There aren’t many names that go together better than Tiger Woods and the Masters.
With Woods likely to make his next competitive appearance next month at Augusta National, we dug back into the archives of GOLF Subpar to check out stories from some of our guests about the five-time Masters champ.
Keep reading below for some of the best Tiger Woods Masters stories you may have missed from Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Paul Casey and Justin Thomas.
Tony Finau shot a third-round 64 at the 2019 Masters that jumped him into contention for his first major title. But that also meant, due to the final-round tee times being pushed to the morning due to weather, that he’d be in the final threesome with Woods.
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“I’ve dreamed since I was a kid of competing against Tiger, playing against him in the final group, being paired with him in the final group of a Masters or a U.S. Open,” Finau told Knost and Stoltz in 2020. “Of course I was nervous, but, you know, it didn’t feel the way I thought it would on Sunday.”
If he was expecting Woods to be chatty while he chased down his 15th major, he was mistaken. After the two exchanged pleasantries on the 1st hole, Finau said he didn’t hear a word from Woods until No. 7.
“Tiger and I are walking next to each other off the tee and I said, ‘Hey, Tiger,’” Finau said. “You know, it’s kind of awkward. I’m like, how come he’s not talking to you? Yeah. I should say something to him. So I’m like, ‘Hey, Tiger, how’s the kids,’ you know?
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“And he’s like, ‘Oh, they’re doing fine.’ And he just laser-eyed, straight down the fairway and just kept on walking. And from that point on I said, ‘Well, I guess I know where his attitudes are.’”
Finau said he didn’t speak to Woods again until he congratulated him on the victory.
Finau ended up tying for fifth that week, Xander Schauffele was one of the three runners-up to Woods.
“It’s funny, finishing second there doesn’t hurt as much, I think, as other finishes I’ve had, just because at the end of the day, you know, I sat there waiting for him to go into scoring,” Schauffele said. “Basically it was a historical moment.”
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Schauffele said the scene of fans erupting when Woods came in from the final green was like a basketball game.
