×

Today in History: 1997, Tiger Woods wins first Masters by record margin

Masters champion Tiger Woods receives his Green Jacket from the previous year's winner Nick Faldo, left, at the Augusta National Golf Club on April 13, 1997, in Augusta, Ga. (AP photo)

Today is Monday, April 13, the 103rd day of 2026. There are 262 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 13, 1997, Tiger Woods, at age 21, became the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, finishing a record 12 strokes ahead of Tom Kite.

Also on this date:

In 1743, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony.

In 1861, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell to Confederate forces in the first battle of the Civil War.

In 1873, members of the pro-white, paramilitary White League attacked Black state militia members defending a courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana; three white men and as many as 150 Black men were killed in what is known as the Colfax Massacre, one of the worst acts of Reconstruction-era violence.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in Washington on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson’s birth.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first Black performer to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.”

In 1999, right-to-die advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, Michigan, to 10 to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a patient with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. (Kevorkian ultimately served eight years before being paroled.)

In 2005, a defiant Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to carrying out the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other attacks in back-to-back court appearances in Alabama and Georgia. (He received multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.)

In 2009, at his second trial, music producer Phil Spector was found guilty by a Los Angeles jury of second-degree murder in the shooting of actor Lana Clarkson. (Later sentenced to 19 years to life, Spector died in prison in January 2021.)

In 2011, a federal jury in San Francisco convicted baseball slugger Barry Bonds of a single charge of obstruction of justice but failed to reach a verdict on three counts at the heart of allegations that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone and lied to a grand jury about it. (Bonds’ obstruction conviction was overturned in 2015.)

In 2016, the Golden State Warriors became the NBA’s first 73-win team by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 125-104, breaking the 72-win record set by the Chicago Bulls in 1996.

In 2017, Pentagon officials said U.S. forces struck a tunnel complex of the Islamic State group in eastern Afghanistan with the GBU-43/B MOAB “mother of all bombs,” the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the military.

In 2023, FBI agents arrested Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira in a case involving the most consequential national security leak in years. (Teixeira admitted that he shared highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine on the social media platform Discord and was sentenced in federal court in 2024 to 15 years in prison; he also received a dishonorable discharge at a court-martial in 2025.)

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Al Green is 80. Actor Ron Perlman is 76. Singer Peabo Bryson is 75. Bandleader-drummer Max Weinberg is 75. Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov is 63. Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III is 62. Actor-comedian Caroline Rhea is 62. Actor Rick Schroder is 56. Actor Glenn Howerton is 50. Actor Kelli Giddish is 46. Singer-rapper Ty Dolla $ign is 44. Actor Allison Williams is 38. Actor Filip Geljo is 24. Actor Dylan Conrique is 22.

Starting at $3.23/week.

Subscribe Today