Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan joined forces for a pro-am event prior to the 2007 Wachovia Championship, and the superstar duo performed exactly as most would expect. The two American sporting legends drew a huge crowd at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, the venue hosting this year’s Truist Championship after a one-year break while the course was being prepared for the 2025 PGA Championship.
At that point, Woods was already a 12-time major winner and the biggest draw in golf, while Jordan, freshly retired from the NBA, remained one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet. Their joint appearance gave spectators a rare opportunity to watch two all-time greats in action.
Despite his serious demeanor, Woods suggested that Jordan had drawn him back into the same playful behavior the two first experienced when they played their inaugural round together in Chicago in 1997, the same year Woods won his first Masters victory and one before Jordan’s sixth and final NBA title with the Chicago Bulls.
“Whether it’s playing golf or playing cards or just hanging out, whatever it is, we’re always having a great time, always needling each other,” Woods said. “There’s always a wager of some sort on anything we do because we always want to one-up one another, and that’s the nature of how we are, and I think that’s also one of the reasons why we’ve been able to accomplish the things that we’ve been able to accomplish.”
While no concrete evidence emerged of Woods and Jordan placing bets during the pro-am round, the six-time NBA champion’s well-known reputation on the golf course left little doubt about what was likely taking place. When pressed on whether any wagers had been made, Woods responded: “We’re not allowed to bet on the Tour.”
However, winning money on the golf course demands the ability to perform under pressure. Regardless of how masterfully Jordan demonstrated that quality on the basketball court, it proved to be a considerable challenge when competing against arguably the greatest golfer of all time.
Despite Jordan being the older of the two — he was 44 at the time, while Woods was just 31 — the five-time Masters champion still praised his friend’s impressive athleticism.
“His golf game is a lot better than my basketball,” Woods said of Jordan.
“He’s still MJ on the court when he shoots; he just can’t do it for 48 minutes. It’s now like five minutes. But the shots, you know, the fadeaway, the drop step, he has it all still.”
No official record exists of how the duo performed in the pro-am, though Woods went on to claim victory at the Wachovia Championship that weekend, securing his 57th PGA Tour title.