By the summer of 1996, one might think that Tiger Woods knew he was good enough to turn professional. He had won five consecutive USGA national championships – three US Junior Amateurs (1991-93) and two US Amateurs (1994-95) – the 1994 NCAA individual title and finished as a low amateur at the 1995 Masters.
However, Woods wasn’t quite sure he was ready to make the jump. He felt that he had not behaved according to his standards in a PGA Tour event and had made the cut in only four of the 13 professional events he had played, without a better ending than the T-41.
Everything changed at the 1996 British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s. After an opening round of 75, Woods fired Friday at the age of 66 and was the only amateur to cut. A solid weekend of 70s back-to-back saw him finish the T-22, his best placement in a pro event and all the tests he needed to be ready to make the jump.
“The way I played it (Friday), I never did it in a Tour event, let alone in a major league,” said Woods in the third episode of our Tiger Vault series. “It had been nothing but failures.
“I felt like the British Open had prepared me for that race I did later that summer.”
Woods would continue to win his third American Amateur in a row shortly thereafter, then turn professional in August. We all know the rest.
For Woods’ full comments on his love of golf links and that fateful week, watch the embedded video.
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