2000 was Year of the Tiger

Leading votes for the 2000 AP Story of the Year

By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press

Everyone wants to be part of history, to be close enough to touch it, to hear it, to see a defining moment. This year in sports, that meant being around Tiger Woods.

He won the U.S. Open and the British Open by a combined 23 strokes to complete the career Grand Slam at age 24. He added the PGA Championship to become the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three straight majors.

Woods’ season was voted The Associated Press Story of the Year by member newspapers and broadcast outlets, receiving more than twice as many points as Bob Knight getting fired as Indiana basketball coach.

Woods was also Story of the Year in 1997 when he won the Masters with a record score and set off Tigermania.

It reached a new level of hysteria this year.

Two men dressed in tiger costumes, black and gold stripes painted on their faces, leaned against the ropes along the third fairway at Pebble Beach in the final round of the U.S. Open, knowing Woods eventually would pass by close enough to touch.

Woods never saw them. The rest of the field never saw Woods. He won by 15 shots.

At St. Andrews, Woods strolled over the Swilken Bridge on the 18th fairway Sunday. Dozens of fans bolted past the marshals, hopping and splashing across the 6-foot stream, desperate for a glimpse of history.

Woods held aloft the claret jug, the youngest player to win all four major championships.

In Michigan, fathers carried sons on their shoulders in the pre-dawn hours of a routine pro-am round, just to say they were there, and that they saw Tiger Woods. It was his first tournament since winning the Grand Slam. Cameras flashed against the iron-gray sky, making the first tee look like a disco.

In the locker room at Glen Abbey Golf Club during the Canadian Open, a couple of PGA Tour players sat around the table speaking in hushed, incredulous tones. The subject was Woods.

"Driver, sand wedge," one of them said, shaking his head.

The day before, Woods had hit a 380-yard drive and a sand wedge into the par-5 18th and finished his round birdie-eagle-birdie-eagle. The next day, he hit a 218-yard 6-iron out of a fairway bunker, over the water and right at the pin to clinch his ninth victory of the year.

Woods always sends the crowd home with something to remember, and this was a season that will be talked about for years to come - unless he can top it in 2001.

"I did think this was possible," Woods said of his awesome season, perhaps the best ever in golf. "And I think it’s possible in the future. That’s why I play the game."

He plays the game like no other.

Woods finished at least fifth in 17 of his 20 tournaments. His last round over par was May 7, a streak of 47 rounds that not even three major championships could stop.

His raw scoring average of 68.17 was the best ever, breaking the mark of 68.33 set by Byron Nelson in 1945. He won six straight tour events, the most since Ben Hogan in 1948. He became the first golfer to finish under par in every tournament he played.

And he had at least a share of the lead in 11 of the last 12 rounds in the majors, the tournaments that define great players.

"I think the game of golf is in pretty good hands right now," Jack Nicklaus said.

In the AP voting, Woods received 62 first-place votes for 1,376 points. Knight got 10 first-place votes and 610 points. The New York Yankees winning the Subway Series got three first-place votes and 468 points.

Ten points were awarded for first place, down to one point for a 10th-place vote.

Rounding out the top 10 were: the St. Louis Rams winning the Super Bowl; John Rocker’s inflammatory remarks about New Yorkers and his return to Shea Stadium; cancer survivor Lance Armstrong winning his second straight Tour de France; the Sydney Olympics; the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA title; former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth going on trial in the slaying of his pregnant girlfriend; and the U.S. baseball team beating Cuba in the Olympics.

Woods already had golf worked into a frenzy with his eagle-birdie-birdie finish to win the season-opening tournament in Hawai‘i, and with his seven-stroke comeback over the final seven holes to win at Pebble Beach in February, his sixth straight victory.

He even made news by changing balls, from Titleist to Nike, and winning the Memorial by five strokes.

But his summer was one for the ages.

"He’s an extraordinary player who comes along once every generation," said Grant Waite, runner-up in Canada. "Or in his case, maybe once in forever."