I’m curious what it actually felt like to watch him live when he was dominating. Was the atmosphere different from other players? Like were there any cool stories you remember lol like roars, shots, crowd energy, anything. My dad always tells me how it was watching tiger on live what is your guys stories?
by Crazy-Cap259
43 Comments
Edit : In all honesty I was too young to appreciate it (7 years old) but here’s a good video that sums up the early stages of his prime.
[https://youtu.be/Ug-HzOS5dc8?si=6ttuhX3TbXhSqLsu](https://youtu.be/Ug-HzOS5dc8?si=6ttuhX3TbXhSqLsu)
Electric, when he was at his peak nobody could compete, and if they did it was amazing to watch.
You tuned in to watch Tiger. Not to watch golf. It was mastery
The sports bar I used to frequent had a lot of Pools for sports. In the Golf pools there was always a ‘Tiger vs The Field’, and Tiger was generally favoured. He had a stretch where he went like 40rounds with successive leads in tournaments or something crazy like that. He was must see TV.
Challengers came and went but Tiger was a constant.
Tiger was THE most exciting golfer to watch…period. He was the ultimate shot maker and did it with flair. He also would make so many clutch putts. When he was in his prime, he was the most dominate athlete in all sports.
Amazing and fun every weekend!
2000 US Open. Walked 18 on Sunday inside the ropes- place was crazy- the Tiger roar was a thing. Almost got crushed by the crowds-and press on 17- it gets very tight and there were so many people- was an amazing day. What your Dad says is true. Two athletes had that in our day – Tiger and Michael Jordan
I’d say there’s a number of diehard golf fans who will watch every tournament today. Well, in Tiger’s prime, people watched every tournament just for him. Majors were absolutely must watch TV, especially when he was hovering at or around the top of the leaderboard
Was hard to *actually* see him sometimes…. crowd was 30/40 deep at the tee box in his hey day.
More recently, I remember crawling through a barrage of legs at a Carnoustie tee and being head height with his ball, about 8 feet away….the woosh was like a jet taking off.
Insane…. It cannot be put into words what he did in and for the game of golf
Like watching Scottie last week except without fucking up Thursday. Basically he is the low round or close to it every day, and wins the tournament by a lot because his average round is the competitions best round.
The best part about it was watching him repeatedly, repeatedly piss off the boomers that hated him for what he represented.
You expected to watch something magical and somehow what you watched was well beyond your expectations.
If Tiger was on a charge people would go find a TV to watch. Even non golf people.
Nobody transformed their sport like Tiger
These days the tour is full of guys who hit the ball too far and people want them to roll the equipment back. If you want to know what Tiger was like in his prime, imagine there was one golfer who hit the ball 25 yards further than everybody else using equipment that doesn’t even come close to what they have today, and also put the ball any damn where he pleased for the most part from anywhere. Imagine he was so good that instead of changing the equipment they felt they needed to change *the courses*.
It was unreal. You just knew he was gonna do it
Amazing. He completely changed the sport. We’ll never see that kind of dominance along with the fan and media frenzy ever again. Watching Tiger on Sunday was required viewing at my Grandma’s house.
I’m not even trying to be funny here, just providing an example of how huge he was.
My racist ass Southern grandparents who don’t really like golf tuned in to watch him play every week. They never watched golf before Tiger, and they haven’t watched any since. But when Tiger was Tigering, they didn’t miss a swing.
Full control, extreme focus, killer mentality, unbeatable. It was exciting
Everyone has different memories
For me, Tiger was certainty. I could miss watching the entire tournament but I knew if I turn on the TV late Sunday Tiger will be there on top
For crucial approaches and putts, it was a certainty that Tiger would make those
On the rare occasion someone else was winning, it would be quite boring to watch
Tiger also brought a lot of energy into the game
I was a kid when he was in his peak prime. I didn’t golf or watch golf or anything, but everyone knew who Tiger Woods was. Like most people who don’t watch golf probably don’t know who Scottie Sheffler is, but they knew who Tiger is.
The question wasn’t “Was Tiger going to win?” The question asked when he was in his prime was “How much was he going to win by?”
Insane. They changed the rules, courses and game overall because of him… and he still won. There was nothing like it.
The man created an entire generation of new golfers trying to follow him or emulate him. No one has matched him. He is one of the most electric athletes I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch in my lifetime. I cried like a baby after the 2019 Masters because a part of me knew that was the end… and how fitting it was.
I went to the Open at St Andrews in 2000. I followed Tiger. The 5th hole is a long par 5 (567 I think it was) but it was downwind and the flag was right at the front of the green so everyone was bounding past and 3 putting so it was taking forever. 45 minute wait on the tee. Els, price, and a few other top names were in the groups ahead so I watched them hit. I remember thinking I’m not as long and I’m certainly not as consistent, but I can hit that shot. Tiger stood up swung a couple of irons a couple of times, teed his ball up and hit it 400 yards down the middle of the fairway. I was in awe. And I knew I could play golf for 100 years and never hit a shot like that. Mind blown. 🤯
It was like seeing the first pair of tits you ever had seen. Over and over and over again.
Scottie plus 60% more gap from field
Nothing against Scottie but Tiger was more entertaining. He tried and pulled off crazier shots. Had huge and crazy galleries following him. He was so much more physically gifted than other players of the era. And had so many big moments, esp in majors. Scottie ho hum crushes the field by not making any mistakes. At his peak, Tiger seemed to win almost every tournament. He was always there.
Dude was like +120 one year to win the Masters or some shit
There was the constant debate on who to take in a tournament, Tiger vs the Field.
And the guy was all over the coverage. And still a bit of a stiff when it came to interacting with the public. So a significant amount of people got sick of it and Phil fit right in as that counter to root for.
But there was a lot of that same feeling of inevitability thst Jordan had. If he was in contention or especially the lead going into Sunday, he was gonna win.
This feels like my “Hey dad, what was it like watching Nicklaus in his prime?” moment. Damnit I’m getting old.
Tiger vs. The Field was a legit question and most times we’d take Tiger.
It was must see TV…. Seeing YE Yang take him down was one of the biggest upsets i ever seen
I was 12 when he first won at Augusta. Basically every time you watched him he’d do something you didn’t think was possible. And you’d have been right to think so because there were zero other players who’d even try what he just did. The dude made you believe in magic.
When I was in elementary school in 1997. Grade 4. The coolest stuff you could have for 2 or 3 years was tiger woods gear with that old oval logo. He made golf completely mainstream. The goat. It was tiger vs everyone else. Jon Daley, Freddie Couples, David Duval. He is who made me fall in love with the game.
Imagine Scottie but he’s cool.
I’m kinda joking but not really, like literally just imagine someone playing like Scottie has over the last few years but if he was also a guy that was genuinely exciting to watch. Driving the ball like Rory, hitting iron shots like Scottie, short game/recovery shots like Spieth, and making damn near every meaningful putt he looked at.
The closest modern round of golf I can think of that compares to Tiger’s aura during a round is honestly probably Anthony Kim’s final round when he won on LIV. Dude just stared down two of the best golfers on LIV and some of the best in the world and charged into a multiple stroke margin of victory while yelling and fist pumping every made putt. Tiger did that basically every week except there was almost never anyone better than him
Imagine being fully erect for about 15 years.
Saw Tiger at Tiger Jam around the year 2000. Invited to forecaddie as a local junior golfer.
He held at clinic for us before the round. It was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. He hit wedges basically into a bucket over and over.
The longer clubs looked like nothing you’ve seen. Sharp piercing ropes that I don’t really think is even practiced anymore.
It’s somewhere on YouTube. Butch narrates, it’s crazy.
Tiger made golf cool. He was a movement.
Golf wouldn’t be what it is today without him.
None of it mattered because he never played against Taylor Gooch.
In all seriousness, golf became cool because of him. Every kid that golfed in the late 90s or early 2000s wanted to be him. Everyone cupped the bill of their hat to read putts, fist pumped, and tried to swing like him.
Watch him play Steven Ames in match play if you want to know what domination is.
He was just so annoyingly good, like miles better. Now I look back I realize we were watching a once in a lifetime talent
In person, it was mesmerizing. 1999-2006 he was on top of the world.
The rest of the tour was literally scared of him. They’d piss their pants on Sundays if he was in their group. He was such an incredibly talented player but his mental toughness was something I don’t know that we’ll ever see again. It seemed like the other players in the final group knew before they’d tee it up on Sunday that they couldn’t win. Shots. Roars. Must see tv.