Andrew Cotter: 2005,Tiger Woods at the 16th

I’m very fortunate to have attended a fair few sporting events over the past couple of decades, so it’s very difficult to bring it down to one memory, but I’ll try with my recollection of being at the 16th hole at Augusta for the US Masters in 2005 and commentating for BBC Radio on Tiger Woods chipping in from behind the green, which remains perhaps the most famous single golf shot in the last fifty years. 

The context was that Tiger had – by his own record-setting standards – had a couple of lean years in 2003 and 2004. He hadn’t won a major since the US Open in 2002 and, after taking on a new coach and trying to bed in a new swing, he no longer looked invincible.

But here he was, with a chance again. He led his playing partner Chris DiMarco by a shot and all the drama was concentrated on the 16th. I was sitting in a commentary position which was actually at the back of the stand on the 15th green, sharing a booth with Japanese Television, and both British and Japanese voices seemed to mingle with each other as we stared at the familiar figure in red, stalking around on the putting surface over the water.

The scene was so typical of Augusta on a Sunday evening: the April sunlight dipping below the trees, which now cast long shadows across the green; the warm air filled with the smell of pine needles, mixed with cigar smoke, and a collective murmuring of twenty thousand spectators – and an atmosphere which crackled with tension and excitement.

Then the shot itself and the ball dying on the slope before rolling, rolling, rolling towards the hole. A pause on the edge of the cup. Then the roar… The roar from the crowd which bounced around those tall pine trees and at the heart of it all the man himself, bent backwards and howling in celebration.

It was a noise which, in my memory at least, seemed to take minutes to subside. 

So iconic was the moment that many forget Woods actually bogeyed the last two holes. I didn’t see the 17th as I was speed-walking (you’re not allowed to run at Augusta) back up to the media centre to join our correspondent Iain Carter for the conclusion. But it was not the last hole, nor the play-off with Chris DiMarco, which endures. It will always be the 16th hole and Tiger Woods chip-in – the shot heard around the world and one which remains so clear in my memory.

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