Tiger Woods Wins the Masters by Twelve Strokes

In April 1997, the sixty-first Masters Tournament took place at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Tiger Woods entered the event having qualified through his PGA Tour tournament victories and his placement on the tour money list after forfeiting his amateur invitation by turning professional. At twenty-one years of age, Woods sought his first major championship amid a competitive field that included former champions and leading international professionals.

The tournament opened on Thursday with difficult conditions for Woods over his initial nine holes. He registered a four-over-par forty on the front nine before shifting momentum across the remaining holes of the round. Scoring four birdies and an eagle, Woods completed the back nine in thirty strokes, six under par, which brought his opening round to a two-under-par seventy. He ended the first day three strokes behind leader John Huston, who had established the initial advantage with a sixty-seven.