On This Day in Sports: April 13, 1997
On April 13, 1997, Tiger Woods completed one of the most transformative performances in golf history, winning the Masters at age twenty-one. He closed with a 69 for an 18-under total of 270, twelve strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Kite. Both the score and the margin reset tournament records and announced a new force in the sport.
The week had begun with Woods shooting 40 on his first nine holes. From that point he overwhelmed Augusta National, playing the remaining 63 holes in 22 under par. His driving shortened the course, his iron play created repeated birdie chances and his putting denied any realistic pursuit. By Sunday, the final round was less a contest than a coronation.
Woods became the youngest Masters champion at the time and the first Black golfer to win the tournament. That achievement carried particular significance at a club with a long history of exclusion. His embrace with his father, Earl, behind the 18th green captured the personal journey that accompanied the competitive breakthrough.
The victory changed how courses were prepared, how young athletes approached golf and how a global audience viewed the game. Woods would win many more majors, but the 1997 Masters remains the origin point of his era. It combined record-setting dominance, cultural importance and the unmistakable sense that golf’s future had arrived all at once.
Woods was 21 years old.
He finished at 18-under-par 270.
The winning margin was 12 strokes.
Tom Kite finished second.
Woods played the final 63 holes in 22 under.
He became the first Black Masters champion.
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