Remember when Tiger Woods almost ran out of golf balls at the 2000 U.S. Open?

Tiger Woods nearly ran out of golf balls at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Tiger Woods has put on some of the most dominating performances in the history of golf, perhaps none more memorable than the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach when he won by an unthinkable 15 shots. But were you aware that Tiger nearly ran out of golf balls at one point?

Woods’ longtime caddie, Steve Williams, who was on the bag for 13 of Tiger’s 14 major championship victories, once revealed to BBC Radio that at the end of the second round, which had to be completed on Saturday morning due to weather, the last ball Tiger teed up at the 18th hole was actually the last bag in his ball. If you know anything about the 18th at Pebble Beach, you know that isn’t exactly the most inviting hole in the world. Scenic? Yes. Inviting? No.

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Following an opening-round 65, Tiger Woods held just a one-shot lead going into his second round but as the rest of the field faded, Tiger surged ahead and held a big advantage heading into the final hole of his second round but it almost wasn’t quite as big. As Williams explained, Tiger had taken three balls out of his bag the previous night to practice putting in his hotel room and had forgotten to replace them. Seeing as the duo didn’t hit the practice green before playing the handful of holes they had left, Williams didn’t notice that they had just three of their normal six balls in the bag.

Woods started his Saturday on the par-5 14th hole and after finding the rough off the tee, he put a sizeable scuff on the ball he was using en route to a bogey so Williams simply gave it to a young fan from the gallery. No harm done, right? So now they’re down to two and Stevie is still unaware of what’s happening.

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So Tiger makes par on 15, 16 and 17 and comes to the finishing hole, which is a par-5. Woods is swinging well and wants to hit the driver, which he does, but he hooks it left, directly into Carmel Bay. Williams goes in to get another ball and finally figures out that the ball he’s just handed to Tiger is the last one in the bag and he’s scared to death to tell his boss. Would you like to tell Tiger Woods that you made a mistake, especially after he’s just hit a ball into the water? Probably not. Williams strongly suggests that Woods use an iron just to get the ball in play but Tiger is having none of that and goes with driver again.

At this point, Williams is already planning to run to the pro shop to get more balls if Tiger puts another one in the bay but thankfully for him, Woods puts the ball in play and stays dry for the remainder of the hole. Crisis averted.

Williams did eventually tell Tiger what had happened and Woods freaked out as he thought he would have been disqualified, but as it turns out, that would not have been the case. USGA rules state that he could have borrowed a golf ball from his playing partner, or one of his playing partners as it would have been — Tiger was grouped with Jim Furyk and Jesper Parnevik the first two days — provided that it was the same brand and type.

Or Williams really could have bolted to the pro shop but the delay would have been a two-stroke penalty, which means that Tiger Woods would have only won the 2000 U.S. Open by 13 shots instead of 15 and that just would have changed the course of golf history forever. Okay, it really wouldn’t have but how much fun would it have been to watch Tiger’s reaction had he put that last ball in the water?

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