Canadian Open marks 25th anniversary of Tiger Woods' 'incredible' shot

The crowd around the closing hole at Glen Abbey was upwards of 20 people deep, but as Tiger Woods’ approach from the fairway bunker came closer, many thought he had pushed it into the water. Others thought it was short.

He took that angle? Did you see that spine-twisting rip? Did you hear that?

When that shot came, despite the thousands of people packed tightly into just one area of the course, there was complete silence.

Chad Schella, who was the manager of communications for the then-Royal Canadian Golf Association (now Golf Canada), was about 15 feet away from where the shot landed.

“As that ball approached the pin and hit the green, there was this eruption of sound,” Schella recalls. “It was just incredible.”

A quarter-century after Woods’ iconic 6-iron from 218 yards on wet sand to win the Canadian Open in 2000, the legend of that shot – and that win – lives on heading into this week's event in Caledon, Ont.

“It was a goosebump moment,” says Dan Murphy, Sportsnet’s Vancouver reporter who was an on-course commentator for the Canadian broadcast of the event. “Because here was the greatest player of his generation, maybe of all time, winning the Canadian Open in historic fashion.”

Woods’ 2000 season on the PGA Tour was incredible and unprecedented even before he got to Oakville, Ont. for the Canadian Open, which was then hosted in September. Woods already had won eight times, including three major championships – having completed the career Grand Slam at the Open Championship in July, becoming the youngest player in history to achieve the feat. His U.S. Open triumph a month prior came by 15 shots.

Bill Paul, who was the tournament director of the Canadian Open for more than two decades, forged a friendly relationship with Woods and his team early in the star’s career. Woods played the Canadian Open in 1996 before he became Tiger Woods, committing to the event prior to turning professional. Paul tells Sportsnet he remembers talking to Woods about returning to Canada after a three-year absence at the Masters in 2000 and had a “good feeling” it was all going to work out.

But then, of course, Woods would go on to have one of the most magical summertime runs in the history of golf. After the U.S. Open, Paul still felt like there was a “pretty good” shot Woods would come north. And even after his win at The Open, it was a done deal.

“At that time, he may not have been Muhammad Ali in terms of world figure, but he was barely a step underneath that. It was an insane year,” Paul says. “When you recruited, I would try (to get other golfers) but I was hell-bent on getting one guy."

Once Woods lifted the Claret Jug, rumours started swirling about Woods coming to Canada to try to complete golf’s Triple Crown – winning the U.S. Open, The Open, and the Canadian Open all in the same calendar year. It had been done just once before, by Lee Trevino in 1971.

Schella, who is now the associate vice president of government relations for CIBC and based in Ottawa, remembers Paul was “working his (butt) off” behind-the-scenes to prepare. Paul was in constant communication with Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent, and told Steinberg he had to “increase his circle” – police officers, security teams, and more. 

“The impact on this was going to be huge,” Paul says. “There was always the odd thing, if Tiger couldn’t come, then how do you tell people? Even if it was 99 per cent sure and one per cent not, that one per cent (you’d look) like a fool.

“I was telling staff to order this or that and we’re building whatever. And they all were thinking I’m nuts.”

After Woods won the PGA Championship in a playoff against Bob May, he played in a made-for-TV event against Sergio Garcia (who also came to the Canadian Open) and lost 1-down. Woods was sick at the time and the general consensus from the media was, well, there was no way Woods was coming to Canada.  

Paul couldn’t help but smile, he remembers, because after Woods won the PGA – his third major of the year – Paul was at a cottage with his family. He left, they stayed, and Paul had a call with Steinberg in the car about how Woods would be arriving, where he’d stay, and how Paul could help. They started blowing the dust off the Triple Crown trophy. 

Two weeks before to the tournament, Paul asked Schella draft a press release with the announcement of Woods’ commitment ready to go, using as much ‘just in case’ language as possible. It was to be dated for the Thursday prior to tournament week, Woods’ usual commitment day. Not long after, Paul was having a small meeting in his office and the PGA Tour representative for the Canadian Open came in to talk.

He had found out Woods was going to commit.

Paul, of course, told him he knew that already.

“He goes, ‘holy (expletive),’” Paul says with a laugh. “And I had to call up Chad to tell him to push the button. And then all hell went loose.”

“As soon as he came and told me,” Schella says, “I was like, ‘here we go.’ It just got real.”

Added Paul: "People were lined up from the museum to the front gate (at Glen Abbey). We had staff working until 2 a.m. into Friday morning (prior to tournament week)."

“It was the most insane thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

Woods arrived without issue and played a (very) late practice round on the back nine Tuesday before the pro-am on Wednesday. Schella, though, says the hype train was turned up to 11. There were dozens of media-credential applications from outlets around the world. When Woods would leave Glen Abbey, there were three vans that all looked the same with tinted windows. Woods would get into one and they’d all pull out of the club and go in three different directions to try to hide which one he was in.

Woods spoke with the media in a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday and his opening question was a simple one – why was he here?

“Why am I here? Well, I like to play golf,” Woods said with a smile. “No, I love playing golf and I have always felt that this golf course is set up well for me ... unfortunately, my schedule just hadn't coincided with playing this golf tournament and this year it just finally opened up and I was more than happy to come back.”

The Canadian fans were more than happy, too. Paul says he had two neighbours who “didn’t know what golf was” but they were in line to get tickets because they wanted to see Woods, and then they went home. They didn’t watch any golf. It was surreal, Paul explains. Some people cried at the sight of Woods.

“I remember having a friendly yelling match (with RCGA senior leadership) saying they had to stop ticket sales. There comes a time when the infrastructure… you just can’t hold it. It’s September. There are no more buses because of school routes. You can’t get more washrooms. I can’t build more grandstands. I’ve overbuilt already,” Paul says. “We agreed to stop at 50,000 but Glen Abbey was overloaded.”

Woods shot a pedestrian even-par 72 and then almost missed his Friday tee-time.

In 2000, there was no real text-message system installed by the PGA Tour or social-media reminders for the players. You, and your caddie, were responsible to find out when you were teeing off via a post in the locker room and had to co-ordinate yourself. A staffer at Glen Abbey found Woods in line for breakfast because he thought his tee time was an hour later than what it was. The employee told Woods he had just 15 minutes before he was supposed to tee off – which he thought was a joke. Woods admitted that was actually a blessing in disguise as he was still under the weather and didn’t wear himself out on the driving range.

Woods was outside the cutline as he climbed out of the iconic Valley holes at Glen Abbey, but went birdie-eagle-birdie-eagle on Nos. 15-18. He shot 65 in the second round.

“Sometimes I get off to beautiful starts and other times I'm kind of just sluggish,” Woods said at the time. “I really wasn't hitting the ball that solid and I was hitting a couple here and there but maybe I was just saving up my hands, and I finally hit that one shot on 15 (an approach to just six feet) and I just ... tried to keep that same feeling throughout the day and I was able to do it for most of the round.”

Woods shot a third-round 64 but was tied New Zealand’s Grant Waite through 54 holes. Waite had finished second at the Air Canada Championship in Surrey, B.C., the week prior and was in fine form. Waite’s caddie at the time was Ted Scott, who has toted Scottie Scheffler’s bag over the last few years as he’s ascended to world No.1. At the time, Scott had just started caddying and had wondered what he got himself into that Sunday alongside the game’s biggest star.  

Prior to the finale, Bill Paul’s son Ryan (who is now the RBC Canadian Open tournament director himself) was featured on the television broadcast meeting Woods. His core memory, he tells Sportsnet, was selling a Sharpie to a fan for $30 as he was hoping to get Woods’ autograph.

“I remember the vibe and the crowds that year were something like I had never experienced before. I missed 2004 (when Mike Weir lost in a playoff to Vijay Singh) or I don’t remember it that well. But 2000 is burned in my brain,” Ryan Paul says. 

Waite and Woods went back-and-forth through that Sunday’s final round and separated themselves from the chasing pack. Woods would, of course, go on to win, but even Waite was six shots up on Sergio Garcia, who finished third. Had it been literally any other year, Waite would have set the scoring record at the Canadian Open.

Woods made birdie on No. 16 and Waite missed, and both golfers made par on 17 before coming to 18 – where Woods ended up in the bunker after Waite hit the middle of the fairway with his tee shot. Waite knocked it onto the green about 30 feet away for eagle.

Woods surveyed his options and did something only Tiger-Woods-in-2000 could do. He went straight at it.

“I couldn’t really tell exactly when he was swinging but I could hear it,” Dan Murphy says. “There were really just a few (players) who could hit that shot of that length to that pin.”

Now, there is some debate about whether he actually pushed the shot or not. Waite thought it was going in the water. Ditto the ESPN on-course reporter. Everyone else knew it was safe – how could it not have been? So many feel like it was one of Woods’ best shots of all time, but it didn’t even finish on the green.

“That one shot I did hit, it was pretty good, but you know what? I didn’t hit the green; I hit it over the green, so it wasn’t really that good,” Woods said in an on-camera interview.

Alas, Waite would miss his eagle try. Woods would chip to just a few feet and convert the birdie for a one-shot win. He would set the tournament scoring record – the fifth consecutive win in which he set the tournament record – and record his ninth victory of 2000, winning the Triple Crown in the process. After he won, Woods tossed the ball into the crowd and the person who caught it happened to be Murphy’s cousin.

Woods took the photos and thanked the right people and then he was off.

“I gave him a brief about going back to the 18th green for the trophy ceremony and I’m telling him all this and he’s only done it eight times already this year,” Paul says with a laugh. “He’s ecstatic that he won, but you’re looking at him thinking, well, did you expect anything different?”

The trees to the right of that bunker at Glen Abbey’s 18th hole have grown up, and over, so the direct line Woods took is essentially impossible to take now.

Johnson Wagner, a former PGA Tour player turned broadcaster for Golf Channel, has gone across North America to try to recreate a handful of Woods’ iconic shots from that 2000 season. He came to Glen Abbey earlier this spring and he managed to find the green from the bunker thanks to a sweeping cut.  

Using a 3-iron.

Cameron Cox, now the head golf professional at Glen Abbey, helped co-ordinate Wagner’s visit, which was a full-day affair. It’s nothing new for him and his staff, however, as Cox says at least “every other group” tries the shot.

“And not a single person pulls it off,” Cox says with laugh. “They all have a blast trying it. That’s really what you hear over and over. Even people who aren’t golfing they will come into the pro shop and say, like, ‘There it is!’ It is literally a big layer to this whole golf course.

“When I lived in Burlington, when I passed Dorval Drive (on the highway), you just knew that’s the place where Tiger hit his shot. As a golfer growing up that’s all I knew about this place.”

Woods returned to the Canadian Open in 2001, and finished tied for 23rd at Royal Montreal. He hasn't come back to the Canadian Open since the Montreal edition (although, in 2002, he hit balls on Toronto Island as part of a launch of a new American Express credit card that had his face on it, but he famously forgot his golf shoes in his hotel room).

However, Woods gave the tournament its most iconic moment – until Nick Taylor rolled in a 72-foot eagle to win his national open in 2023.

At the peak of Tiger-mania, Woods came to Canada and put a bow on the most incredible season by a modern golfer.

“I know it’s been 25 years, but there are certain things in your life that never get old,” Bill Paul says. “It was like nothing I’d ever seen and like nothing I’ll ever see again.”