Tiger Woods’ 15 essential moments on the PGA Tour

Tiger pulls off the trifecta in a shootout at the 2000 PGA Championship

One year earlier, Tiger Woods had battled Sergio Garcia down the stretch at the PGA Championship and claimed his second major. In the time between Medinah and the week Tiger showed up to Valhalla for the 2000 PGA Championship, he had won 10 tournaments, including the previous two majors. He was the easy favorite but little did he know that he was in for a fight with what some might call an unlikely contender.

After rounds of 66, 67 and 70, Woods had been in the lead or tied for the lead after each of the first three days and went into Sunday’s final round at 13-under and held a one-stroke lead over Scott Dunlap, a journeyman who never tasted victory on the PGA Tour, and 31-year-old Bob May, who had joined the tour in 1994 but had just one win to his name, a win at the Victor Chandler British Masters on the European Tour in 1999. But this was the big time. This was the PGA Championship. And this was the final round of a major with the best player in the world.

Dunlap stumbled to a 75, was never in contention and finished tied for ninth. May, however, showed no fear and went toe-to-tie with Tiger the entire day. What most may not remember or know about Bob May was that he was a very accomplished amateur player. He grew up in Orange County, California, and at just 16 years old was an All-American and became the youngest player to ever tee it up at the L.A. Open…at least until Tiger broke that record eight years later.

May attended Oklahoma State University and was a member of the winning Walker Cup team in 1991, a team that also featured Phil Mickelson and David Duval. The story that Tiger Woods had some of Jack Nicklaus’ records on a poster on his wall as a kid are well known but what many don’t know is that he was following Bob May in a similar fashion. Yes, May was that good. So Tiger knew full well that he was in for a fight on that Sunday and he got one.

The two went back and forth and back and forth all day. May had taken a two-stroke lead by the seventh hole but Woods fired back with consecutive birdies to even things up and after both parred the ninth, May made three consecutive birdies of his own to get to 16-under. The problem for him was that Tiger had also birdie two of the holes and trailed by only one. Both made pars at 13, birdies at 14 and pars at 15 and 16. Still ahead by one, May made par at the 17th but had to watch Woods do his thing and tie it up with a birdie. But May had some magic of his own as he made birdie at the last. True to form, Woods answered and the three-hole playoff was on.

With Tiger on the green with a look at birdie on the first playoff hole, May had a tricky chip from the rough and needed to get up and down to have any chance of staying in this thing. And he again came through with a fantastic effort that even Tiger had to acknowledge. He tapped in for par but had to watch as Woods made of his most iconic putts, a putt that he ran after and pointed at as it dropped in the hole. May just looked dejected but still wouldn’t give up. After both made par on the second playoff hole, they came to the par-5 18th and Tiger hit an awful drive, forcing a layup for his second and then he hit his third in the bunker. But a great bunker shot left him with a tap-in for par and May gave it one final run to tie but his difficult birdie putt just missed and Tiger had won this third major championship in a row. What a battle this was.

While May would never play another major championship following the 2001 season, Tiger was now a five-time major champion and although he had to wait a while, he had the chance to hold all four major championships at once. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There was still another iconic moment to come before he got back to Augusta.