Tiger Woods won the 83rd Masters at Augusta National – his 15th major and first in 11 years – on this day in 2019.
The 43-year-old held his nerve to make history on the final day, 3,954 days after he beat Rocco Mediate in a play-off at the 2008 US Open, despite suffering a double stress fracture and knee injury which caused season-ending surgery.
Francesco Molinari held the overnight lead and was two shots clear with seven to play but double-bogeyed the 15th which saw him slip down to joint-fifth with Tony Finau, Webb Simpson and Jason Day.
Woods shot 70 on the final day to finish at 13 under par, one shot ahead of Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka, who was the reigning US Open and US PGA champion.
Molinari began the day with a two-shot lead over Woods but he closed the gap to a single shot with back-to-back birdies to set up a grandstand finish.
Woods two-putted from long range for birdie to take the outright lead for the first time on the 15th and was inches away from the third hole-in-one of the day on the 16th but tapped in for birdie to double his lead – a bogey on the last did not deny victory as chants of ‘Tiger, Tiger’ rang around the 18th green.
Two years before the famous victory, In April 2017, a consultant told Woods to undergo what proved to be career-saving spinal fusion surgery after admitting “I’m done” to Jack Nicklaus at a champions dinner.
“It’s overwhelming because of what has transpired,” Woods admitted.
“Last year I was just lucky to be playing again, the previous dinner I was really struggling, missed a couple of years of this great tournament and to now be the champion – it’s unreal for me to experience this.
“I couldn’t be more happy and excited, I’m kind of at a loss for words. To have my kids there, it’s come full circle. My dad was here in ’97 and now I’m the dad with two kids there.”
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