Good thing Tiger Woods has always had an army of fans following him.
Just yesterday, the legendary golfer was making headlines for his White House visit. Tiger was visiting with President Donald Trump about the future of golf, and the POTUS seems very interested in bringing together the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. That could have been (and maybe should have been) the big story, but instead, everyone got hung up on the fact that Woods and Trump said they loved each other.
Here was one angle of the interaction:
But long before Tiger Woods was the face of golf, he was busy making a name for himself in the late 1990s. After spending two years at Stanford, Woods turned pro at the age of 20, and began playing in PGA Tour events in 1996. By 1999, his play had already garnered a loyal following, and his fans actually helped him big time during the 1999 Phoenix Open.
The tournament, which is now called the Waste Management Phoenix Open (the tournament didn’t have a title sponsor back then), is still played at the desert course of TPC Scottsdale. And now, players that take on the 13th hole can walk over to find a big boulder with a plaque next to it thanks to a now iconic Tiger Woods moment.
Tiger pulled his tee-shot on the Par 5, and his golf ball rocketed right into a massive rock and bounced back a couple of feet. Once Woods got up to where his shot was laying, he and his caddie at the time – Fluff Cowan – got a rules official to come over. Tiger was checking to see if the boulder could be considered a “loose impediment,” and surprisingly, the rules official said that it would be considered an impediment that could be moved… that is if they were able to.
So Woods called over about a dozen or so fans that were standing close by, and the rest is history:
Believe it or not, that ruling is still talked about to this day. There’s a lot of discussion as to whether Tiger should have been able to move the boulder out of his line of play. The TV broadcast even said at the time that Woods shouldn’t have been able to get relief. But since Tiger got the okay from the rules official, that was all she wrote (and he went on to birdie the hole).
Now looking back, it’s just a funny moment in golf history more than anything, and it still gets social media going, as you’ll see in some of the comments that were left below the post:
“That’s not fair. Shooter McGavin had to hit it of Frankenstein’s fat foot.”
“Move a rock and shake Tiger’s hand. That’s a good deal.”
“Rules official was like, ‘Yeah if you can move it,” with a chuckle. Tiger looked out to the crowd and was like, ‘Bet.'”
“To be one of those guys that move the rock… what a memory.”
“Respect to Tiger for shaking all their hands…pure class.”
“All these guys can say they lived a purpose-filled life.”
“A dozen hernias created at the same time.”
“Is this where the ‘Tush Push’ was founded?”
The post Vintage Clip Shows A Dozen Golf Fans Help Tiger Woods Move A Large Boulder During A Tournament first appeared on Whiskey Riff.