What's the greatest achievement in the history of sports?
Is there a more difficult question for any fan to answer? It's such a subjective and divisive topic, and one that cannot truly be measured.
But that doesn't mean it's not fun to argue the toss nonetheless and on this day 20 years ago, Tiger Woods staked his own claim for the moniker by completing the unthinkable.
It was on April 8, 2001, when Woods won the Masters for a second time and by doing so he became the first player to ever be in possession of all four of golf's major trophies at the same time.
Because it was done over two seasons, Woods missed out on a calendar Grand Slam so the phenomenal achievement was dubbed the 'Tiger Slam'.
"It was exciting for everybody," four-time major winner Laura Davies recalled when speaking to Stats Perform News.
"I'm sure it was hard work for him and very mentally difficult for him to win all four in a year. It was just exciting to watch Tiger do it.
"It just would have been lovely if he'd done it in one year because it's not quite the same but it's still some achievement to hold all four at one time.
"It was good for the game definitely. I'm a big Tiger fan, I love watching his golf. At the time it was just really exciting and just making golf a more exciting game, more exciting for the younger fans and the game's built because of what he did then."
What Woods did transcended the game and enshrined his name even deeper within the list of all-time sporting greats.
Sadly, Woods will not be at Augusta – where he is a five-time champion – this week due to the injuries he suffered in a serious car accident in Los Angeles in February.
But the magnitude of his achievement will stand the test of time and, two decades on, we have taken a look back at the incredible 'Tiger Slam'.
U.S. Open 2000: Taking apart Pebble Beach
"My words probably can't describe it, so I'm not even going to try."
While Ernie Els, who took a distant share of second at the 2000 U.S. Open struggled to sum up Woods' utter domination at Pebble Beach, we should probably at least try.
Having already blasted into a six-shot lead through two rounds thanks to scores of 65 and 69, it was on the Saturday where Woods' class really told.
As the rest of the field struggled badly in wild playing conditions, Woods recovered from a triple bogey at the third to finish the round at level par and take the lead by 10 strokes – the largest 54-hole advantage at a U.S. Open.
If that's not impressive enough for you, then a closing 67 meant Woods was 15 shots clear of Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez. And, no, that is not a typo.
The Open 2000: Sensational at St Andrews
There was a sense of deja vu at The Open just a month later.
There was a sense of deja vu at The Open just a month later.
Poor gags aside, it truly was remarkable to see Woods in full pomp completely in command of the Old Course at St Andrews – the spiritual home of golf.
Opening with a 67 to sit one shy of leader Els, by the end of Friday's play Woods was three shots clear. By the end of Saturday that lead had doubled to six.
A closing 69 wrapped up victory by eight from Els and Thomas Bjorn, with Woods becoming the youngest person to complete golf's Grand Slam in history.
"It wasn't long ago when I said there'd never be another Jack Nicklaus but we're looking at one. He is the chosen one," Mark Calcavecchia said of Woods at the time.
US PGA Championship 2000: Play-off glory at Valhalla
There wasn't quite the same level of domination for 2000's season-ending major at the US PGA Championship but there was a familiar outcome at Valhalla.
Having led or co-led through three rounds, there was a ding-dong battle on the final day with Bob May, who missed a crucial birdie putt at the 15th on the same hole Woods made a clutch par.
Another gain from Woods at the 17th left them tied going up the last. May drained a 15-footer for birdie, but Woods sank his own pressure putt to force a three-hole play-off.
A birdie at the first additional hole was followed by two pars and that proved enough for Woods to join Ben Hogan as the only player to win three majors in one season.
"Tiger plays a different game than we play," May said after his defeat, with Woods saying of the win: "We never backed off. We went birdie-for-birdie, shot-for-shot. It was a very special day."
Masters 2001: The Tiger Slam
After opening with a steady 70, Woods was five shots back of first-round leader Chris DiMarco but scores of 66 and 68 had him leading by one from Phil Mickelson heading into the final round.
Mickelson was part of a star-studded leaderboard including Calcavecchia, DiMarco, Angel Cabrera, David Duval and Els – all of whom were within three of Woods.
Duval made a good fist of the challenge and even briefly tied for the lead by birdieing the 15th – only to give that shot straight back.
Needing only a par at the last, Woods finished with a birdie for a two-shot win to complete a truly epic moment of sporting history.
A closer look at the hot streak of world number one Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler claimed his fourth win in five events on Monday when the weather-delayed RBC Heritage concluded at Hilton Head.
That run includes a second Masters title and has seen the world number one extend his sizeable lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the facts and figures around Scheffler’s streak and how they compare to previous runs.
What makes Scheffler’s streak so impressive?Winning any event on the PGA Tour is difficult, but Scheffler has claimed two of the biggest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, a major championship at Augusta National and the RBC Heritage, which boasted a stronger than usual field after being elevated to a Signature Event this season. Victory at Sawgrass made Scheffler the first player ever to win back-to-back Players titles. His only “failure” was a tie for second in the Houston Open.
Has this been done before?Scheffler is the first player to win four times in five starts on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods, who did so at the end of 2007 and again to start 2008. He is also the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh (2004) – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour. With many players taking a break after winning a major, Scheffler is also the first to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming a green jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
How much has Scheffler earned?Scheffler has banked an average of £3.17million for each of his four victories and “only” £448,000 for his five-way tie for second behind Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open. The total sum of £13.14m would place Scheffler 145th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list and he is closing in on the single-season record of £17million he set last year. In comparison, Woods won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2000, including three major titles, and never finished worse than 23rd in 20 starts. His prize money totalled £7.4m.
Does the world ranking reflect Scheffler’s dominance?In a word, yes. Ahead of the Genesis Invitational in mid-February, Rory McIlroy could have become world number one by winning at Riviera with Scheffler finishing third or worse. Now, Scheffler has more than double the total and average points of McIlroy, while the average points gap between the top two (7.6493) is bigger than that between McIlroy and the players tied for 4,123st in the standings.
So is Scheffler the most dominant player in world golf?Not quite. Hours before Scheffler completed his victory in Hilton Head, fellow American Nelly Korda had wrapped up a fifth consecutive win on the LPGA Tour by claiming her second major title in the Chevron Championship. Korda’s winning streak matches that of Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05, although her bid for an unprecedented sixth straight win will have to wait after she cited exhaustion when pulling out of this week’s event in Los Angeles. While Scheffler has earned £13.14m from his last five events, Korda’s five wins have been worth £1.94m.
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
Scottie Scheffler five strokes ahead with weather forcing a Monday finish
Scottie Scheffler has a five stroke lead with just three holes to play after rain halted play in the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
The US Open champion and world number one continued his great form at Hilton Head in South Carolina on the fourth day of the tournament, hitting an eagle and two birdies across 15 holes.
A storm stopped play for two and a half hours with darkness forcing a finish on Monday.
Fellow American Wyndham Clark had a strong day through his 18 holes, moving into second place with eight birdies and an eagle, but two bogeys and a double bogey stopped him from further encroaching on Scheffler’s lead.
Clark is tied with American’s Patrick Cantlay and J T Poston, who have one hole left to play and Sahith Theegala, who has three holes left to play.
Scheffler is looking for his fourth win in five starts.
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