The 10 Best Shots Of Tiger Woods' Masters Career, Ranked

Is there a man more synonymous with The Masters than Tiger Woods? The sheer mention of his name conjures a plethora of magical memories, each of which inflate my excitement for the first Major of the season.

This year, as I look for a healthy way to channel my uncontrollable Masters enthusiasm, and to get over my sadness about Tiger Woods not playing at The Masters in 2025, I decided to take a nostalgic trip through the ages, reminiscing about the best shots that he has ever hit at Augusta National.

This turned out to be a much harder task than I had first anticipated, especially consider the fact that Tiger has hit a lot of shots at The Masters - most of which were, well... brilliant. There are many incredible things about Augusta National and The Masters, but watching Tiger strut his stuff around the hallowed turf has to be up there with the best.

So, after doing my research and putting each contender through a rigorous assessment, I have come up with my list of the best 10 shots of Tiger Woods' career at The Masters...

The 10 Best Shots Of Tiger's Career At The Masters

Barry Plummer

Barry Plummer is our Staff Writer, joining in January 2024 after seven years as a PE Teacher. He now writes about instruction, working closely with Golf Monthly's Top 50 Coaches to provide hints and tips about all aspects of the game. As a long time fan of Tiger Woods and The Masters, he likes to kick off the first Major of the season with a nostalgic trip down memory (or magnolia) lane.

10 - THAT winning putt at the 2019 Masters

While this shot wasn't a monster drive or a hole out from the fairway, I couldn't compile a list such as this without giving a nod to arguably one of the most iconic moments of Tiger's career.

After burning the edge for par on the 18th hole at the 2019 Masters, knowing that a bogey would be enough for yet another Green Jacket and would break an 11-year Major drought, Tiger stood over a fairly innocuous short putt.

With the golfing world holding their breath, Tiger sent it to the bottom of the cup and let out a roar so emotive that it permeated right to the very roots of Augusta National itself.

History made in front of his children, the golfing community rejoicing, absolute scenes. Bravo, sir.

9 - Approach to the 8th green during final round of 2011 Masters

If one man could muscle a fairway wood towards a distant green, navigating bumps and hollows as it cosies up towards the hole - prime Tiger Woods could. This shot took an impressive NINE hops before it even set foot on the putting surface, but the first bounce sent it careering towards salvation and it never looked back.

The final destination for Tiger's ball was still a pretty decent length putt from the flag, which he obviously went on to make for eagle, but even having the audacity to send that fiery pin-seeker in the first place demonstrates why he was one of the world's best.

8 - Approach to the green on 15th during final round of 2011 Masters

Name a more iconic club twirl... I'll wait.

Quite frankly, I am not sure there is one. Tiger stood in the middle of the fairway, staring down a daunting shot over the water to the par-5 green, but his unmatched aura of confidence and skilful hands were too much for the opponent.

After striping one towards the pin, the camera remained on Tiger to capture the club twirl of all club twirls. The next thing we know, the ball has not only landed safely aboard the green, but it's now dancing its way towards the flag.

7 - Putt on the 9th green during final round of the 2019 Masters

Long and left is never good on the 9th hole at Augusta National - especially on Sunday when the pin position is miles away at the front of the green. Unaware of what was about to happen on the back nine, Tiger arrived at his ball and saw a putt that must have been more than 65 feet away from the hole.

The course was unclear, but using his brilliant mind the phenom calculated a route to escape unscathed. Lining up as if he was about to putt it straight into the greenside bunker, Woods dribbled it towards the fringe. The pace on the ball diminished with each roll, before turning on its indicators and swiftly skating its way down the slope to almost tap in range. Genius!

6 - Second shot on the 18th during final round of 2019 Masters

This one might surprise a few people, but the nouse and self-belief to play this shot with so much pressure on the line is astounding and one of the reasons he is perhaps the greatest player to ever play the game.

After finding the right side from his tee shot, Tiger had some overhanging tree issues and will have been very keen to avoid the punitive long and left miss when playing into the green.

Knowing he needed a five to win the tournament, he took out an 8-iron and cleverly manufactured a custom pitching wedge length lay-up to make certain he left the ball short and right of the green.

This decision left him three shots for the win, something he totally backed himself to do. Obviously, that's exactly what happened... and the rest is history.

5 - Second shot on the 14th hole during the first round of 2006 Masters

All you Tiger-geeks out there, like myself, will certainly be able to picture this one. Middle of the fairway, 163-yards to the hole. Tiger flushes an 8-iron.

As the ball lands on the putting surface it takes two hops forwards before course-correcting and steaming on to the bottom of the cup like a it was being controlled by a child on a video game.

That sublime effort was Tiger's first eagle on a par-4 at the Masters, which somewhat explains the club toss and jubilant celebrations with his caddie.

4 - Tee shot at the 16th hole during the final round of the 2019 Masters

Here we are, back in 2019 once again. This time, on our nostalgic journey through time, we head to the 16th tee as Tiger Woods looked to close out a long-overdue Major victory.

Tiger had gone birdie-par-birdie in his last three holes to take control of the tournament, but this was no easy task. Chewing his gum he sent the ball on its way with an 8-iron, before throwing in a somewhat muted club twirl for good measure.

The ball hit the green as the patrons let out an audible gasp of relief. It took a couple of bounces at the top of the hill, before meandering its way down to the traditional Sunday pin location.

As the ball approached the hole it looked to have an outside chance of going in for a hole-in-one, which I am certain would have broken the internet, but nevertheless it eventually came to rest within tap in distance to ramp up the pressure on the chasing pack.

3 - Tee shot at the 12th hole during the final round of the 2019 Masters

Sticking with 2019, and another iconic par-3 tee shot. With Molinari two ahead of Tiger heading to the famous 12th hole, it appeared to be playing into the Italian's hands. But, with the groups ahead making a mess of the hole, there was an air of tension murmuring around Augusta National.

As the story goes, Francesco found the water after his tee shot stalled in the hidden wind. Tiger then stepped up using all of his experience and skill to deliver the ball safely to the middle of the green.

The turning point in the 2019 Masters came on that hole, the second in the signature stretch at Amen Corner, and from that point onwards nobody else was taking the Green Jacket from Tiger.

2 - Second shot at the 7th hole during the final round of the 2010 Masters

In the shadows over on the right-side of the fairway, Tiger Woods prepared to hit his second shot into a green that was expertly guarded by strategically placed bunkers. The strike was as to be expected... perfect, but the result was magical.

The ball landed 40 or 50 feet left of the pin and took a soft first hop. It's journey started towards the back of the green, before a change of heart altered its course. The ball hugged the contours of the 7th green and snaked its way down towards the hole. The noise grew and the patrons were sent into a frenzy as the ball found the bottom of the cup.

Once again. Club toss, arms raised... and that famous Tiger grin.

1 - Second shot at the 16th hole during the final round of the 2005 Masters

There is a reason this one has to be ranked number one, and it's not because I have a print depicting the moment sitting on my desk in front of me as I write this article. This is one of the most iconic moments in golf, not just in Tiger's career, meaning you probably don't even need me to describe it to you. But... I am going to anyway.

After his tee shot found a pretty undesirable position to the left of the green as the player looks at it on the tee, Tiger had plenty to contend with. The ball was sitting against a cuff of rough, and playing towards the pin was simply not an option if he wanted to avoid a huge score.

You could see the cogs working in his brain as Tiger plotted his next move, with the commentator outlining the difficulty by saying "This is one of the most difficult pitches in the place here".

Tiger stalked his way around the green looking for a landing spot. After returning to his ball and taking a few practice swings, Tiger sent the ball on its way towards a landing spot around 25 feet left of the hole.

I'll leave the rest to the legendary Verne Lundqvist.

"Here it comes. Oh my goodness. Oh wow, in your life have you seen anything like that".

The iconic moment when the Nike-tick emblazoned ball hovered over the cup, time seemed to stand still. Little did we know at the time that the next oscillation would make history and forever be remembered as one of the most iconic moments in our sport's history.

Quiz Time: Masters Week Special