Four months later, after being an also-ran at the U.S. Open and British Open, he was asked again about the Grand Slam. Woods said it was tough to even get into contention at four majors in one year.
"Realistically, it's almost next to impossible to win all four," he said before the '97 U.S. PGA Championship.
A decade later, there is proof it can happen.
Over 294 days that connected 2000 to 2001, Woods became the first player to hold all four major titles, from his 15-shot victory at the U.S. Open to his two-shot victory at the Masters.
And when he won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2002, Woods wondered why there was such a fuss.
"It's certainly doable, because I've done it before," he said after winning the U.S. Open at Bethpage. "To win all four in a calendar year would just be different. Because at that one time, in my household, there was all four major championships right there. And no one else in the world had them but me."
The starting line for a calendar slam is the Masters.
While he is a four-time Masters champion, Woods has won only once in the last five years. That was in 2005, which featured the magical chip-in for birdie on the 16th and a playoff victory over Chris DiMarco.
Maturity has come to his game and his speech over the years, and that's why it was mildly surprising to hear him speak so boldly about a calendar slam, something that has never been done at the professional level.
Reminded of his various comments about the Grand Slam on Monday, Woods shrugged his shoulders.
"I've gotten better as a player," he said. "The last four, five, six years, I have been in contention in more majors than when I first started out. Put that into more chances, and probably over the last two or three years I've given myself a chance in just about every major. And that's the whole idea."
In his last 12 majors, since confidence caught up to his swing changes, Woods has finished out of the top four only twice. He missed the cut at the '06 U.S. Open in his first tournament since his father died, and he tied for 12th at the British Open last year.
"That's what I've been the most proud of over the last couple of years," he said. "I've really given myself a chance, sometimes only after two or three days, but I'm in the mix. Sometimes I'm on the periphery of contention, like the British last year, where you need to make a couple of putts to change things, and I just didn't do it.
"But if that's the worst I can do, that's not too bad."
