Sports
Twenty years ago, Tiger Woods' chip shot hung in the balance, and a Masters moment was created
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Funny how time works.
Twenty years seems so short.
And 1.8 seconds seems so long.
That’s how long the golf ball that Tiger Woods hit teetered on the edge of the 16th hole at Augusta National in 2005 before tumbling into the cup — nearly two agonizing seconds — his chip-in the signature moment of his fourth Masters victory.
That Sunday miracle from behind the green ricocheted around the sports world, not only because of the transcendent player who made it but because the ball lingered on the lip just long enough to theatrically display its Nike swoosh, which was tilted vertically, before disappearing into the cup.
“Maybe the greatest shot in the history of the game,” CBS announcer Jim Nantz said. “Arguably the most commercialized and most seen.”
His network colleague Verne Lundquist, greenside at 16, was gobsmacked.
“Using all of my language skills, when it fell in I went, ‘Oh, wow,’” the retired Lundquist said this week with a chuckle. “Just relying on my vast vocabulary.”
The full call — viewed untold millions of times on a wide array of platforms — was, “Oh, wow! In your life have you ever seen anything like that!”
The behind-the-scenes story with CBS involved a truckload of intuition and a bit of insubordination, resulting in one of the great moments in televised sports. That a full two decades have passed is hard for the 84-year-old Lundquist to believe.
“Dear God,” he said, “has it been 20 years?”
The Situation
It was the final round of the 2005 Masters and Woods was battling down the stretch with Chris DiMarco, the two jostling atop the leaderboard. They got to the par-three 16th, where the Sunday pin position was in the back left of the green, just over a ridge. Woods was clinging to a one-shot lead after bogeys on the previous two holes.
Woods hit a poor tee shot that sailed long and left of the green that wound up on the fringe and left him with a nearly impossible chip, downhill, slick as a greased garage floor, with a severe left-to-right break.
His caddie, Steve Williams, didn’t know what to expect as they made their way off the tee. As he and Woods got closer to the green, Williams glanced up to tour pro-turned-analyst Ian Baker-Finch, who was in the tower at 15.
“I motioned to Ian, ‘Is he OK?’ and he gave me the thumbs up,” Williams recalled.
OK? Yes, but in a terrible position — especially considering DiMarco had hit his tee shot to within 5 feet of the cup.
The Shot
Woods and Williams took a long time surveying the situation, discussing the slope, speed and what the ball might do with spin. The idea, Williams said, was to land the ball 30 to 40 feet right of the hole, then let gravity do the work.
“He picked out a ball mark on the green and said, ‘Do you think if I landed on that ball mark it won’t pick up too much speed as it goes up the hill?’” Williams said. “I said, ‘That looks pretty good,’ and amazingly he landed right on that ball mark … and the rest was history.”
When the shot reached its apex on the slope, it made a hard right turn and meandered down to the cup, pausing for what felt like an eternity before tumbling in. Woods erupted, raising his fists in front of him as if curling an imaginary barbell, and the gallery behind him unleashed a roar.
“I was in a tower at 18,” Nantz recalled. “It felt like the ground was shaking all the way up there.”
The Decision
The drama of that 1.8 seconds of television almost didn’t happen. Steve Milton, who was directing the CBS broadcast, thought the ball was done rolling. He instructed technical director Norm Patterson to switch to an angle capturing Woods’ reaction, and away from the camera of Bob Wishnie, who had the ball perfectly in frame.
But Patterson ignored that order, instead staying on the ball for a couple more beats.
“Norm just followed his instincts,” Lundquist said. “And because he did, everybody remembers the shot.”
That was no casual decision on Patterson’s part.
“That’s a fireable offense,” Lundquist said. “It’s like being on the bridge of a ship and ignoring the captain’s orders.”
In a Golf.com article five years ago, Milton recalled those tense moments.
“I said, ‘OK, let’s cut,’ and Norm didn’t cut,” the director told the website. “He waited. He paused.”
The ball fell in the cup, and both Milton and Patterson exhaled.
“Thank you, Norm,” Milton said.
“Steve,” Patterson said, “we’re a great team.”
The Aftermath
Woods went on to win his fourth of five green jackets in a sudden-death playoff with DiMarco, and that shot was one of the most iconic and viewed moments of his storied career.
“I remember seeing the video later after I holed that shot, and there was a gentleman in back,” Woods recalled in 2019. “He just slams his hat on the ground.”
Of course, the overwhelming majority of the patrons behind him exploded with cheers.
The gallery celebrates after Tiger Woods makes a birdie putt at No. 18 in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the 2005 Masters.
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“That’s fun,” he said. “It’s exciting to be part of situations like that, that people will look back on my career and say, ‘I saw him pull that shot off.’”
The chip-in plays a prominent role in “Together We Roared,” a recently released autobiography by Williams and sportswriter Evin Priest about the caddie’s glorious run carrying the bag for Woods.
“We tried to give the reader a backstage pass to arguably one of the greatest periods of golf played by anybody,” Williams said.
Almost immediately, Nike cut that footage of the shot into a commercial.
Tragically, Patterson died of an apparent heart attack less than a year later while in San Diego to cover a golf tournament. He was 45.
Lundquist, who retired last year, counts the drama on the 16th hole as one of the great highlights of his career.
“Tiger and I have a relationship because of that shot,” he said. “He said at a news conference, ‘The two of us will be tied at the hip together because of what I did and how he described it.’
“I treasure those comments.”
Twenty years, 1.8 seconds, yet forever timeless.
Sports
Tom Izzo explodes on former Michigan State player in wild scene: ‘What the f— are you doing?’
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has been known to get visibly angry with his players over his years in East Lansing, but what happened Monday night against USC was different.
Izzo let loose his frustration on a former player.
During the Spartans’ blowout over the Trojans, 80-51, Izzo was spotted unloading on former Michigan State center Paul Davis, who played for the team from 2002-06, after he caused a disturbance in the stands.
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Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans reacts to a call during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena Jan. 2, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
Referees pointed out Davis, who was a spectator, from his courtside seat after he was among many in the building who disagreed with a call in the second half. Davis stood up and shouted at referee Jeffrey Anderson.
Anderson responded with a loud whistle, stopping play and pointing at Davis. Then, Anderson went over to Izzo to explain what happened, and the 70-year-old coach went ballistic.
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First, he was motioning toward Davis, and it was clear he asked his former center, “What the f— are you doing?”
Davis was met by someone asking him to leave his seat, and that’s when Izzo went nuts. He shouted “Get out of here!” at Davis, who appeared to gesture toward Izzo, perhaps in apology for disturbing the game.
Izzo was asked about Davis’ ejection after the game.
“What he said, he should never say anywhere in the world,” Izzo responded when asked what happened. “That ticked me off. So, just because it’s 25, 20 years later, I’m going to have to call him tomorrow and tell him what I thought of it. And you know what he’ll say? ‘I screwed up, coach. I’m sorry.’”
Izzo quickly clarified that what Davis said “wasn’t something racial” and “it wasn’t something sexual.”
Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo protests a call that benefited the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first half at Jack Breslin Student Events Center Dec. 2, 2025. (Dale Young/Imagn Images)
“It was just the wrong thing to say, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Davis later met with reporters Tuesday, apologizing for his actions.
“I’m not up here to make any excuses. I’m up here to take accountability, to own it,” Davis said. It was a mistake that will never happen again. It was a mistake that’s not me, but, unfortunately, last night it was.”
Izzo said Davis was one of his “favorite guys” during his time playing for the Spartans. He had a breakout sophomore campaign with 15.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and two assists per game in 30 starts for Izzo during the 2003-04 season.
Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans reacts during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena Jan. 2, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
In his senior year, Davis averaged 17.5 points, a career-high, in 33 games.
He was taken in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Davis played just four seasons in the league, his final one with the Washington Wizards.
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MADISON, Wis. — Can a team be in crisis just a handful of games into conference play?
UCLA is testing that possibility given what happened here Tuesday night as part of a larger downward trend.
Lacking one of their top players with guard Skyy Clark sidelined by a hamstring injury, the Bruins also were deficient in many other areas.
Defense. Heart. Toughness. Cohesion. Intelligence.
In a game that the Bruins needed to win to get their season back on track and have any realistic chance at an elite finish in the Big Ten, they fell flat once more.
Another terrible first half led to another failed comeback for UCLA during an 80-72 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center, leaving the Bruins in search of answers that seem elusive.
There was a dustup with 10 seconds left when UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. pushed Wisconsin’s Nolan Winter after absorbing a hard foul, forcing a scrum of players to congregate along the baseline. Winter was assessed a flagrant-1 foul and Dailey a technical foul that was offset by a technical foul on Badgers guard Nick Boyd.
About the only thing to celebrate for the Bruins was not giving up.
Thanks to a flurry of baskets from Dailey and a three-pointer from Trent Perry that broke his team’s 0-for-14 start from long range, UCLA pulled to within 63-56 midway through the second half. Making the Bruins’ rally all the more improbable was that much of it came with leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau on the bench with four fouls.
But Wisconsin countered with five consecutive points and the Bruins (10-5 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) never mounted another threat on the way to a second consecutive loss.
Dailey scored 18 points but missed all five of his three-pointers, fitting for a team that made just one of 17 shots (5.9%) from long range. Bilodeau added 16 points and Perry had 15.
Boyd scored 20 points to lead the Badgers (10-5, 2-2), who won in large part by their volume of three-pointers, making 10 of 30 attempts (33.3%) from beyond the arc.
Unveiling a turnover-choked, defensively challenged performance, UCLA played as if it were trying to top its awful first-half showing against Iowa from three days earlier.
It didn’t help that the Bruins were shorthanded from tipoff.
With Clark unavailable, UCLA coach Mick Cronin turned to Perry and pivoted to a smaller lineup featuring forward Brandon Williams alongside Bilodeau as the big men.
For the opening 10 minutes, it felt like a repeat of Wisconsin’s blowout victory over UCLA during the Big Ten tournament last March. The Badgers made seven of 11 three-pointers on the way to building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin continually tinkered with his lineup, trying to find a winning combination.
It never came.
He tried backup center Steven Jamerson II for a little more than a minute before yanking him after Jamerson committed a foul. He put in backup guard Jamar Brown and took him out after Brown gave up a basket and fumbled a pass out of bounds for a turnover. Backup guard Eric Freeny got his chance as well and airballed a three-pointer.
Wisconsin surged ahead with an early 13-0 run and nearly matched it with a separate 11-0 push. The Bruins then lost Perry for the rest of the first half after he hit his chin while diving for a loose ball, pounding the court in frustration with a balled fist before holding a towel firmly against his injured chin during a timeout. (He returned in the second half with a heavy bandage.)
Just when it seemed as if things couldn’t get worse, they did. Williams limped off the court with cramps late in the first half and the Bruins failed to box out Wisconsin’s Andrew Rohde on two possessions, leading to a putback and two free throws after he was fouled on another putback attempt.
UCLA almost seemed fortunate to be down only 45-31 by the game’s midpoint, though being on pace to give up 90 points couldn’t have pleased a coach known for defense.
Another comeback that came up short didn’t make things any better.
Sports
Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa open to fresh start elsewhere after disappointing season: ‘That would be dope’
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Tua Tagovailoa appears to be ready to move on from the Miami Dolphins – a feeling that seems mutual between the two sides.
Tagovailoa was benched for the final three games of the season due to poor performance. A day after the Dolphins’ season ended with a 38-10 loss to division rival New England, the sixth-year signal-caller appeared open to the idea of a “fresh start.”
Mike McDaniel speaks with Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) in the fourth quarter of a game against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on Sept. 25, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“That would be dope. I would be good with it,” Tagovailoa said Monday, according to The Palm Beach Post, when asked specifically if he was “hoping for a fresh start.”
When asked by another reporter if he understood “fresh start” as playing “elsewhere,” Tagovailoa reportedly confirmed it.
The remarks came the same day that head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed that the team would be approaching the 2025-2026 season with a competitive mindset for the position.
“In 2026, I think there will be competition for our starting quarterback. What that is and how that looks, there’s a lot that remains to be seen. It’s the most important position on the football field, and you have to make sure you do everything possible to get the best person out there on the field.”
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa runs off the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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“Who that is – whether they’re in-house or somewhere else, that’s something that we’ll be extremely diligent on,” he continued. “But I know there will be competition for those reins. That much I do know.”
Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns this season, but he struggled with accuracy and mobility, throwing a career-high of 15 interceptions. His poor performance comes just one season after signing a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension in July 2024.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa speaks during a press conference after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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The Dolphins face a serious decision regarding Tagovailoa, as releasing him next year would result in a $99 million dead cap charge. If the move is designated as a post-June 1 release, those charges would be split over two years, with $67.4 million allocated to the 2026 cap and $31.8 million in 2027.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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