My Favorite Tiger Woods Moment

Tiger Woods has produced some of the most unforgettable moments in golf.  My favorite Tiger moment, though, isn't the magnificent two iron he hit out of a fairway bunker over 200 yards of water on the 18th hole of the 2000 Canadian Open, or the 12 foot curler he sunk to force a playoff in the 2008 US Open, or the lip hanging chip-in he made on the 16th at Augusta in 2004.

No, my favorite Tiger Woods moment was actually a bogey.  That's right.  A bogey.  That bogey told me more about Tiger's concentration, discipline and dedication to winning than anything else he has said or done.  Let me explain.

It was the 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah.  Final round, the par 3 17th.  Tiger was leading the tournament by five strokes.

Of his many remarkable records, I think the most impressive is holding the scoring record in all four majors.  But there is one small glitch that mars his perfection.  In the PGA Championship, he doesn't hold the record alone.  He co-owns it with Bob May.  He tied Bob May at Valhalla in 2000 with an aggregate score of 270.

Of course, we all remember he went on to defeat May in a playoff, but since the playoff strokes don't count in the record books, he is officially tied with May for the four round score.

We all know that Tiger is a pretty competitive guy.  He's also a guy who knows the golf record book inside out.  You know he would relish the opportunity to remove Bob May's name from that record.

Back to the 2006 PGA.  Standing on the tee box at 17, Tiger's aggregate score was 262.  All he had to do was par the next two holes and he would card a 269, beating the record of 270 by a stroke. If you know anything about Tiger Woods, you know he was fully aware that he was within easy reach of the new scoring record.

The par 3 17th at Medinah is not a particularly difficult hole.  In fact, it's rated as the 18th handicap hole—the easiest—on the course.  Only 180 yards from the tips, it plays shorter because the green sits downhill from the tee box.  The tee shot has to carry over a lake and the Sunday pin was to the far left of the green, near a greenside creek. 

A risky birdie hole on Sunday for sure, but a relatively pedestrian par opportunity.  For Tiger, a nine iron or so to the middle of the green and an easy two putt gets the job done—no sweat.

After consulting with Stevie, Tiger pulled out an extra club and fired his shot toward the back right side of the green, playing well away from both the water hazard in front of green and the water hazard to the left of the green.  In fact, the ball rolled off the back of the green into a closely mowed chipping area.  Tiger eased his chip down the hill, leaving it well short of the pin and the creek behind it.  His 20 foot putt for par burned the edge of the hole.

That was it.  He gave up the record on purpose.   I was dumbfounded.  Even if he dumped his ball in the water on the tee shot, the worst possible score he could have made was a double bogey, still leaving him with a three shot lead with one hole to play.  He was in the final group.  There was no one behind him who could have mounted a charge.

In the 1966 US Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Arnold Palmer had a seven shot lead in the final round over Billy Caspar.  Arnie admits that he started thinking about breaking the Open scoring record and lost his concentration.  Caspar came back and beat Palmer that day.  Many call it the greatest choke in golf history. 

Tiger Woods knows all these stories.  He learns from the mistakes of others.  The lesson he learned from Arnold Palmer: only a fool plays for a scoring record when winning a major is on the line.