No fellow player ever intentionally body-checked Tiger Woods off of a tee box or a green and called him a “bitch’’ during his rookie year on the PGA Tour.
No fellow player ever intentionally body-checked Tiger Woods off of a tee box or a green and called him a “bitch’’ during his rookie year on the PGA Tour.
But when Woods burst onto the golf scene with his first major championship victory in 1997 at age 22 with more publicity than anyone in the sport had ever seen, his presence was met with a similar — albeit more passive — jealousy among some of his peers as we’ve seen directed of late toward Caitlin Clark.
If I had a dime for the number of times in Woods’ early years on tour when I got a sarcastic eye roll when approaching players to talk about Woods or felt a vibe of annoyance when they were constantly asked about him, I’d be able to afford a membership at Augusta National.
At the time, the human-nature element of the players’ reaction was understandable to a degree, given the overwhelming attention Woods attracted because of the otherworldly things he was able to do on the golf course — things his peers couldn’t do.
There was a feeling, too, among his fellow players that Woods was going to take money out of their pockets, food from their plates.
At the time, those who’d gotten drawn into the petty jealousy of it all came to realize that the exact opposite would become the case.
Woods, in the end, would line his fellow players’ pockets with more money than they ever imagined making.
