Tiger Woods is the only player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in three consecutive years.
He’s the only player to bag a three-peat in the U.S. Amateur.
And in 2003, he was in line to become the only one to win three consecutive green jackets.
“I really would like to win this week,” Woods said ahead of the tournament.
“I’ve been able to do certain things in golf that no one’s ever done before. And if you’re ever in that position, you want to take advantage of it because it doesn’t happen all the time. I was in that position to win the Juniors, to win the Amateurs, and now hopefully I can win three straight Masters.”
2003 Masters: Final leaderboard
He headed to the Masters with three victories in five starts that year and was installed as the 7-5 favorite. Someone not named Woods, however, made history (we’ll get to him in a bit).
Woods opened with a 76 – his worst first-round score in his 22 Masters starts – and shot a second-round 73 to make the cut on the number and stood 11 shots behind the leader.
But Woods vaulted into contention with a bogey-free 66 in Saturday’s third round and went to sleep just four shots behind the leader.
“Tomorrow you just play one shot at a time and see what happens,” Woods said after the third round. “I played well here and there and then finally today I got something going and I continued it for all 18 holes.
“We all know that anything can happen on that back nine. You just need to get yourself in position. I’m four back. That’s not inconceivable. That’s for sure.”
He got within three with a birdie on two but then his three-peat ran into trouble on the third hole named Flowering Peach. With a strong wind at his back, Woods pulled driver and had a go at the green 350 yards away. Instead he wound up in a batch of trees. He punched out left-handed but needed four more shots to finish off a disastrous double-bogey 6.
“That cost me a lot right there, a lot of mo,” Woods said.
He went on to bogey three of his next five holes and finished with a 75 – tied for his worst final-round in his history in the Masters.
“It was just one of those weeks where I couldn’t really get anything going for an extended period of time,” Woods said. “It’s disappointing. We try to put ourselves in a position to win and you’re not going to win every time. You look at the greatest champions of all time and their winning percentage in all sports, it’s not too good.”
But Woods did end his day on a historical note. He helped Mike Weir slip on the green jacket as he became the first Canadian and first left-handed player to win at Augusta National. Weir defeated Len Mattiace in a playoff.
This is the ninth story in a series looking at each of Tiger Woods’ appearances at the Masters. Catch up on the series here.
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