1. Tiger's Fight Back (2008)
It’s easy to forget just how good Tiger Woods was before his personal life – and game – went into free fall. Going into the US Open at Torrey Pines, there was a chance he wouldn’t play at all having had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee after the Masters that year (where he finished second to Trevor Immelman). Even if he did play, could he compete having not played competitive golf for nearly two months? The answer lay in both Woods himself and the stats for his performances leading up to the event. In the eleven tournaments Woods played before that US Open, he won eight times, was runner-up twice and didn't finish out of the top five. What the public didn’t know before the tournament started was that doctors had discovered a double stress fracture in his left tibia, but he decided to play anyway. Woods clearly didn’t plan for what turned into a gruelling war of attrition against Rocco Mediate, a journeyman tour pro having his day in the sun. In the event, Woods had to hole the putt of his life to birdie the last for force an eighteen-hole play-off, then, unbelievably, birdie it again the following day to take the play-off into sudden death, by which time Mediate finally woke up. For many, the combination of health issues, near misses, stunning shots and sheer theatre made this perhaps the most dramatic major of all time. It took a huge toll on Woods as, after the battle, he could barely walk and immediately announced a break to have further surgery. He was off the tour for eight months. The win remains Woods’ last in a major.
