The Open Championship: Top 10 moments in history
By Luke Norris
3. Tiger wins one for Earl at Royal Liverpool in 2006
It’s very difficult to pick a Tiger Woods moment at The Open Championship. Not only is he a three-time winner of this event but he’s provided some of the greatest moments in the history of this tournament.
There was his record-setting performance in 2000 as part of one of the greatest seasons in golf history, a 19-under finish and eight-shot win at the Old Course at St. Andrews that was not only part of the Tiger Slam but also made him the youngest to ever win the career Grand Slam at just 24 years of age. He followed that up the next time The Open came to St. Andrews with a wire-to-wire victory, this time a five-shot victory over Colin Montgomerie with a 14-under finish for his 10th major championship.
Tiger would finish in the top five in the next two majors, a tie for fourth at the 2005 PGA Championship and a tie for third at the 2006 Masters, but his world turned upside down when his father and mentor, Earl Woods, died in May following a long bout with cancer. Woods would take a nine-week break from competitive golf but would return at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot but uncharacteristically missed the cut, his first missed cut in a major championship since missing the weekend at The Masters as an amateur in 1996.
He returned at The Open a month later, determined to get back on track and played a beautiful four days of golf. A 5-under round of 67 left him one shot off the pace after the first day and he followed it up with a brilliant 65 on Friday to take a one-shot lead over Ernie Els heading into the weekend, a lead he maintained on Els, Chris DiMarco and Sergio Garcia going into Sunday’s final round.
As he had done the previous year at Augusta, DiMarco took Woods to the limit but as he had done so many times before, Tiger was able to hold off the rest of the field and birdies at 14, 15 and 16 closed the deal. But this win seemed different. Not one to show much emotion on the course, Woods tapped in for par on the 18th to seal the victory and broke down in tears, embracing longtime caddie Steve Williams in remembrance of his late father. Woods would go on to say that while obviously not like him to usually do something like that, the emotions were too much for him to overcome as he thought about his father and what he meant to his life and career. What a scene.
The Open Championship win also kicked off quite the stretch of golf for Tiger as he would go on to win his next four starts, including his 12th major at the PGA Championship.