Open Anniversaries: Tiger Woods wins back-to-back titles in 2006
By Camilla Tait
Last Updated: 09/07/16 11:52am
In our second anniversary in the countdown to The Open, we look back at how Tiger Woods became the first man in 23 years to defend the title.
The odds were not in Woods' favour coming into the 135th Open in July 2006. He may have been the defending champion, but he had never played at Hoylake before, and he had taken a break from golf earlier in the year following the death of his father Earl at the beginning of May.
Woods missed the cut by three shots at the US Open in June, and there were many who believed his state of mind would not allow him to contend at Royal Liverpool, particularly when he missed a short putt for par on his opening hole.
But from that moment on, Woods conducted a masterclass in course management and fought back with four birdies and an eagle at the last which left him just one stroke adrift of Graeme McDowell, who opened with a Hoylake-record 66.
Woods made another mistake early in the second round only to respond with three birdies by the turn, and the famous fist-pump celebration surfaced when he holed his approach to the par-four 14th before he surpassed McDowell's 24-hour-old course record by one.
Leading by one heading in to the weekend, Woods struggled to match the excellence, and consistency, of his first two rounds as a mixed-bag of birdies and bogeys added up to a level-par 71, although this was still good enough to retain his lead over Ernie Els, Chris DiMarco and Sergio Garcia.
Woods got back on track with his irons on the final day, the hard and fast conditions on a sun-scorched course allowing him to leave his driver almost untouched throughout the week, and an eagle at the fifth took him four strokes clear of the chasing pack.
DiMarco did his best to cling on, but Woods gave himself a huge cushion when he birdied 14, 15 and 16, and he tapped in at the last to seal a two-shot victory before breaking down in tears in the arms of caddie Steve Williams.
"It just came pouring out of me, all the things my dad meant to me, and the game of golf," he said afterwards. "I just wish [Earl] could have seen it one more time."
