Tiger Woods will not compete at The 2025 Players Championship – and it might be a while until we see him back on the golf course.
The 15-time major winner did not enter the field for this year’s event, despite being eligible, and then ruptured his Achilles shortly afterwards.
But we can still expect to see plenty of Woods this week.
That is because, like most events in golf, the 49-year-old owns its most legendary moment – and it will be played on repeat.
We are, of course, talking about the ‘Better Than Most’ putt at TPC Sawgrass’ famous 17th hole in 2001.
“One of the most iconic moments I’ve had in my career was the putt at 17,” Woods once said about the first of his two Players Championship victories.
“Down the hill, going right to left over the hill, back left to right at the end, putter up, huge fist pump. I threw it hard.”
Sure, it was an amazing putt. But those happen every week – and they rarely get written about 24-years later.
It was the athlete, the scene, and the context that combined to make this an unforgettable moment like no other.
Woods arrived at TPC Sawgrass that year in the middle of golf’s greatest-ever major championship run.
The previous year, he won three of the four available majors, and with the Masters on the horizon, Woods would soon become the only golfer in history to hold all of them at the same time.
Excitement around Woods was at fever-pitch and everyone wanted to witness their own ‘Tiger moment’.
It sometimes felt like everybody with a ticket was following him, resulting in deafening roars reserved only for Woods.
The only thing that matches Woods for popularity at TPC Sawgrass is the island green on 17.
Fans flock to the penultimate hole every year to watch dreams made and hearts broken by the tiny target in the middle of an ocean.
So it is no wonder the noise echoed around Florida when Woods made a 60ft, triple-breaker in the third round.
“It’s still the loudest roar I’ve ever heard on a golf course,” former Masters champion Adam Scott once said. “It was insane.”
Like Sergio Aguero’s famous title-winning goal against QPR for Manchester City in 2012, the best moments are made by the commentary.
Gary Koch is the reason Woods’ putt has taken on a life of its own.
The announcer painted a picture of an impossible task for any golfer, explaining that Woods would do well to take two putts.
As the ball trickled towards the hole, Koch uttered ‘better than most’ twice, before screaming the same phrase when the putt dropped.
Max Homa once said: “I’ve probably watched it a thousand times since then.”
We have already seen a hole-in-one on 17 this week – and we will certainly see a lot of balls in the water.
But one moment at TPC Sawgrass will forever be better than most.
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