Augusta National is renowned as one of the most challenging courses in professional golf, with only a select few managing to secure a Masters win – it took Rory McIlroy 16 years to claim a coveted green jacket. The difficulty of Augusta can be attributed in part to the supremacy of Tiger Woods. At just 21, he set the 1997 Masters alight, becoming the tournament’s youngest ever winner.
He achieved an extraordinary 18-under over four days, the lowest score ever recorded (until 2020), and won by a staggering 12 strokes. His victory margin remains unbeaten and is the largest in history. In response to Woods’ exceptional performance, Augusta officials decided to significantly alter the course to increase its difficulty. This marked the first time in the course’s history that changes were made to its length, a move referred to as ‘Tiger-proofing’.
However, this strategy didn’t exactly pan out as planned. While it may not have made Woods’ task any harder, it certainly increased the challenge for all other players.
The course was subtly extended from 6,925 yards to 6,985 yards in 1999, before Woods secured his second Green Jacket in 2001 with a score of 16-under.
This led Augusta officials to further extend the course to 7,270 yards in 2002 – but Woods effortlessly dominated the field once again, winning his third Masters and successfully defending the green jacket.
Speaking ahead of this year’s Masters, which Woods was forced to miss due to a ruptured Achilles tendon, his former caddie Steve Williams reflected on the changes made in 2001-02 aimed at limiting the golf legend.
“The committee at Augusta probably has a fair indication of how they’re able to set up the golf course and what sort of score they’re indicating.
“If you fast-forward now, they’ve got the ability with the underground heating they have on the greens to be able to dictate how soft or how firm the greens are. So they can actually keep a bit of control on the score.
“Back then, they didn’t have that heating system available in the greens. I think it probably played into his hands. You talk about ‘Tiger-proofing.’ What was ‘tiger-proofing’? It was ‘make the course longer.’ Whilst they did make it longer, they made the fairways a bit wider and took out some of the intermediate rough, which made it more suitable.
“I don’t think lengthening the course – although they described it as Tiger-proofing – I don’t think it actually did Tiger-proof it because he was obviously, in his peak, as long as anybody, certainly amongst the top players. He was very, very long. The longer the course, the more difficult it became for players that were shorter hitters.”
