“I don’t know what he’s going to do here.”
If 18-time Major champion Jack Nicklaus is stumped, then you must be in real trouble.
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In 1999, Tiger Woods was going toe-to-toe with playing partner Vijay Singh in a fierce Memorial Tournament battle.
Dressed in his iconic red for Sunday’s decisive fourth round, he was a shot ahead but in the weeds after air-mailing the green with a wedge on the par-four 14th.
It left him with a brutal downhill lob onto a fast green and very little room to work with thanks to a tight pin location.
A tight spot got even tougher as Woods’ attempt flopped a few feet ahead of him and settled back into the rough, drawing audible gasps from the gallery.
“Now he’s going to have a hard time making five,” Nicklaus said on commentary.
Woods tried again and landed on the dancefloor this time.
Pitching just on the green and to the right of the flag, the ball seemed to know exactly where Tiger wanted it to end up and gradually began to spin towards the hole.
It dropped to trigger a deafening roar and animated celebrations from Tiger who pumped his fist before being congratulated by beaming caddie Steve Williams.
“I’ve been in that position,” Nicklaus said. “You know what it takes to play that shot. Guts.
“He did it, he absolutely just made that ball and willed it into the hole.”
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Singh ended up making bogey and trailing Woods by two shots — a lead that held by the end of play to land the American a $459,000 prize.
It was the first of five Memorial victories for Tiger in a storied career only matched by Nicklaus himself.
“I thrive on the short game,” he said after the win. “Because it will demoralize most opponents.
“I could see what it was doing to Vijay. We’re good friends, but he started to get real quiet on the back nine.”
Woods revealed that after his catastrophic first attempt, he was left with a much better lie that allowed him to be ‘very aggressive.’
“All I wanted to do is have the ball just trickle down there,” he added. “I want to leave myself if anything short of the hole because I knew how fast that chip was.
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“I hit bunker shots and chip shots in a practice round to that hole location and I couldn’t keep it on the green, so I knew to just try to keep it short of the hole, that’s all I tried to do.
“It came off perfect, I hit it pretty aggressive put the spin on it, it checked, rolled left and as it was rolling down there I thought it should end up a little bit below the hole, no big deal.
“It flattened out, I thought, ‘That has potential.’ It went in and I think I went left and did something, I don’t really remember.”
Woods’ 1999 triumph was the first of a Memorial three-peat and he added titles at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in 2009 and 2012.
With 82 PGA Tour wins, the all-time great is tied for most all-time with Sam Snead.
He moved level with a victory at the Zozo Championship in Japan in 2019.
“I certainly did not think it was possible when I first started my career,” Woods said.
Snead played over 450 tournaments to reach 82. Woods needed just 350 after winning a staggering 22.5 percent of them.
The 49-year-old is looking unlikely to challenge Nicklaus’ 18 Majors as he sits on 15 with injuries taking their toll on his body.
But he has shown no signs of being ready to call it quits, perhaps as he chases one final triumph to eclipse Snead.
Rory McIlroy (29) leads the way for active PGA Tour golfers with 29, trailing Woods by some distance.
Phil Mickelson had 45 but joined the breakaway LIV Golf movement.
