Tiger Woods returns to the site of two of his most stirring victories when he makes his PGA Tour season debut at the $6.4 million Pebble Beach Pro-Am which begins Thursday. “I am excited to be back,” Woods said. “Everything is kind of headed in the right direction.” Woods, who is playing in this event for the first time in a decade, had a magical season at Pebble Beach in 2000.
He won the 2000 US Open by a monstrous 15 strokes and earlier that year, Woods rallied from a seven-shot deficit in the final round to capture the Pebble Beach tournament. It marked his only Pebble Beach Pro-Am win in a half dozen years from 1997-2002.
“Things were kind of going my way,” Woods said of the comeback in 2000. “I figured I had to shoot 66 or lower to give myself a chance. All of a sudden, boom, three shots, two holes and I am back in the ballgame.”
Those triumphs seem like a distant memory now for the 14-time major winner Woods who is looking for his first official PGA Tour win in over two years. The former world number one has seen his ranking and personal life take a tailspin since a 2009 car crash and subsequent sex scandal that also led the breakup of his marriage. Lately, however, things have been looking up. In his only other appearance this season, Woods finished third two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi.