Masters 2019: Top Tiger Woods Quotes, Takeaways from Year's 1st Major
As social media poured in millions of words of praise upon Tiger Woods, the 2019 Masters champion was speechless himself.
"I couldn't be more excited," Woods said on the CBS broadcast following his fifth Masters win. "I'm at a loss for words."
Woods won his first major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open and his first Masters since 2005 after shooting a two-under 70 to defeat Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele by one stroke. As the 15-time major champion tapped in for bogey on No. 18 to seal the deal, he let out a scream and a fist pump loud enough to expel 15 years of frustration.
"I'm a little hoarse from yelling...I was just trying to plot my way around the course all day," Woods said.
"When I tapped the putt in I don't know what I did...I know I screamed. To have my kids there, it has come full circle. My dad was here in '97; now I am a dad.
"It's overwhelming, because of what has transpired. Last year I was lucky to be playing again. At the previous champions dinner I was really struggling. To now be the champion. Unreal for me to experience this. I couldn't be more happy and excited. I'm at a loss for words.
"I was close a couple of times [last year] and able to seal the deal today."
Woods and his son, Charlie, shared an embrace after the victory—a heart-wrenching moment that echoed the hug Tiger shared with his late father, Earl, after his 1997 Masters win.
"When the putt went in, I don't know what I did, but I was just trying to find Charlie. ... It's unreal to experience this," Woods said on the broadcast. "My Mom was here. She was here in 1997 as well, and she couldn't be more excited.
"When I was there with my Dad, he shouldn't have been there that year. He was recovering from a heart attack, from heart surgery. Now I'm there with Charlie. That embrace, it's just special."
The Tiger Woods who won Sunday was a far different man than during his last Masters championship. He was newly married, had no children and seemed destined to be fitted for green jackets for the foreseeable future. That 2005 championship was his fourth in eight years at Augusta, his dominance so great the course got a so-called "Tiger Proofing."
Fourteen years—and countless obstacles—later, Tiger is once again the face of golf on its biggest Sunday.
Odds are he'll take a little more time to appreciate the moment than he did then.
