2001

The reason normally cited for including the 2001 Masters on a list such as this is the Tiger Slam. In winning Woods held all four professional major titles at once, a feat never before accomplished in the era of professional majors. That's great and all, but as an actor (and a golf fan) I'm much more concerned with the narrative course of an event rather than its historical consequences. This is not to say that I'm not interested in the history of the game, I am. It's just that I don't get emotionally involved in an event based on what this win will "mean" for this player or that player. Intellectually, Tiger's feat astounds me, but what really had me going in the 2001 Masters was the battle in the final round.

While they were 1, 2, and 8 respectively in the world golf rankings coming into the week, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and David Duval were unquestionably regarded as the best three golfers in the world. At one point in the final round, all three were tied for the lead. In the end it was Duval who proved to be Tiger's toughest foe, and if it weren't for a putter gone cold, his final round 67 may have been a 65 or a 64 and the course of history may have changed. Duval shot 67 and missed putts inside of 15 on 16, 17 and 18. I'll have more on him later, but the reason the 2001 Masters is so special is that for one weekend the promise of Tiger playing with a generation of stars like Nicklaus had done seemed on the verge of being fulfilled. Here, finally, we had Tiger's peers stepping up and shooting great scores that Tiger needed to overcome. The excitement of these burgeoning rivalries was palpable in the telecast that Sunday. Sadly, it was not to be.

Duval went on to win the 2001 Open Championship, but it would be his last victory on tour. His form faded and he has dropped from the world of major championship golf (a sad loss). Mickelson was still three years away from his first major championship, and while he has captured at least one major in each of 2004-2006, his inability to beat Tiger head-to-head and his major failures (2004 and 2006 US Opens, for example) prevent Mickelson-Woods from reaching Watson-Nicklaus levels.