Better than most: ‘Crushed by the wall of sound’ after epic putt by Tiger Woods at 2001 Players Championship

Photo: Bob Self/Florida Times-Union
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods settled over the ball on the No. 17 green at TPC Sawgrass during the third round of the 2001 Players Championship and took three easy, short practice swings.

He then widened his stance and took two more practice swings.

Mary Sullivan, a volunteer who had befriended the star, was at the entrance to the footpath, behind Woods and unable to see the hole, or the ball, once it got a few feet away.

At the time, there was no large monitor behind the green and she would have to figure out what happened by Woods’ reaction and the crowd noise.

NBC’s Gary Koch was in the tower behind the 16th green and had a perfect view from behind the hole.

Caddie Bones Mackay was standing next to Phil Mickelson, looking at Lefty’s line.

Fred Funk was walking down the 18th fairway, still doing a slow burn from his four-putt.

NBC producer Tommy Roy was in the production truck, while broadcasters Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller were in the 18th hole tower, watching on a monitor.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was in what was called “Commissioner’s Dining,” a room upstairs in the old TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, thinking to himself that the moment, “was made-to-order for golf on TV.”

Woods tapped the Nike golf ball with his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter, his hands gently holding the Ping PP58 grip.

The ball started right, but at the crest of the slope was a patch of grass that had nearly browned. The ball hit that patch and took a hard left turn.

When Koch saw that the ball was then starting to swing right and downhill, he said to Miller on the air, “Johnny … this is better than most.”

When the ball was about 8 feet from the hole, Miller said, “how about in?”

Koch said “better than most,” one more time.

When the ball dropped into the hole, he shouted for the third time, “Better than most!”

And for 29 seconds, the NBC crew let Woods and the crowd tell the story.

In TV sports lingo, it’s called a “layout” — the time after a big event or play in which the announcers know they’re to do one simple thing: shut up.

“It’s the NBC way,” Roy said. “We do that in all of our sports, a touchdown on Sunday night, a big moment in the Olympics, the end of the 100 meters in track or a swimming event … you make the call and then you lay out. It’s by design.”

Roy said it’s easier when the athlete is Tiger Woods, who can be counted on to show the kind of emotion that can easily bridge the gap until one of the announcers begins talking again.

“The great thing about Tiger is he gets excited over his good shots and good putts and it creates that much more of an iconic memory,” Roy said. “The crowd going completely ballistic helped create that much more energy.”

The immediate reaction
As Woods began a bit of a victory lap around the green and towards the hole to get his ball, he passed Mackay. The TV broadcast at the time shows Mackay with his head down — just as he described in comparing the roar of the crowd to a wave knocking a swimmer down — and laughing.

“You get crushed by the wall of sound,” Mackay said. “I’ve felt it a number of times when Phil hit a great shot, and this time with Tiger. I was laughing to myself because it was so unlikely, but it was just so Tiger. I was asking myself, ‘Is there anything this guy can’t do?’ You had to laugh. It was that amazing.”

Woods, to this day, credits Funk.

“I was lucky enough to have seen Fred miss that first putt and then four-putt,” Woods said. “If I hadn’t seen him to that, I would never have made that putt.”

Mickelson still had his first putt to hit. The ball slid past the right side of the hole and came to rest 6 feet away. Mickelson then missed the comebacker for a bogey.

“I felt bad for Phil after that,” Sullivan said. “But Tiger was so thrilled … he was so happy. He was grinning from ear-to-ear.”

Sullivan and the other escorts had a tough job after that. There was no tunnel going from the 17th green to the 18th tee then and they had to work with the 17th hole marshals to make sure Woods and Mickelson and their caddies had safe passage to the next tee.

“It seemed as if the whole stadium was trying to follow him to 18,” Sullivan said. “It was all we could do to get the players to the tee, quiet everyone down, and let them hit.”

When Funk saw replays of Woods’ putt when he was in the locker room, he said to no one in particular, “you have got to be —-ing me.”

“I hit it to about 15 feet, lipped out on the high side, missed another, then another,” Funk said. “He saw the whole thing, almost hit it in the water and ends up with a two when it should have been a three or a five. But it’s why he’s Tiger Woods.”

Even though his player three-putted, Mackay said that briefly, after Woods’ putt dropped, he was like any other golf fan.

“For about 10 seconds after the ball goes in, you appreciate what you saw and the sound that came with it,” he said. “It was a ‘smell the roses’ moment that I got a chance to see.”

Hicks came in quickly on the air with the tidbit about Woods’ first tournament at the Stadium Course: the 1994 U.S. Amateur when he nearly hit the ball in the water at No. 17, then made a birdie putt from off the fringe to complete his comeback over Kuehne.

Hicks also noted that Woods hit into the water in the second round, yet blocked that out — and his marginal tee shot that day.

“None of that clutters his mind,” Hicks said on the air. “He still buries an almost impossible putt.”

Hardly anyone remembers that Woods bogeyed the 18th hole for a 66. The next day he and Kelly got through 11 holes before storms ended play and forced a Monday finish, and when they returned, Woods birdied the 12th hole and went on to post a 67 to beat Vijay Singh by one shot.

Two weeks later, Woods became the first man to win The Players and the Masters in the same season.

Tiger Woods pumps his fist after sinking a 60-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course on March 24, 2001, in the third round of The Players Championship. (Bob Self/Florida Times-Union)

Is it better than all?
Even though Woods’ putt that day was in the third round and he finished the day two shots behind Kelly, is it the signature shot of The Players Championship?

For the PGA Tour’s Gold Standard event, is it Sarazen’s double-eagle at Augusta’s 15th? Watson’s chip-in at Pebble Beach’s 17th? Ballesteros from the parking lot at Royal Lytham and St. Annes?

After all, Nick Price (1993), Fred Couples (1996), David Duval (1999) and Craig Perks (2002) birdied No. 17 on Sundays on their way to Players titles. Sergio Garcia did it in sudden death to win in 2008. Rickie Fowler birdied the 17th three times in the final round in 2015 — once in regulation and twice in a playoff.

Woods’ putt still tops them all — perhaps because all of those birdie putts combined don’t equal his monstrous roll.

“It has a lot with who hit the shot,” Koch said. “If it had been someone else, I have the feeling it wouldn’t have such a prominent place in history or get replayed as often as it has. And it also was who made the putt and the reaction, both Tiger and the crowd. I’ve been fortunate enough to be there [at No. 17] for a long time, but I can’t think of another shot that generated the level of excitement and energy that putt did.”

Finchem, who measures his words as carefully as anyone, doesn’t hesitate in labeling Woods’ putt with a special place in Players history.

“Is it the signature shot? Probably so,” Finchem said. “It’s had such staying power. There have been other great situations and shots at that hole but they haven’t had the staying power this one putt had with Tiger out there. Plus, NBC did such a fabulous job with the moment, they want the comment on it, got excited about it … it came through on TV. And they won’t let you forget it. They love to go back to that moment but no one ever gets tired of watching it.”

Hicks said he continues to be impressed the putt is etched in Players history because of when it happened.

“It’s amazing we’re talking about a putt that didn’t win the championship and it was on a Saturday,” he said. “But if you did a poll and asked everyone about their most vivid memory of The Players, all the great history, all the great shots, I guarantee you that one would be at the top.”

Rickie Fowler birdied the 17th hole three times in one day — once in regulation and twice in a playoff — to win the 2015 Players Championship.

Another legacy of a great shot is others trying to duplicate it. Finchem went out early the next day with a putter and tried to hit the plugged hole.

“I was there a while,” he said. “It was impossible … for me.”

TPC Sawgrass caddies are often asked by fans where Woods’ ball and the pin were, and attempt to replicate the putt.

Koch still tries the putt once in a while.

“The results are not that good,” he said. “I’ve come close to the hole a few times. There’s a one or two percent chance of making that.”

And it’s never going to be truly duplicated. When the course was renovated in 2006, the slope was softened a bit.

“It’s not as severe as it used to be,” Koch said. “It doesn’t pick up nearly the speed it used to.”

Tiger Woods 2001 The Players Championship
Tiger Woods poses with The Players Championship trophy on March 26, 2001, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo: Phil Coale/Associated Press)

‘The perfect call’
The putt also might not be “Better than Most,” without Koch’s call. Like Verne Lundquist’s emphatic “Yes, sir!” when Nicklaus made his putt at No. 17 in the 1986 Masters, and then, “In your life, have you seen anything like that!” when Woods chipped in at No. 16 in the 2005 Masters, Woods’ putt and Koch’s three-word description are linked forever.

“Gary’s call has made it so unique that people call it the ‘better than most putt,’” Roy said. “There have been T-shirts made. Ask anyone about ‘better than most,’ and they know exactly what you’re talking about.”

Hicks referred to it as “the perfect call.”

“All great calls live on and get better with age and time,” he said. “That’s what that one has done.”

Koch said the most frequent joke he hears from people is whether his unscripted call will be chiseled on his gravestone.

“It’s a great honor to be part of that, and when the time comes that I’m not doing this, I may enjoy it even more,” Koch said. “I guess it’s good to be remembered for something positive like that. I’m very appreciative that such a big deal has been made of it over the years.”

But even Koch is quick to add that he had a little help from the magic of Tiger Woods — who truly was better than most.

‘Better than most:’ NBC’s call
A transcript of the NBC golf announcers on March 24, 2001, when Tiger Woods made his historic putt at the 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course in The Players Championship. The commentary is from anchor Dan Hicks, analyst Johnny Miller, 17th hole analyst Gary Koch and walking analyst Mark Rolfing:

Koch: “Well, we’re back at the 17th and what a scene it is. Galleries surrounding … I was here at 9 o’clock this morning to look at hole locations and people were already claiming spots.”

Hicks: “Sky boxes over there, Gary … it’s quite a place to be.”

Miller: “This is a crescendo for all those people for all those people, huh Gary, since 9 o’clock, when Tiger shows up?”

Koch: “That’s exactly right. They certainly are enthusiastic right now, I’ll say that. … Johnny, I have seen a number of players putt from this back part of the green and the results have not been good. The ball wants to break left up on top. Once it comes down the slope it moves hard to the right and it picks up speed.

Miller: “It seems like when Tiger gets really engaged in something difficult, he usually does extra good. And he should be pretty engaged here.”

Koch: “He certainly needs to be.”

Rolfing: ”You can see where he’s standing right now, Gary, that is the brow of the ridge, so it is almost a dead flat putt to there and for the last 20 feet … down to the hole it is very fast and as you said, turns hard to the right.”

Miller: “What’s this do, Gary? Goes sort of a title bit over that way and then comes back?”

Koch: “Correct, but Johnny it goes so much to the right as it comes down the hill, that’s where the players have been fooled. You’ve got to be 3, 4 feet out to the left of the hole as it comes over the ridge and most guys have just not seen that.”

Rolfing: “He almost needs to pretend, Gary, it looks to me, that the hole is up on top of the ridge, as you said, 4, 5, maybe even 6 feet left of the hole and just barely roll it past there. Almost forget about where [Woods’ caddie] Steve Williams is, standing down there next to the cup.”

Koch: “I like what he’s doing there, just swinging the putter, visualizing, trying to track the line that he wants.”

Miller: “Doesn’t look like he’s aiming left at all.”

Koch: “But it will break a little left at the start.”

The announcers go silent as Woods settles over the ball, then hits it. As the ball reaches the crest of the ridge and begins its right-hand turn to the hole, Koch begins the exchange.

Koch: “Johnny … that’s … better than most.”

Miller: “How about in.”

Koch: “That is better than most … Better than most!!!”

As the ball fell into the hole and the crowd exploded, none of the announcers spoke for 29 seconds. Koch was the first to speak amid the roars of the gallery.

Koch: “Johnny I think it’s safe to say that you could hit the putt 50 times and maybe make it once.”

Miller: “That was just another Tiger moment, one of the great long putts I’ve ever seen.”

Hicks: “Remember back in the ‘94 U.S. Amateur championship, kind of where Tiger began this whole magical quest. Way down in that U.S. Amateur, six [holes] down, in fact, took the lead for the first time with a 12-foot birdie putt, on this Island Green.”

Miller: “In fact it almost went in the water [in 1994] and he knocked it in from off the green.”

Then it was time for Mickelson to attempt a 25-foot birdie attempt, downhill, from the center of the green.

Koch: “Now this will show you just how good Tiger’s putt was. Phil Mickelson, known for his putting, and he doesn’t have to deal with nearly what Tiger does.”

Mickelson’s putt slides to the right of the hole and rolls 6 feet away.

Koch: “There you go … there you go, watch this ball roll away from the hole.”

Rolfing: “Gary, to show you just how good it was Fred Funk, a moment ago, before this, took four putts up here on the 17th green.”

Roy then went to a replay of the putt.

Koch: “Let’s take one more look at this putt.”

Miller: “Surprised how much it went left Gary.”

Koch: “Well, there’s a brow on the hill right there, Johnny, that really throws it left. And he’s the first guy I’ve seen that’s gotten the ball that far left of the hole. You know even if this ball doesn’t go in it’s going 6 or 7 feet by. There’s just that much slope in the green.”

Rolfing: “Fun to watch, isn’t it?”

As the ball drops into the hole in slow-motion:

Koch: “Just creeps in on the right side … and his [Woods’] reaction, right about how [when Woods started fist-pumping] … yeahhhh!”

Hicks: “Still the same fist pump that we saw on that green in ’94, Gary.”

Miller: “How about the up and in a 16 [referring to a birdie Woods made on the previous hole] and that in there, that’s just three of four strokes picked up up on the field.”

Mickelson then missed the comebacker for par

Koch: “And that’s example of how difficult this 17th green is to putt from up above. We’ve seen a number of players do just that, three-putt … So, Phil makes a bogey, drops back to 2-under, Tiger makes an improbable birdie now, 10-under par, 7-under in his round and just two off the lead.”

Hicks: “Gary, what makes it just as impressive is that [Woods] was in the water on that hole yesterday [Friday], almost put it in the water again, still none of that clutters his mind. He still buries an almost impossible putt.”