Ten years ago, before he was a global icon, Tiger Woods still was somewhat of a mystery at the Masters.

It was his first major as a professional. He had played six majors as an amateur, never finishing in the top 20, only five rounds under par. And while he already had won three of his 14 starts on the PGA Tour since turning pro, most of the hype had been driven by Jack Nicklaus’ audacious prediction that Woods might win as many green jackets — 10 — as Nicklaus and Palmer combined.

“All the fuss had been there. Everyone said this guy was so good,” Thomas Bjorn said. “But players out here, we’ve all heard it: ’Here comes a new great one.’ After Augusta, everyone realized there’s something special here. This was a different class.”

Woods set 20 records that week, from youngest Masters champion (21) to 72-hole score (270) to largest victory margin (12 strokes). His victory was a watershed moment in golf.

Here is a reconstruction of that week in the words of 11 people who had contact with him that week, including an interview with Woods. The others were playing partners Nick Faldo, Paul Azinger and Colin Montgomerie; caddie Mike Cowan; swing coach Butch Harmon; golf anchor Jim Nantz, executive producer Lance Barrow and analyst David Feherty of CBS Sports; Isleworth neighbor Mark O’Meara, and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem:

THE WEEK BEFORE
After winning the season opener at La Costa in a playoff, Woods’ spring had been relatively ordinary. In his last event before the Masters, he tied for 31st in his debut at The Players Championship, finishing 17 shots out of the lead.

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He spent the week before the Masters practicing and playing at Isleworth.

O’Meara: “I had a friend of mine who owns a Japanese restaurant that I invited to play. Tiger comes onto the range and said, ’You want to play golf?’ My friend was pretty jacked up to come play with me at Isleworth. The next thing you know Tiger is with us. It was the easiest 59 you could ever see anyone shoot. He should have shot 56. There were two par 5s on the front. He had a 3-iron into one and a 5-iron into another and made par on both of them. And he still shot 59.”

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8
Whatever good vibes Woods had about his game were gone by the time he got to Augusta National for his practice rounds. What concerned him most was his putting.

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Woods: “I was still hitting it good, but I couldn’t shake it in. I felt uneasy with my stroke. For some reason, it just left me on the flight from Orlando to Augusta. I worked on it for hours and couldn’t find it. My speed was good, but I could never start the ball on line, not consistently. Finally, I had enough and I went to my dad. I said, ’Dad, I can’t figure this out.’ He had a look at it, told me a couple of things I needed to do, and all of a sudden, I started feeling a little more comfortable.”

Harmon: “He just felt so good. He was anxious for Thursday to get here. It was like, ’Put me in coach.’ He was almost too anxious. And I think that’s why he jumped out to a 40. Maybe that 40 was the best thing that happened to him. It was a slap in the face.”

Woods: “Without a doubt, I was too revved up. Because I was playing really well, probably the best stretch I’ve ever had in my life. I shot 59. I was ready. But you don’t want to be ready a week before. You want to be ready on Thursday.

THURSDAY, APRIL 9
The tradition at Augusta National is to pair the defending champion with the U.S. Amateur champion. Even though Woods turned pro after winning the Amateur, he still played the opening round with Faldo.

Woods: “Faldo was by far the quietest (partner). I said I had a Titleist 1 on the first tee and, ’Good luck today.’ And I shook his hand and gave him his scorecard. There were no words exchanged. I said, ’Nice shot, nice putt.’ But I got nothing back. That’s how he played. That’s the way he was.”

SPECIAL FEATURE His best score on each hole at Augusta

Faldo: “I remember we both went out in 40. He was in the trees to the left, I was in the trees to the right. The rest is a blur.”

Harmon: “Everyone said, ’This is much ado about nothing.’ I didn’t see anything on the front nine that I thought was bad. It was one of those nine holes where nothing happened, and every time something could go wrong, it went wrong. But he turned it around immediately.”

Woods: “All of a sudden on 9 I hit a good putt for bogey from 3 feet and it felt really good. Then I hit a good 2-iron (on No. 10) like I had been hitting at home. I said, ’Let’s keep the feeling of the swing, keep the feeling of the putt, and see if I can marry that up for nine holes, and see if I can get back to even par for the day.”’

Faldo: “He had played the Masters before, but this was his first as a professional. We all thought — I thought, too — that you needed experience. What was impressive was the back nine. He whittled away and gets back in 30. He chipped in for birdie on No. 12, and who knows? That might have changed everything for him. But that’s what Tiger is so good at. He deals with one shot at a time. He was good then, and he’s the best at it now. He just hits the reset button, so 100 percent of him is on the next shot.”

Woods: “Even though I hit the ball well on the back nine, if I don’t chip in on 12, if I don’t make the putt on 9, it doesn’t happen. I don’t get the confidence going forward.”