Look: Old Tiger Woods, Augusta National Story Goes Viral

Tiger Woods has spent the entire 21st century as golf’s most recognizable star. Even before his ascent to greatness, legends Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus realized he’d one day take the torch.

Kyle Porter of CBS Sports shared a passage from Tom Callahan’s 2017 book, “Arnie: The Life of Arnold Palmer.” The anecdote shows the sport’s former greats getting a glimpse of a young Woods’ prodigious talent.

In 1996, Palmer and Nicklaus watched a 20-year-old Woods pull out his iron after popping up his first shot. Palmer whispered to Nicklaus that the amateur was “laying up” to set up better positioning for his next shot.

Nicklaus, however, told Palmer that wasn’t the case. Woods instead sent his second shot into the green.

Callahan described that story to Nicklaus “as the moment Arnold realized his class had graduated.” Nicklaus, 10 years Palmer’s junior, said the same applied for his class, too.

By that point, Nicklaus was a decade removed from winning his record-setting 18th major at Augusta National. Woods, meanwhile, became the PGA Tour’s 1996 Rookie of the Year and won his first of 15 majors at the following year’s Masters.

Having once looked poised to shatter Nicklaus’ milestone, Woods went a decade without a major victory before triumphantly returning to capture his fifth Green Jacket in 2019. While his latest comeback didn’t garner the same ending, the 46-year-old made the cut in his first competition in more than 500 days.

Although once the young hot shot, Woods can now look at the likes of 25-year-old Scottie Scheffler as the new guard ready to shine under the spotlight.

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