When Tiger Woods silenced Phil Mickelson with five words at the 2001 Masters: "Deflated Phil's ego"

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have been the biggest rivals of each other, especially in the early 2000s. Although Mickelson couldn't win a major championship until 2004, he was considered one of the best golfers at the time, while Tiger had already achieved greatness by winning all major events in 2000.

The Woods and Mickelson rivalry reached its peak at the 2001 Masters, where both golfers were paired together for the final round and were in contention to win the green jacket.

Mickelson bombed his driver and got the ball right into the middle of the fairway on the Par 5, 13th hole.

Everyone, including the broadcasters, were impressed, but no one saw coming what they witnessed next as Woods decided to tee off with a 3-wood.

He flushed his 3-wood and got it right by Mickelson's ball to finish around 30 yards ahead of him. Steve Williams, the then caddie of Tiger, said he could sense Mickelson was a bit dejected as he hit the best drive he could, and then Tiger went past him with just his 3-wood.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the Augusta National - Source: Getty

“I could sort of sense that Mickelson was feeling a bit dejected,” Woods’ then-caddie, Steve Williams said in HBO documentary Tiger via Golf.com in Janury 2021.

"And then Phil says to Tiger, 'Do you always hit your 3-wood that long?'"

"And Tiger says, ‘Further. Normally further than that.'

"It’s amazing the little games within the game Tiger would play. “That shot just deflated Phil’s ego, and he couldn’t bounce back," Williams revealed.

Both golfers carded a birdie on that hole, but eventually, Tiger Woods managed to win the 2001 Masters by two strokes while Phil Mickelson dropped down to third place and missed out on winning his first major event.

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What score did Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson achieve at the 2001 Masters?

Tiger Woods carded an incredible 68 on the final day to finish -16 at the event and won the 2001 Masters by two strokes. Phil Mickelson, on the other hand, carded a two-under 70 on the final day and scored -13 for the event to finish third.

Another American golfer, David Duval, was the runner-up for the event as he carded an incredible 67 and remained just two strokes behind the leader.

Here's the leaderboard for the 2001 Masters (Top 20):

• Tiger Woods – -16
• David Duval – -14
• Phil Mickelson – -13
• T4. Mark Calcavecchia – -10
• T4. Toshi Izawa – -10
• T6. Ernie Els – -9
• T6. Jim Furyk – -9
• T6. Bernhard Langer – -9
• T6. Kirk Triplett – -9
• T10. Steve Stricker – -8
• T10. Miguel Angel Jimenez – -8
• T10. Brad Faxon – -8
• T10. Chris DiMarco – -8
• T10. Angel Cabrera – -8
• T15. Paul Azinger – -7
• T15. Rocco Mediate – -7
• T15. Jose Maria Olazabal – -7
• T18. Tom Lehman – -6
• T18. Vijay Singh – -6
• T20. John Huston – -5
• T20. Jeff Maggert – -5
• T20. Mark O'Meara – -5
• T20. Jesper Parnevik – -5