It’s hard to understand sometimes, but the media circus traveled with Tiger Woods since before social media took over our world. 25 years ago, on October 6, 1996, to be exact, when the 20-year-old Woods achieved his first victory on the PGA Tour, In his fifth tournament, already the Tiger craze was phenomenal.
While the number of journalists there may have been meager compared to the Shriners Children’s Open starting this Thursday, or at least compared to a month earlier when Woods made his professional debut in Milwaukee, the stories that week in Las Vegas were abundant. All driven in large part, of course, by players who weren’t too happy with the uproar surrounding Woods. “Everything has been Tiger, Tiger”, Fred Funk was complaining then. “They forget that all the rest of us are here.” Those words didn’t make Woods nervous, who concentrated on speaking on the court.
In the opening round, at the Las Vegas Hilton, one of the three fields used for the Las Vegas Invitational tournament – it was played in five rounds – the Californian opened with a score of 70 (-2) and was eight shots behind Rick Fehr .
At this stage, everyone expected the unexpected from Woods, who had already shown the explosive talent to achieve three consecutive victories in the US Amateur. Then he came in at 60th in his Milwaukee debut, 11th in Canada, fifth at Quad City and third at the BC Open. Tiger had signed cards in the 60′s in seven of his eight laps before playing Las Vegas, so no one was surprised when Woods followed that 70 with a surprising score of 63 at TPC Summerlin, before signing 68 at Desert Inn. , which was already tied for eighth place, six strokes behind the still leader, Fehr.
Then, it did not matter that luminaries such as Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson, Payne Stewart y Jim Furyk. All the spotlight was on Woods, especially since this was a 90-hole tournament, which meant the Stanford kid had two more laps to cut the lead.
Although the third round had kept Woods in the fight, the effort had left him in some mental and physical pain. After all, he had played the first nine holes at 5 under par, and the 68 left him furious. But more importantly, the future star had felt severe pain in his groin that, he claimed, dated back to his victory at the US Amateur in August.
“With all the golf I’ve been playing, I never gave him a chance to heal,” explained Woods.
His strong desire to do the improbable – to earn his PGA Tour card by finishing in the top 125 on the money list in less than 10 starts – had caused his schedule to be tight. It had also generated some controversy because, citing exhaustion, Woods had withdrawn from the Buick Challenge and from a dinner at which he was to receive the Haskins award as the best collegiate golfer in the country. That infuriated critics. Love III told reporters: “He’s a rookie and rookies make rookie mistakes.” while Stewart Cink, a previous Haskins winner, was more blunt: “To some extent, I think it offends all the players who have won that award.”
A week later, Woods was in Las Vegas and let the criticism go by. “I got some messages from the guys who didn’t say exactly what was written”he told reporters. “They have been very nice to me.” Despite his diplomatic skills, Woods had another personality once it was time to make it happen. His new colleagues have already noted the ferocity of his approach.
On Saturday, Woods signed a card of 67 (-5) and got four behind the leader, Ronnie Black. But the magic that Woods had demonstrated as an amateur, and which would become his calling card as a professional, peaked at TPC Summerlin on the fifth and final lap. A birdie on the first hole put fans on alert, and then an eagle came on par 5 of hole three, causing an incredible frenzy.
Woods kept his foot on the pedal: the birdies on the 9th, 11th and 13th were electrifying. One more birdie on 14 led him to a tie for the lead and a two-putt birdie on par 5 on 16 gave him the advantage at the Club House. But Davis Love did not give in and, with an eagle and a birdie, came to tie with a total of 27 under par. Months earlier, the young and impetuous Woods had told Love that his dream was to play heads-up and beat the superstar, to which Love responded something like: “Good luck, I hope you get the chance …”.
That opportunity came in the tiebreaker at TPC Summerlin and Woods took little time to cash in on it. A wood 3 that departed The fairway at the 18th hole, followed by a 9-iron, which was 20 feet from the flag, put pressure on Love. “He knew I had a birdie chance,” Woods said, confirming that his strategy was to hit the second shot first on the first hole of the playoff.
The maturity of the young man was already amazing, he was right; Love missed the left bunker and couldn’t save par, something Tiger easily did with two putts. Love had no choice but to shake hands congratulating Woods. The oversized check for $ 297,000 still hangs in Woods’ office. But what’s not forgotten is Love’s post-game date, then 32 and at the height of her career. “I’m so disappointed, so happy for him,” Love said. “He’s a great player and he’s going to be great for the PGA Tour.”
Wow, it was and still is, 25 years later.
Video | He throws his golf ball at over 140 km / h and is caught by lightning
