The Tiger I Know

Woods has been a hero and inspiration for everyone connected with golf over the last two decades. We asked players, officials and journalists to share their favourite personal anecdotes.

Henrik Stenson “He gave me a nice present when we played the Tavistock Cup the week after I played the underwear shot at Doral back in 2009. The whole Isleworth team had signed a pair of white boxer shorts that he gave to me on the first tee. He likes a good joke and I like jokes; it was all good fun.”	Graeme McDowell “I’ve always enjoyed playing with Tiger. He’s always been nothing but sporting and always fun to play with. You have to keep yourself in check because it can be so easy to get sucked into watching him. He’s so impressive with what he’s done in this sport, it’s pretty amazing.”
Gary Woodland “He’s the greatest golfer of our generation so to be around him is awesome. I’ve only played with him once, back in 2011. But I also walked with him during an Open Championship practice round as my clubs didn’t make it over. I just wanted to pick his brain and watch how he goes about his stuff.”	Rickie Fowler “He always gives me a hard time about my college team (Oklahoma State), or the colours I’m wearing. I’ve given him a hard time this year when he’s tried to wear some bright colours. He gives me grief about the flat bill caps because he’s got a small head and he can’t pull it off. He loves joking with me and I give it right back. It’s part of it and we always have fun with it.”
Gary Player “One of the things I’ve admired most is the way he’s continued to help revolutionize fitness in golf. When I ran into him at the gym in Dubai recently the day before the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, his drive to make himself better through fitness reminded me of myself in my prime. Very diligent, outstanding work ethic and he was pumping iron and pushing himself in the gym so that he can play at his best on the course.”	Geoff Ogilvy “I played with him in 1999 and 2000 when he really was playing like Rory is now; not missing a shot, hitting it better than everyone else, holing every putt. It was nice to witness it. We used to talk about running a lot. He used to love running way back. I don’t think he runs anymore, but there were a couple of times in the gym when he was on the treadmill and I was next to him and it was good fun. He’d go really hard on those exercises.”
Jim Furyk “I’ve always told him that Harvard never calls themselves the Stanford of the East and he’s never really appreciated that. He tells me that two years at Stanford is better than four-and-a-half at Arizona.”	Jordan Spieth “It’s mainly sports-related, so we talk Stanford and we talk Texas. On the course we talk about life and family and stuff. But most of it is sports-related.”
Tim Clark “I remember beating him in the Accenture World Match Play, 4&2. I was also fortunate to be paired with him in the final round at Augusta twice and he’s fun to play with. The buzz is amazing and it’s fun to watch when he’s on his game.”	Mike Davis (Executive director, USGA) “His six consecutive USGA victories from 1991-1996 (Junior Amateur 1991-93, US Amateur 1994-96) is arguably one of the greatest runs in amateur golf. In each, he had an almost uncanny ability to execute a superb shot at critical times. Unbelievable.”
John Paramor (Referee, European Tour) “At the 2002 Deutsche Bank I gave Tiger three buggy rides back to the tee during a play-off with Monty. After Tiger won, he looked at me and said ‘Where’ve you been? I’ve not seen you all week!’ He was so in the zone he hadn’t noticed me!”	Tom Stites (Former director of product innovation at Nike) “Tiger’s wiring gives him the ability to feel minute changes and differences in clubs and gear. He can pick up only a few grams of weight difference and small changes in frequencies that normal humans would not detect.