It was the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla, and Tiger Woods was paired with Jack Nicklaus for the first two rounds.
Nicklaus, a five-time winner of the event, played his last PGA Championship that year.
Tiger was just one win behind Nicklaus. The PGA Championship was also the first major that Tiger won more than once, and he entered the 2000 tournament as the defending champion.
He reached halfway with a narrow one-stroke advantage. Nicklaus missed out on making it to the weekend by just one shot.
Tiger Woods named his dream foursome during the 2000 PGA Championship
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Nicklaus needed an eagle on the final hole to keep his tournament alive.
He came close, but his third shot on the par five missed by inches and he settled for birdie. Even so, it was an impressive effort from the 60-year-old.
Woods was later asked about playing with Nicklaus and which two players from history he would pick to round out a dream foursome.
The New York Times reported his answer: “[Ben] Hogan and [Bobby] Jones,” he said without hesitation.
Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan were obvious picks for Tiger Woods to join his dream foursome at the 2000 PGA Championship
Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones both played a key role in shaping modern golf.
Jones was the greatest amateur of his era and helped found The Masters, while Hogan changed the way many players approach the golf swing.
Their legacies felt especially relevant given where Woods stood during the 2000 season.
Jones is still the only man to win all four majors in a single year, taking home the US Open, The Open Championship, US Amateur, and British Amateur in 1930.
Hogan came close to matching that feat in 1953. He won The Masters, US Open, and The Open Championship but could not enter that year’s PGA Championship due to a scheduling conflict with The Open. It remains his only appearance in that major.
Woods capped off his run with a third straight major win at Valhalla that year after beating Bob May in a playoff. By winning The Masters in 2001, he completed what became known as the Tiger Slam.
You would be hard-pressed to argue against any of those four names if you were picking golf’s all-time Mount Rushmore.
