Mysterious Tiger Woods conspiracy remains unsolved 24 years after PGA Championship win
There is no doubt that Tiger Woods won the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
But how Woods won it is still questioned 24 years later.
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Some believe that simple good luck intervened in Woods' favor during a tense three-hole playoff with Bob May, who already was an unlikely final opponent for a young golfer taking over his sports world.
Others insist that something unnatural happened, which might include someone kicking Woods' ball and helping him win the major.
The mystery (or conspiracy) involved the third hole of the playoff.
Woods eventually held on to win, beating May by one stroke, while unveiling his dramatic 'Putt and Point' celebration.
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But without a lucky bounce out of nowhere, May could have hoisted the trophy that Woods claimed.
"Do you think someone either kicked it or threw it back in that direction?" announcer Jim Nantz said. "It didn't react naturally, did it?"
"No, it didn't at all," announcer Ken Venturi replied.
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"I sure hope someone didn't slap it back," Nantz said.
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"It could have been someone jumped up and hit it with their hand," Venturi said.
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The golf world might never know.
Since the wild shot and subsequent roll happened 24 years ago, cameras weren't as precise and on-course TV angles weren't as plentiful.
Golfers are regularly exposed by eagle-eyed fans in the current era.
In 2000, the two primary TV broadcasters could only wonder out loud -- and social media didn't exist to question, dissect and over-analyze everything.
"I think I saw something that shouldn’t have happened happen to that ball,” a fan on course in 2000 told .
Another fan saw something different.
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"It honestly did take a heck of a roll [down the path],” the fan said. “If you want to say he got helped, it was where his drive finished. That’s usually high grass. But it was beaten down so he had a clean shot.
"Tiger winning was the natural outcome. Sometimes the golf gods have to intervene in ways we don’t know.”
Whatever happened, Woods won.
He edged May by one stroke in a three-hole playoff, eventually winning four consecutive majors for a Tiger Slam.
Woods' lucky ball might have been fan- or course-aided.
What's obvious more than two decades later is that he was on top of the golf world in 2020, and nothing was getting in Woods' way.
Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Woods are among the stars trying to hoist another trophy as the PGA Championship returns to Valhalla in 2024.
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While Xander Schauffele leads the field after a blistering 9-under par 62, Woods is now focused on making the cut.
He's tied-for-85th following a 1-over par 72.
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