Never has the passing of a torch been as fleeting as it was epic as in the 2000 PGA Championship.
One of golf’s grandest events returns today, and if a youngster pops up to tee off alongside a legend, there will be echoes of the incredible scenes 25 years ago.
The event featured the iconic record winner Jack Nicklaus taking to the course for the final time, and he was joined by none other than Tiger Woods.
Woods is now widely considered as the greatest to ever do it, but even two-and-a-half centuries later, the scenes as he lined up with Nicklaus serve as a reminder as to why his status is still up for debate.
“The 1999 PGA Champion, from Windermere, Florida, Tiger Woods,” the announcer said, with Woods used to being introduced last as the best player on the course.
However, on this occasion there was one more name to go.
“Next on the tee, the 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1980 PGA Champion, from North Palm Beach, Florida, Jack Nicklaus.”
The moment sent shivers down the spines of those in attendance, with the aforementioned phrase ‘passing of the torch’ never more fitting.
It would be one of the only times Woods was upstaged in his career when it came to achievements, with the then-24-year-old already accelerating past many of the game’s icons.
Woods had four majors by this point, and had won the last two, and was a defending champion of the PGA Championship.
So to be there for Nicklaus’ farewell was as fitting as could be.
The pair were out with 1998 winner Vijay Singh and got to watch the 60-year-old miss the cut by just a single shot.
It was a round to be admired as Nicklaus came back from adversity on multiple holes, rescuing nine consecutive pars.
And silence fell when he needed a eagle to make 70, but his wedge shot rolled centremetres past the pin and ended up three feet short of the hole.
“That was awesome,” Woods said as he shook Nicklaus’ hand in admiration.
Woods would go on to defend his title two days later in a play off against Bob May and then in 2001 he took the Masters, becoming the first player ever to win all four majors back-to-back.
As he didn’t complete the set in the same calendar year, it became known as the ‘Tiger Slam’, with a ‘Calendar Slam’ still yet to be achieved by anyone in the game.
Nicklaus wasn’t shocked, though, having got the perfect demonstration of Woods’ talent up close and personal.
“He shot the easiest 66 today,” Nicklaus said of Woods after his final round. “It looked like a 60.
“Phenomenal control, phenomenal concentration, phenomenal putter. I think he’s a better player than I was.”
Woods would go on to win ten more majors to take his career total to 15 – second of all time.
The man in first? You guessed it, Nicklaus on 18.
Many believe Rory McIlroy can have a run at the ‘Calendar Slam’, having finally got the monkey off his back at the Masters in April.
The Northern Irishman joined Nicklaus and Woods as one of six men to have completed the career grand slam.
McIlroy heads to Quail Hollow for the second major of the year with a phenomenal record, winning there four times and boasting the course record.
However, with five majors to his name, the 36-year-old still has a long way to go before he can be mentioned in the same breath as Nicklaus and Woods.
