Tiger Woods is arguably the greatest golfer of all time. Not only does he have 15 Major titles under his belt, but he also has a share of the record of the most PGA Tour titles in history, with 82.
However, although Tiger is one of the best players of all time, his Ryder Cup record isn’t the best, with the American producing 13 wins, 21 losses and 3 halves in 37 matches which, in my opinion, isn’t great for a man of his talent.
In this piece, we head to one of those Ryder Cups and, rather ironically, one of the tournaments where Tiger finished with a positive record of 3 wins and 2 losses. The Ryder Cup in question is the 36th edition, which happened to be at the K Club, in 2006.
Although the American team got beaten convincingly, 18.5 – 9.5 to be exact, Tiger was one of the highest scorers of the week and endured a rather humorous moment during the three-day event when, his then caddy, Steve Williams, dropped his 9 iron into the water on the par 3.
Williams carried Tiger’s bag for over a dozen years and helped claim 63 PGA Tour wins and 13 major championship titles in that time
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Appearing on the ‘Chasing Majors’ podcast alongside Evin Priest, Williams shared the hilarious story at the K Club: “It was a Par 3, a green that has all water to the front of it and to the right of it,” explained the New Zealander.
“I’m leaning on Tiger’s club, he’s up there putting, and I’m leaning on this club, and I slip, and I’ve either got to let me go in the water or the club, so I let the club go .” What followed next was a case of sod’s law, with Tiger being left a 9-iron yard at the very next hole!
“We go to the next hole, I believe he was playing with Jim Furyk. Tiger’s going to hit his second shot, and it’s the bloody 9-iron,” Williams recalled. “I’m thinking, ‘I just can’t give him the yardage for an 8 or a wedge; it’s a 9, I can’t deviate this one.’
“[Woods] goes to pull the 9-iron out, and he says ‘Where’s the 9-iron?’ and I said ‘You know that lake back there…?’” Finding out that he now had 13 clubs, Tiger handled the situation well. When we say well, we mean, humorously, simply saying “you f*****g clown… only you.”