What Was The First Time Ernie Els Met Tiger Woods? | 6/12/25

when did you first hear the name Tiger Woods no I mean a long time ago i mean I remember playing the Buick Classic at Westchester Country Club and that was another favorite golf course of mine um and Tiger was playing the ProAm and um everybody was kind of talking about Tiger i think this was back in 94 even or 95 i mean he was he’s a couple years younger than me so u you know we all kind of stood around as little kid you know um and everybody said “No he’s going to be the next thing.” So I met Tiger back in those days and he played in quite a few events as an amateur so and I was paired with him i think I was paired with him in 95 when John Daly won the Open Championship at St andrews i was paired with Peter Jacobson Tiger and myself you know I was also paired with him in the US Open at Shinikak in 95 so we played a lot of golf uh together at a very early age for him so I’ve known him for a long time did you get it right away that you know cuz some of the veterans told me “Hey he thinks he’s going to come out here and dominate.” And I remember one prominent golfer told me it was like “Hey this is completely different when you come out here.” And then he wins like whatever in Milwaukee it’s like hello world and you know he didn’t open the door he knocked down the door yeah i mean it’s like any other sport you know you you you go from college um football or basketball or baseball into the pros and it’s there’s a different talent level there you know there’s a different atmosphere so to speak um he didn’t quite win his first one he didn’t win his second one but I think by the third one he figured it out i think he won in Vegas or something ridiculous you know um I remember speaking to Tiger you know I had a close finish at the Open Championship but Tom Layman won in at Lithands and I finished second and you know I was sitting in a locker room that there’s just a wall between the 18th green and the clubhouse where the locker room is the men’s locker room i sat there i was having a couple of beers you know just reflecting on you know you know how close it was and Tiger slid in next to me and he started talking to me and you know I was like you know what do you what do you mean he says “No you think I’m ready.” I said “What do you mean what are you talking about?” I just know you know I’m thinking about turning pro and it was probably the one of the biggest mistakes of my life when I you told him yes you were I should have told him I should have told him go back to Stanford get a real job you’re not good enough is Scotty has he graduated to the when we had Tiger versus the field is it Scotty versus the field now in these majors in your opinion I saw that um you guys starting to talk about that um Even the players are starting to mention that a bit just when I’m reading comments of of really high regarded players like Justin Thomas you know saying “How can I catch this guy?” You know that sounds like my language back in the day you know with Tiger how can I get close to this guy so there’s already a little bit of separation and um and and and and truly so because the guy’s phenomenal i mean he’s you know when he gets his patch where he’s hot you know he’s he’s very tough to beat and to be honest with you I’ve been watching the golf this morning scotty’s this golf course is made for him you know you have to hit it both ways you got to put it in the air you got to have a good short game everything gets tested but it it’s not the narrowest fairways I’ve ever seen at Oakmont so uh it’s it’s very playable but in over four rounds it’s very tough to beat this guy when he’s at his best so yes there is talk like tiger disc uh kind of

World Golf Hall of Fame Ernie Els joins the Dan Patrick Show and shares some of his favorite Tiger Woods stories

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