I was there: Tiger's win at the 2006 British Open

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Raw emotions came pouring out of Tiger Woods at Royal Liverpool after winning his first major since his father's death.

What's it like to be there in person when Tiger Woods win a PGA TOUR event? As part of our Tiger Woods Victory Room, we asked several members of our PGATOUR.COM team to give us their thoughts on a Tiger win they attended in person. Have you seen a Tiger victory up close? Just click here to e-mail us and we'll post the best ones.

'I was there'

MAGINNES: '96 Las Vegas Inv't
HAUSER: '97 Masters
AUCLAIR: '03 Bay Hill Inv't
DOLCH: '05 Ford Champ.
ROSS: '06 British Open
WACKER: '06 PGA Champ.
AWTREY: '08 Arnold Palmer Inv't
McALLISTER: '08 U.S. Open
Tiger Woods Victory Room

There's the uppercut that lashes out into the sky. And the crouching double fist-pump, accompanied by his modern version of a primal scream, that attended Tiger Woods' U.S. Open playoff victory at Torrey Pines last year.

Don't forget how he whipped off his cap and threw it to the ground after he made a 24-footer to beat Bart Bryant at Bay Hill last year, either.

Or the way Steve Williams lifted his boss off his feet a year later on the same green when Woods did it again, capping a triumphant comeback after knee surgery.

We'd never seen this, though.

Tiger Woods sobbing, burying his head into Williams' shoulder as he struggled to compose himself on the 18th green at Royal Liverpool that Sunday. More tears fell as he hugged his wife, Elin, on the way to sign his scorecard.

Woods had just won the 135th Open Championship, beating Chris DiMarco by two strokes. His father, Earl, the man who nurtured and nourished Woods' love of the game, was not there to see it, though. He had died just over two months earlier.

The emotion Woods displayed on that cool, breezy afternoon was as raw as those other celebrations were exuberant. The game's No. 1 player later said the display, so unprecedented and revealing, surprised even him.

"At that moment, it just came pouring out ... all the things that my father has meant to me and the game of golf," Woods said. "I just wish he could have seen it one more time."

Woods had tried so hard to win the Masters, knowing it likely was Earl's last chance to see one of those patented celebrations in his dogged pursuit of the great Jack Nicklaus. He played the U.S. Open just six weeks after burying his father and had missed the cut.

Writing about Woods' victories is often difficult for me. He's so incredibly gifted that words sometimes seem inadequate to describe what just transpired. His comments to the media are genuine but offer little glimpse into the fine son Earl and Tida raised.

This particular Sunday, though, what he didn't say spoke volumes and his humanity was as inspiring as all that talent.