This was a great win for Tiger, who has had an unbelievable career. But how can anyone say that this was his most impressive win. Granted, he had knee surgery, he is older, etc.
Have we all forgot his 1997 Masters win, as a 21 year old? He won by 12 strokes (I think)! They changed the course b/c he killed it! That was his best win ever as it defined him and really changed professional golf forever!
I don't think you can judge the quality of the win just by the margin of victory. If that were the case, well he won by 15 strokes at the 2000 Open at Pebble Beach; that was an amazing butt-kicking of the entire field but it won't be remembered in the same way this one will. This will go down as his greatest (so far) because he wasn't supposed to even be in contention considering the damaged knee, the lack of preparation, the nine-week lay-off, and the battle Mediate gave him. And there was all that BS about Mickelson playing in his hometown and how the trophy is his if only shows up (he didn't). I'll take Woods' word on this one, if he thinks it's his best major victory (as does Haney, his coach), I'll accept that. I only hope he's got at least five more in him so he can pass Nicklaus. The future looks very uncertain at this moment.
I wasnt talking about margin of victory. I was talking about how they changed the course because of him. These guys havent changed anything in their lives, and they moved tee boxes, added trees, etc., just to make arguably the most famous golf course in the US (can't disrespect St. Andrews) more difficult for someone so long. They dont do any of that if Tiger hadnt tore it up like he did. And again, I am not saying that this Open win was not unbelievable esp given the circumstances.
He said it was his BEST win, not most impressive. With all the he overcame with his knee, to have to grind it out for 91 holes, how can you not consider that your best win? Now that we hear the knee is in a lot worse shape than we thought, makes it even more amazing what he accomplished. He beat the best golfers in the world on one leg, I would say that would qualify as a BEST win, not necesarily the most impressive, but that's not what he said.
Things that are fresh in the mind seem to get tagged as "the best" or "the worst" without little thought, not to mention that the media eats that crap up.
Considering what he's done since '97, you could put a few of his wins up there as "the best" for a variety of reasons. This win was good from a determination perspective, but I would agree w/ the poster here and say that the '97 win was absolutely amazing, changing golf forever (or at least until Tiger moves on to the senior tour). I don't think this tournament did that, but to Tiger, he may think it was his best win for himself, not from 'golf's' perspective.
Tough to say which is his "best" but as crazy impressive as the 97 Masters was, the 2000 Open was even more amazing. 2nd place finished +3! Tiger....-12!!!!
At the time, I remember thinking that was even more impressive than the Masters. I mean, Els was playing great then and couldn't even shoot par. Tiger was on another planet.
This year's Open would have been a blowout had Tiger prepared. He's unreal.
