
On the cliffside par-3 seventh, Woods hit his tee shot to 5 feet and sank another birdie putt, moving to 8 under par. Another birdie on No. 11 extended his lead to two strokes.
As the fog returned, Woods reached the 12th hole in near darkness. Play was suspended shortly after he teed off, but Woods and his playing partners were permitted to finish the hole.
Someone had mentioned to Woods that no one had made a birdie on the rock-hard green throughout the entire day. He hit a towering 5-iron shot to about 30 feet and sank a lengthy birdie putt he could barely see.
“Tiger loves making a statement,” Williams commented. “Everybody else wanted to mark the ball and come back the next day. But, you know, Tiger likes to leave with an exclamation mark.”
Woods was 3 under par through 12 holes in the second round and 9 under for the tournament, establishing a 3-stroke lead over Jiménez.
“We have a long way to go — the second round isn`t even over,” Woods stated. “This is a more demanding course than Augusta was then. I need to continue to play well in the morning.”
The missing golf balls
Woods was back on the driving range at 5:07 a.m. PT Saturday morning, practicing under the watchful eye of Harmon. It was an abbreviated warmup, leaving no time for the putting green.
Upon reaching the 13th tee, Williams discovered a problem.
“When we got to the tee and I put my hand in the bag, there were only three balls,” Williams recounted. “I didn`t know why; there should have been half a dozen.”
Woods had still been unhappy with his putting stroke the previous night, so he had taken three balls from his bag to practice on the carpet in his hotel room. He had forgotten to put them back.
Given how well Woods was striking the ball, Williams didn`t anticipate needing more than three balls for the remaining six holes of the round. He chose to keep this discovery to himself to avoid adding pressure on Woods.
On the 13th hole, Woods drove his tee shot into the rough, and his powerful swing out of the tall grass scuffed the ball. After making par, he tossed the damaged ball to a young fan near the 13th green.
“The kid was just so excited, showing his dad he`s got a ball with Tiger`s name on it,” Williams said. “And I`m thinking, `Geez, maybe I should just get that ball back, just in case, and have the kid come and meet me at the 18th green.`”
“But, I mean, you can`t do that in front of all the people around Tiger. He`ll go, `What in the hell is going on here?`”
Woods secured another birdie on the par-5 14th and made pars on holes 15 through 17. He didn`t lose a ball – or give another one away.
However, disaster nearly struck on the 18th tee when Woods pulled his drive left into the rocks along the Pacific Ocean coast.
Tiger was unaware he was down to his last ball. If he lost that one, he couldn`t simply borrow from his playing partners. Under the Rules of Golf, he was required to complete the round using the same type of ball he`d started with, or incur a two-stroke penalty for using a different kind. He was the only player in the field using Nike balls.
As Woods reached for his driver again, Williams tentatively suggested using a 2-iron off the tee.
“Tiger said, `Get your f******g hand off that driver head cover!`” Williams recalled in his recent book. “I didn`t want to tell him it`s our last golf ball because he probably would have told me to get my ass onto 17-Mile Drive and onto a Greyhound bus out of there.”
Fortunately for Williams, Woods` second tee shot was straight and landed on dry land. He made a bogey, finishing the round with a 2-under 69. His 36-hole total of 8 under par placed him six strokes ahead of Jiménez and Denmark`s Thomas Bjørn, setting a U.S. Open record for the largest lead at the halfway mark.
Only four other golfers were under par at that point.
Woods` overwhelming dominance began to affect some of his competitors.
“I think you guys have to realize that there are 156 guys in this tournament,” Jiménez told reporters. “The press thinks there`s just one guy.”
`He had more`
Heading into the third round, the outcome felt almost certain. Woods made one significant error – a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 third after his approach shot landed in the rough. He finally reached the green on his fifth shot and missed the subsequent putt. Woods was seen laughing as he walked to the fifth tee.
“That`s what impressed me most and signified Tiger was in complete control,” Williams noted in his book. “When did you ever see Tiger Woods laugh when he made a double- or triple-bogey? Never.”
On a day marked by howling wind and finally dry, firm greens at Pebble Beach, Woods managed to card an even-par 71. Remaining at 8 under, he was the only golfer under par and held a commanding 10-stroke lead over Ernie Els, establishing the largest 54-hole lead in U.S. Open history.
“He`s out there in his own tournament, isn`t he?” Padraig Harrington commented at the time.
With the tournament essentially decided, NBC Sports wondered if golf fans would tune in for the final round on Father`s Day. The opposite occurred; millions watched to see how low Woods would go and by what margin he would win. The final two rounds became the most-watched U.S. Open rounds since viewership tracking began in 1975.
Woods finished with a bogey-free 67 in the final round, resulting in a 72-hole total of 12-under 272. He was the only player to finish under par, leading Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jiménez, who tied for second at 3 over, by a remarkable 15 strokes.
Woods` 15-stroke victory was the largest margin in major championship history, surpassing Old Tom Morris` 13-stroke win at the 1862 Open Championship. He was the first player in the 106-year history of the U.S. Open to finish double digits under par.
“It was a complete show with one guy,” NBC golf announcer Dan Hicks stated. “This was history, and I think people picked up on the fact that how can one single guy be that dominant? How can one guy take it to 12 under par and the next guy be plus-3? We`re never going to see anything like that.”
“I think it was a fascination with a guy at perfection in a game which no one really comes close to. So it`s the absolute Sistine Chapel of major championship performances, and I really believe it will never be equaled.”
As Woods signed his scoring card after the final round, he turned to Williams and inquired about the commotion on the 18th tee during the second round, when only Williams knew they were down to their last golf ball.
“He could see I was nervous, and he had a nine-shot lead,” Williams recounted. “What would you be nervous about? He could see something was wrong, but I never mentioned it until I told him. We laughed forever about that.”
Williams also remembers Woods` subsequent words vividly.
“Steve, I`m going to play even better at the British Open at St. Andrews,” Woods told him. “I want you to get your ass over there, and I want you to know every blade of grass on that course.”
The following month, Williams traveled to St. Andrews in Scotland a week early. On July 23, 2000, Woods defeated Thomas Bjørn and Ernie Els by eight strokes to claim the Claret Jug, becoming the youngest golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.
He completed the final leg of the “Tiger Slam” the following April by winning a second green jacket at the 2001 Masters, holding all four major championships simultaneously.
“I think Tiger`s skill level was the greatest in history,” Cink concluded. “The majors highlighted this even further because they featured heavy rough, which his power overcame. They had significant length, which his power overcame. They demanded patience, and he possessed the best mental game and fortitude the game has ever seen.”
“They just required more of everything – and he had more.”
Wesley Dunham 
Marcus Blakely