WEBVTT - Fried Egg Stories: Tiger’s Pro Debut 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.960 Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:07.640 and to the third installment of Frida Egg's Stories, our 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:13.520 audio documentary series. Today's episode is about Tiger Woods's professional 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.479 debut at the nineteen ninety six Greater Milwaukee Open, and 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:23.080 today's sponsor, appropriately enough, is visit Milwaukee. Wisconsin is an 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:27.720 amazing golf destination. You have courses designed by Langford and Moreau, 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.560 Pete die Corn, Crenshaw, David McLay kid, many of which 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.279 are accessible within a few hours drive from Milwaukee Mitchell Airport, 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.680 which itself is just eight miles from downtown. You can 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.000 fly into Milwaukee and choose from an array of different 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.879 courses that you can play in the same day. Now. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.839 The Greater Milwaukee area has also been the site of 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.400 some really memorable golf tournaments and some big ones that 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.120 are coming up. You've got the Ryder Cup in twenty 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:59.200 twenty at Whistling Straits. You've got PGA Championships two thousand 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:03.360 and four, ten, twenty fifteen, also at Whistling Straits. You 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.840 had the twenty seventeen US Open at Aaron Hills, and 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.479 of course, for much of the twentieth century, you had 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.520 the Greater Milwaukee Open at Brown Deer Park golf Course 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.959 just outside of Milwaukee, where Tiger Woods said Hello World 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.600 in nineteen ninety six. To learn more about golf in Milwaukee, 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:27.520 go to visit Milwaukee dot org slash golf. All right, 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.800 let's get to the story. We're excited about this one. 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:33.640 We've been working on it for a while. We talked 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:38.039 to US Open champion Curtis Strange, journalists Timi Diaz and 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.520 Gary Dematto. We talked to the Greater Milwaukee Open tournament 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.679 director Tom Strong. We even talked to Jim Riswold, the 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.720 guy who wrote that famous Hello World Nike ad, and 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:50.880 they were all great, were really thankful to all of them. 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:55.840 And so, without further ado, here is Hello Milwaukee Tiger's 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:56.680 pro debut. 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.800 Frida Egg requires a different technique. What you need to 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.120 do is actually square the face so they'll dig down 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.680 underneath that bad lie and propel that ball right out 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:08.280 onto the green. 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:09.760 Here's the thing. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.320 Playing out of a buried lion of bunker is completely 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.880 different than playing out of a nice clean lion of 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.560 green side bunker. You need to be aggressive on any shop, 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:22.079 weather it's sitting cleanly or it's Friday eg well, we've 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.160 all faced it the dreaded Friday. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:26.040 It's not to be feared though. 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:27.720 It's actually a pretty easy shot to hit. 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.519 And tell you, this is the longest one footer he's ever. 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.120 Had, Pumpkin Rich nineteen ninety six. 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:44.000 I'm glad he's making them put it. 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:46.320 I'll tell you it's amazing the thoughts to go through 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:47.360 your head at this position. 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.200 Right here, a golfer in red and black addresses a 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:50.840 short putt. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:56.239 Another Tiger come back completed, and with it golf. 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:01.280 History, three straight US Comitar Championships or Tiger Woods, the 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:02.359 pearl Woods. 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:03.880 Coming in from mother and father. 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.320 There's a famous og where tears. 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:08.000 Will be exchanged. 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:12.840 It had been one of the most exciting final matches 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.040 anyone could remember. Over the first nine holes, twenty year 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.919 old Tiger Woods of Stanford University went four down to 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.000 Steve Scott, a University of Florida sophomore who was playing 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.639 tough inspired golf. But on the second eighteen of the day, 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.440 Tiger willed himself back into the match, sinking several clutch puts, 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.000 including an astonishing thirty five footer on the thirty fifth hole. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.360 It's good, great speed, it's in are you serious? 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.480 He closed out the championship on the second playoff hole, 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.720 but according to Haimi Diaz, the atmosphere on the green 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:45.800 wasn't as jubilant as he might expect. 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.960 The crowd was almost exhausted from all the excitement that 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.440 the comeback had entailed. And there I think there was 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.040 a kind of a sense of inevitability that Tiger would 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.320 win the playoff. So I'm not saying there was an excitement, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.760 but there was almost like a coronation feeling, as opposed 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:00.640 to oh my god, he did it. There was a 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.000 sense that, Okay, I've completed this mission and a new 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:05.960 chapter was ahead. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.080 And in the post round interview, Roger Malby asked about 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:09.800 that new chapter. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.040 Well, Tiger, we got to ask the question, what does 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:16.240 this do to these to your feelings as to where 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:17.719 the old term pro or stay in school. 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:20.840 I don't know right now. I just know one thing 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:22.360 I'm going to celebrate, like hell tonight. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.040 That was a dodge. Of course, the decision had already 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:31.240 been made. Tiger was going to turn pro and his 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:35.440 first tournament, the Greater Milwaukee Open, would start in four days. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.520 In this episode of Fridagg's Stories, We're focusing on one 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.280 week in Tiger Woods's career, his professional debut in nineteen 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.120 ninety six, and I'll tell you upfront, this won't be 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.560 a story about what happened on the course, because with 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.960 a couple of exceptions, nothing much did. The most significant 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.960 events occurred off the course, in the press room, in 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:59.200 front of the cameras during commercial breaks. It was in 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.080 those spaces that the public image of Tiger Woods, the 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.320 myth of him as a professional golfer, began to be invented. 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.200 And not everything went smoothly at first. Make no mistake. 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:14.040 When Tiger arrived in Milwaukee on August twenty sixth, nineteen 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.920 ninety six, he was already a star. He had won 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.320 three straight US Junior Amateurs and three straight US Amateurs. 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:23.680 The press had been singing his praises for years, and yes, 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.359 the golf world had seen its share of child prodigies 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.080 come and go. But this fiercely competitive, fiercely talented half 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.839 African American, half Asian American young man from Cyprus, California 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:34.960 was different. 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.520 I just recall he always looked so poised over the ball. 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.960 He never looked like there was any tension in his 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.360 jaw or anything that was like getting ready to load 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.920 up and really kill it. It was more this kind 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:50.320 of gathered speed at a really very fluid and I 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.159 won't say leisurely, but at just a very controlled pace, 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.599 and then the hips and the lower body just turned 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.320 so fast. It was just a beautiful kind of swivel 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.159 of the hips that was just so fast and so correct. 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.039 Jimi Diaz was a writer for Sports Illustrated and he 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.600 had been covering Tiger since Tiger was fourteen. 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:12.960 It was in my head, certainly that we may be 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.560 looking at perhaps the greatest golfer whoever lived in his 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.400 formative years. Here to some people that felt like it 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:25.640 was exaggerated or unjustified, but he had this intangible quality 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.120 of playing his best golf under the most pressure, which 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.640 was kind of transcendent. And Jack certainly had had that 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.200 and not many others in history. And that's the thing 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:37.560 that made Tiger so special. I mean, he had all 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.120 kinds of physical game, but when he had to do it, 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.520 he entered this mental state that seemed to facilitate his 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.359 best golf. I don't know, that's kind of the final 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.560 level of golf greatness, and you do your best at 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.960 the moments that are the biggest at the times that 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.040 you want to do your best. That's usually an inhibitor 0:06:58.080 --> 0:06:59.920 to most people, and for him it was an enhancer. 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:04.040 Diaz's Sports Illustrated story about the Pumpkin Ridge Amateur Open 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.760 This way Long odds are still available on Tiger Woods's 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.080 achieving his goal of becoming the greatest golfer of all time. 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.600 But after the breath taking away in which he made 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.240 history on Sunday by winning the most dramatic US Amateur ever, 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.320 would a wise man bet against him. Words like those 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:25.320 and deeds that seemed to validate them gave Tiger opportunities 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:31.280 that other amateurs just didn't get. In April nineteen ninety six, 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:33.680 he made his second appearance as an amateur at the 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.840 Master's Tournament. There under one hundred and fifty year old 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.600 oak that serves as a gathering spot at Augusta National, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.880 a reporter named Gary Dematto approached Tiger's father, Earl Woods. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.080 I said, you know, mister Woods, the greater Wacke Open 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.200 fellows by one week, the US Amateur champion and pre 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.520 seeds Tiger returning for what would have been his junior 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.520 year at Stanford, and I said, would you guys be 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.840 interested if the tournament offered you sponsor's exemption to play 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.600 in it? And he said, yeah, we definitely would consider 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.360 that right away. 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.080 Demato, who wrote for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, called Tom Strong, 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:11.480 the Greater Milwaukee Opens tournament director. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.320 I said, you know, I would love to give him 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.800 a spot, whether he turns pro or not. We had 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:21.000 eight exemptions and four of them we could use unrestricted. 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.000 So the week of the Masters, Glenn Greenspan was running 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.600 the media center. So we sent a letter to Glenn 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:30.680 and said, please give this to Earl Woods, and so 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:32.959 he did, and Earl called me back that day when 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.839 it was delivered, and at that point in time he said, 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:37.160 we'd love to play. 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.359 And in that way, the Greater Milwaukee Open or GMO, 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:47.240 became the site of Tiger Woods's professional debut. And so 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:48.280 tell me about the GMO. 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.280 Well, it was nice that we had a PGA tour 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:56.040 level event, you know, in Wisconsin. It was it had 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:59.760 been around for a long time. We'd have maybe ten 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.400 to twenty of the top thirty players to fifty players 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.479 in the world coming to play at that time, and 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:08.280 we had a great time with it. When a lot 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:10.440 of people come on out and watch it and truly 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:12.520 enjoyed it. It was it was fun to run, to 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:13.200 be real honest. 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.760 So it was an event that the community kind of supported. 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:17.040 You know. 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.280 It wasn't like a massive market event, but they kind 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:21.280 of got behind it. 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.200 Yeah, they got behind it a lot, and that's it's 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.040 kind of what Wisconsin's all about. 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.040 But according to Gary Demato, the GMO did have its issues. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.600 It was not certainly not among the upper echelon of 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:34.280 tour events. 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:35.760 You know, it had smaller. 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:39.080 Purse, It had bad dates, usually around our opposite the 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.640 British Open in the summer, and then for a while 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.360 it moved to Labor Day weekend, which was good for 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.600 some reasons, but it also bumped into the start of 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.760 packer season and you know, University Wisconsin football, so football 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.000 sort of overwhelmed it. When it was on the Labor 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.160 Day dates, it sort of bounced back and forth. It 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.120 never had a title sponsor until the last few years 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.640 of its existence, so the tour kind of pushed it 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:03.199 around a little bit. But it was a nice summertime 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.680 staple event in Milwaukee that attracted a pretty good field, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.720 you know, considering the person a date for a week. 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.520 In August nineteen ninety six, However, Tom Strong saw the 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.400 GMO go from a quiet, small market event to the 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:16.960 center of the golf universe. 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.920 It definitely notched up to what i'd call electric. It 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:25.959 just didn't ticket sales. We sold out everything we could 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.520 possibly sell when we announced he was coming, and then 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.839 on top of that, the impact on just dollars and cents. 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.120 It was three to four hundred thousand dollars just an 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.760 extra ticket revenue that we took in from his announcement 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.840 over and above, And it was very easy to track 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:43.920 based on kind of how we looked at it from 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.960 the previous year, which was the field was pretty much 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.760 the same, other than him cooming in and being part 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.800 of the event, just having him there, just all the 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.000 buzz everything going on him announcing. People just wanted to 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.080 come off and see him, and it drove our numbers 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.440 through the look. We were busy. I can tell it all. 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.280 Over in the press tent. Gary Demato noticed another kind 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:05.120 of shift. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.600 There were media types that I saw at the Masters, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.440 in the US Open and the PGA Championship, but never 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.959 in Milwaukee, so it was definitely a different scene. Typically 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.000 the Greater Milwaukee Open was covered by a couple of newspapers, 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.040 a couple of radio stations. The media center was sort 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.440 of a sleepy little tent where not much was happening. 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.720 But that week certainly things changed. People magazine came in, 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.240 The New York Times, the Washington Posts, LA Times, NBC 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.360 Nightly News was had someone there. So yeah, there was 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:36.800 a field certainly that the event was much much bigger 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:38.240 because Tiger was coming. 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.360 On Wednesday. After the pro am, Tiger was going to 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.240 hold a press conference. By now, everyone had a pretty 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.160 good idea of what he planned to announce, and Tom 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.400 Strong had a pretty good idea that they'd need a 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:50.880 bigger tent. 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.280 Probably around nine in the morning that time frame, we 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.960 started talking more with our media officials and what our 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.200 options would be. The next thing I know as I 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.959 get a call from Forget the media official at that time, 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.720 but said Tom, we're up over one hundred and fifty 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:10.120 to two hundred media that want to come and cover this. 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.760 And then all of a sudden, I think it was 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.280 ABC that really kind of pushed it over the edge 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.000 and said we're bringing in our crew and everything else 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.600 and where we're going to host this. They just wanted 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:22.640 to take over the media center, and they said, well, 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.000 we can't really do that, so we worked out the details. 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.080 They said, look, I've got a pavilion over here that's 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.520 ten thousand square feet. It's just straight by the range. 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.439 It's very easy to do well. Mid afternoon, we were 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.840 pushing over three hundred that wanted to come cover it, 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.760 so it was coming from every angle. 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.920 At the press conference, as expected, Tiger declared that his 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.920 amateur career was over. With his father sitting in an 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.880 easy chair beside him, he read a prepared statement and 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.160 answered questions from the assembled media. But the one thing 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.400 everyone remembers from that day happened at the very beginning, 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.640 when Tiger walked up to the microphone instant the crowd 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.360 of reporters, laughed a little to himself, studied his notes 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.040 for a second, and then greeted the room with a 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:07.920 confident smile. 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:16.160 I guess, hello world, huh. 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:13.640 Thank you. 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.400 It was a striking opener, and it got a variety 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:19.440 of reactions. Here's Tom Strong. 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.240 I kind of sat maybe six feet away from him 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.599 in the front row and got to hear the Hello world. 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.480 You know, did that that little statement right there? Will 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.720 never never leave my memory banks. It was so cool 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:33.200 to watch. 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.880 And here's Curtis Strange, two time US Open winner and 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.640 one of Tiger's competitors at the ninety six GMO. 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.320 All I remember is Hello World. I don't remember anything 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.439 else about the It was probably the most routine press 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.480 conference after that. But when he opened it with that 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:54.200 that and myself to me, I might I was immediately thinking, well, 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:55.880 I don't know if I have said something like that, 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.320 you know, that kind of thing. So, and I'm sure 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.280 most other tour players now speaking on behalf of the 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.600 tour players. I have no idea what the general public 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:11.560 was thinking, but you know, it's he hadn't hit a 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.440 professional shot yet, so we were just going to wait 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.160 and see how good this kid really was. 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.000 While it may have irked some of his new colleagues, 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.480 Tiger's Hello World quip was a hit with almost everyone else. 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:33.920 It seemed spontaneous, but it actually wasn't. The next day, 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:37.240 in newspapers and on TV, Nike rolled out it's now 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.920 iconic Hello World advertisements. The campaign was the brainchild of 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.200 Jim Riswold, a writer at the agency Widen and Kennedy 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.080 and the go to guy for its Nike account. If 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.520 you are a sports fan in the nineteen nineties, you'll 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.720 recognize many of his ads instantly. 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.800 I am not a role model, you. 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:05.520 Know, Lars Blackman, And there's my main man, Michael Jordan. 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:17.080 Oh no, it's baseball, Hey Glan, hey Gan, who'd you expect. 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.480 Riswold also happened to be a single digit handicap, and 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.280 he had been following Tiger's exploits on the amateur circuit 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:23.880 for years. 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.120 And I thought it was pretty good. And I see 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.560 that guy play and I go, I'm a frickin' hack. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:34.600 That's exactly how I felt. He made good golfers and 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:40.320 great golfers feel like hacks. And I believe I pestered 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.160 Nike quite a bit that this guy should be a 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:44.080 Nike athlete. 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.880 About a month before the US Amateur Riswold got word 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.440 that he would be developing Tiger's first Nike campaign. Initially, 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.680 Riswold considered the slogan I Am Not a Token, but 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.440 decided that was too on the nose. Then came the 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.680 idea for the soundtrack. He shows dramatic choral music with 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:06.920 vaguely exotic percussion on the screen. Images of Tiger's triumphs, 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:12.320 along with short bursts of text, Hello World, I shot 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.800 in the seventies when I was eight. I shot in 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.600 the sixties when I was twelve. I won the US 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:22.200 Junior Amateur when I was fifteen. Hello World. I played 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.360 in the Nissana Open when I was sixteen. Hello World. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.520 I won the US Amateur when I was eighteen. I 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.320 played in the Masters when I was nineteen. I am 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:35.000 the only man to win three consecutive US Amateur titles. 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:39.200 Hello World, there are still courses in the US. I 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.200 am not allowed to play it because of the color 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.960 of my skin. Hello World. I've heard I'm not ready 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:50.160 for you? Are you ready for me? It was goosebump 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.960 inducing but also something of a risk. The ad put 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.120 Tiger's racial identity front and center, and it portrayed the 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.320 golf world is more racially prejudiced than the rest of society. 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:05.080 It was pressing on a sore spot. Race has always 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.879 been a powder keg in America, but it was particularly 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.720 so in nineteen ninety six. It had been just six 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.400 years since Hall Thompson, the founder of Shoal Creek Club 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.800 in Alabama, set off a national controversy by saying we 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.760 don't discriminate in every other area except blacks. It had 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.640 been four years since south central Los Angeles, not far 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.960 from Tiger's childhood home, was rocked by riots in response 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.160 to the acquittal of the police officers who had beaten 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.000 Rodney King, and it had been less than a year 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.359 since O. J. Simpson was found not guilty of the 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:38.160 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The tactics 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.720 of Simpson's attorneys had brought the notion of the race 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.960 card into public discourse. To play the race card, it 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:45.960 was said, was to bring up the issue of race 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.160 in order to manipulate people's feelings and gain an advantage. 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.320 And Jim Riswold knew that the Hello World ad could 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.440 easily be accused of race carding. 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:57.600 And you know, I wasn't sure if it was the 0:17:57.680 --> 0:17:59.840 right thing to do. And I showed the script to 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.960 my boss, Dan Wyden, and he said, this is the 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.440 only thing we're going to do. And then Phil Knight 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.760 was involved in approval of this ad. I went that 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.880 high and he says, of course, because you know, they 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.560 like to poke the bear. They liked to be irreverent, 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.440 and it was pretty easy to poke the bear at 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:25.239 golf at the time pretty lily white. You know, a 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:28.359 man of color changing the game. I don't think golf 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.520 was ready for it. You know, Nike likes to be 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:36.359 an iconic class in tennis. They challenged the tennis norms 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.919 with players like McEnroe and Agacy. You know, it's essentially 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.200 the same. We're going to challenge the status quo and 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.040 the norm with not only a man of color, but 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.520 a man who played the game at a far different level, 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.280 you know, mentally and physically than anybody had seen before. 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.359 Yet, Reswald denies the charge that the ad was just 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:57.480 trying to be provocative. 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:02.399 A lot of advertising tries to shocking for shocking sake. 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.520 You know, whether you think this as shocking or not, 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.040 that might be a bit much. But it came from 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:14.920 the truth. It wasn't just made up hull baloo. Sports 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:18.640 is part of the fabric of this country, and as 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:22.000 part of the fabric of a country, when social issues 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:27.199 arise within sports, they should be discussed, or they it 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:31.679 becomes just this little, exclusive, little island that only a 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:33.600 few people are allowed to be on. 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.000 Of course, it should be said that this ideal was 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.919 well aligned with his client's business interests, the wider golf's appeal, 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.480 the more product Nike you would sell. Besides, as much 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.320 as the ad was sure to anger some people, it 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:50.159 was bound to appeal to many more. For most of 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.520 its runtime, it focused not on Tiger Wood's race, but 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.560 on his accomplishments, the scores, the wins. So the story 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.280 it told was actually one of merit overcoming obstacles, and 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.879 in that way, the Hello World campaign was even somewhat conventional. 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:10.200 It was about the American dream. Just hours after Tiger 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:12.320 beat Steve Scott on the thirty eighth hole to win 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.560 the US amateur Riswold walked into a room in Pumpkin 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:19.439 Ridges Clubhouse carrying a tape. Tiger was there, along with 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.160 his mother and father, his coach, Butch Harmon, and Nike 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:23.480 CEO Phil Knight. 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.120 And film makes an introduction and I think he made 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.320 some joke about me and said he's done a lot 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.760 of ads that I like for me. He thinks this 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:37.760 is one of his best ones. And we play it 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.760 and it's silent, and Phil asked Tiger, well, what do 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.600 you think? And Tiger goes, can I see it again? 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:48.720 And then we played again and there was Hooper in 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:52.919 and holler, and I think his dad said, Bobby Jones 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:59.000 is turning over in his grave. You know, Earl was 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:03.920 not one to hold his and I just remember getting 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:07.199 to drink out of the trophy with Tiger. That was 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:11.200 pretty cool. But Charman said he pulled me aside and said, 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:13.920 I think that's the best golf ad I've ever seen. 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.600 Hello World aired four days later during the first round 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.240 of the GMO. The public response was about what Riswold 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.680 had expected and what Nike had hoped for. 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:28.000 I remember I almost had to change my telephone number 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:32.000 at home. I was getting some calls from people that 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:37.560 didn't appreciate the ad, called me names and stuff. And 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.480 then you know, the next week, it's not only on television, 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:44.159 it's on the news everywhere, which you can't ask for 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:51.040 better than that within reason. Phil Knight adores negative publicity 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:58.800 within reason. I mean, this created a conversation. Everybody was 0:21:58.840 --> 0:21:59.679 talking about. 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:04.280 That act, and behind the scenes at the GMO, some 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.440 people weren't saying very nice things. On the driving range 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.480 and in the press tent there were mutterings about sensationalism 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:13.720 in the race card. Some doubted there were any courses 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:15.800 in the US that would bar Tiger from playing just 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:19.320 because he was black. A Washington Post reporter actually ended 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.359 up posing that question to Nike, and Nike admitted that 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:24.360 the claim wasn't to be taken literally. 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.640 Well, that seemed to be a bit nitpicking. I mean, 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.720 it was a general station about color in the game 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.520 of golf. Of course, Tiger Woods could play anywhere he 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:37.760 wanted to, but not the next Tiger was. I mean, 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:40.439 I'm sure he wasn't playing certain clubs when he was 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:42.240 eight year twelve years old. 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:46.200 Jim Riswild felt and still feels, that the ad conveyed 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:50.000 a truth about golf's exclusivity, and the customers Nike was 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:53.560 trying to reach tended to agree. According to market studies, 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:57.280 young people found Hello World very effective, So Nike wasn't 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:00.639 too concerned about blowback from traditional sectors of the golf world. 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:03.720 In fact, the company welcomed the controversy and the additional 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:07.640 attention that came with it. Still, Riswold did have one concern. 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:11.560 I look back on that ad, you know, I'm surprised 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:14.400 that people still want to talk about it. But the thing, 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:18.159 you know, did I put too much pressure on a 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:22.600 kid to carry that mantle or that Torch. 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:28.280 Unlike his father, Tiger had never been eager to discuss 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:31.240 racial issues publicly. He had even said that the only 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:33.520 time he thought about race was when the media asked 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:35.919 him about it, and now here he was appearing in 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:39.480 a commercial that invited questions about exactly that subject. 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:42.639 I don't think he was terribly comfortable talking about race, 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:45.560 but I do think that he carries that sense of 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:48.600 a mission that you know, he's representing a disadvantage group 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:51.600 of people. He hates the unfairness of racism, and I 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:56.120 think golf for him was a way of making a statement. 0:23:56.600 --> 0:23:59.640 But I don't think he likes being a public figure 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:04.479 or a public symbol of that battle, of that social movement. 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:06.879 He was a golfer, he wanted to play his best. 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:10.040 He wanted to have a private life. He didn't want 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:12.879 a lot of baggage. And you know, I think in 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:14.960 an efficient. 0:24:14.520 --> 0:24:15.720 Way, maybe a cold way. 0:24:15.800 --> 0:24:19.680 Maybe he got more socially conscious later, but I think 0:24:19.720 --> 0:24:22.280 he thought of it as a distraction that was only 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:24.720 going to hurt his performance, and in the end he 0:24:24.760 --> 0:24:26.240 was going to be judged by his performance. 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:30.240 Nonetheless, Jimi Diaz believes that Hello World did touch on 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:31.920 some real feelings that Tiger had. 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:34.520 He used to talk about it, getting the look when 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:37.160 he'd come to a go play at a junior event 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:40.520 at a country club that perhaps didn't have African American 0:24:40.560 --> 0:24:43.800 members or very few, and he always felt that he'd 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:46.520 be stared at in a way that made him uncomfortable. 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:48.720 You know, Nike's very skillful. 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:51.560 I mean they knew what buttons to push, and I 0:24:51.560 --> 0:24:53.840 don't think that was an artificially trumped up button. 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:58.040 It was a real thing, maybe too real in other words, 0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:02.120 too personal, too private, distracting from his central purpose. 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:05.080 He's like, Okay, I can be I can be a 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:07.399 social warrior here, but what's it going to do for 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:09.159 what I have to do here, which is play the 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:12.240 best golf I can. And I don't like the feeling 0:25:12.280 --> 0:25:15.639 of being criticized and being having all every word I 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:16.360 say parsed. 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:19.880 It's too much. So he given his his personality. 0:25:20.560 --> 0:25:23.840 I consider him an introvert who had had enough coverage 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:25.080 and enough exposure. 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:26.960 He wasn't looking for more attention. He was looking for 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:27.600 less attention. 0:25:28.520 --> 0:25:32.080 But that too subjected Tiger to criticism at first. 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:33.600 At first it was like, Oh, he's going to be 0:25:33.640 --> 0:25:34.800 He's going to play the race card. 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:36.960 You know, Okay, we don't like that, and he got 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:39.560 criticized for that, and then you know, it was like, oh, 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:42.119 he's not doing enough. You know, he's in the position 0:25:42.160 --> 0:25:43.840 to do to make a big difference, and he's not 0:25:43.840 --> 0:25:45.920 doing enough, and he's not doing as much as other athletes. 0:25:46.640 --> 0:25:49.320 Some seem to want Tiger to be a political firebrand 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:51.600 in the mold of Muhammad Ali, but he was more 0:25:51.600 --> 0:25:54.359 inclined to be like Michael Jordan, focused on his sport, 0:25:54.600 --> 0:25:58.240 measured in public and reluctant to weigh in on controversial issues. 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:00.760 Of course, it would be unfair to say that Tiger 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:03.560 hasn't made an effort in the social domain. He formed 0:26:03.560 --> 0:26:06.840 the Tiger Woods Foundation in November ninety six and ever 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:09.240 since it has worked to help underprivileged students. 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:12.000 I think the foundation was the way that he could 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:15.240 answer in an organized way that could not be questioned 0:26:15.240 --> 0:26:17.000 in terms of the good it was doing and the 0:26:17.040 --> 0:26:17.720 motive that he. 0:26:17.760 --> 0:26:20.880 Had for it. And again, just like his clubs did 0:26:20.880 --> 0:26:23.480 the talking, so did the foundation did the talking. 0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:27.600 But Tiger himself has declined to take partisan stances or 0:26:27.640 --> 0:26:30.960 really to speak out as a representative of any particular minority. 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:35.000 Jim Riswold's second Nike campaign for Tiger was more in 0:26:35.040 --> 0:26:36.200 line with this attitude. 0:26:36.800 --> 0:26:38.840 I'm Tiger Woods, I'm Tiger Woods. 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:40.400 I'm Tiger Woods. 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:45.680 Unveiled during the nineteen ninety six Skins game. It alternates 0:26:45.720 --> 0:26:48.960 between shots of Tiger and footage of children, boys and 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:52.639 girls ranging from tiny to teenage, from white to Asian 0:26:52.680 --> 0:26:57.640 American to African American to Latina, all reciting the same montreal. 0:26:57.520 --> 0:26:59.280 I'm Tiger Woods, I'm Tiger Woods. 0:27:02.160 --> 0:27:05.720 In this commercial, Tiger was no longer the outsider disrupting 0:27:05.720 --> 0:27:11.000 the status quo. Instead, Tiger was everybody, and everybody was Tiger. Anyone, 0:27:11.040 --> 0:27:14.440 no matter their ancestry, could identify with him, even identify 0:27:14.600 --> 0:27:18.240 as him. After his ninety seven Masters victory. In a 0:27:18.280 --> 0:27:21.240 famous appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Tiger took a 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:22.080 similar approach. 0:27:23.560 --> 0:27:25.480 When we get this straight, what do you call yourself? 0:27:25.520 --> 0:27:28.120 Do you call yourself African American? I know you are 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:29.679 your your father's half black. 0:27:29.600 --> 0:27:32.960 Quarter, Chinese, quarter American, Indian mother's hatie quarter Chinese. 0:27:32.680 --> 0:27:33.399 And quorter white. 0:27:33.880 --> 0:27:36.560 So you are That's why you are America. 0:27:36.760 --> 0:27:43.800 So you are American? Yeah? 0:27:44.119 --> 0:27:45.080 I guess two things? 0:27:45.240 --> 0:27:48.120 Is that I guess now that I'm on the Ryder 0:27:48.160 --> 0:27:50.880 Cup team, which we get to go over and play 0:27:50.920 --> 0:27:54.399 in Europe in September, that I won't be representing the 0:27:54.520 --> 0:27:58.840 United states'll be representing United Nations A little different, right, 0:28:00.400 --> 0:28:02.200 A little funny thing is growing up. 0:28:02.280 --> 0:28:03.760 I came up with his name. 0:28:03.800 --> 0:28:08.919 I'm a Comblainasian, a Comblinasian cough Ocasian blue black Indian 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:10.119 Asian comblamation. 0:28:10.400 --> 0:28:11.399 That's what you call yourself? 0:28:11.440 --> 0:28:12.919 Yea, yeah, well coming up. 0:28:14.040 --> 0:28:16.720 On the one hand, this was no doubt a genuine sentiment. 0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:19.760 Tiger is referred to as African American far more often 0:28:19.800 --> 0:28:22.359 than he's referred to as Asian American, even though his 0:28:22.400 --> 0:28:25.240 mother is Asian. This is part of that long American 0:28:25.280 --> 0:28:28.680 tradition of categorizing any person with the proverbial one drop 0:28:28.720 --> 0:28:32.359 of African blood is black. So surely no one could 0:28:32.359 --> 0:28:36.199 blame Tiger for refusing to accept that oversimplification and for 0:28:36.280 --> 0:28:40.080 reclaiming his identity on his own terms. On the other hand, 0:28:40.400 --> 0:28:43.720 encouraging everyone, including white people, to see themselves in him, 0:28:44.080 --> 0:28:47.320 was a savvy strategy, even if it wasn't consciously a strategy. 0:28:47.720 --> 0:28:50.480 If Hello World was a challenge, are you ready for me. 0:28:51.000 --> 0:28:55.080 Then I am Tiger Woods was an embrace. I am you, 0:28:55.080 --> 0:29:02.920 you are me. Let's all wear Nike. So back to Milwaukee, Thursday, 0:29:03.080 --> 0:29:07.400 August twenty ninth, Round one. The atmosphere around Tiger was 0:29:07.680 --> 0:29:10.400 vibrating with hype, and some of the other pros that 0:29:10.480 --> 0:29:12.480 the GMO had started to grumble. 0:29:13.240 --> 0:29:16.680 Yeah, And I think that's when probably players sat up 0:29:16.720 --> 0:29:19.720 a little bit. Why was this kid getting so much 0:29:19.760 --> 0:29:24.520 more attention than some other star coming out? But again 0:29:24.680 --> 0:29:27.880 I can't speak for everybody, but there was Chadder. I 0:29:27.920 --> 0:29:31.680 will say this, there was enough attention that I played 0:29:31.720 --> 0:29:35.560 like two or three groups behind him on Thursday mid morning, 0:29:35.880 --> 0:29:38.800 and when he went to the first two, there was 0:29:38.920 --> 0:29:40.840 eight or ten. I was putting, getting ready to go off. 0:29:40.880 --> 0:29:42.400 You know, we will go off one in ten two 0:29:42.800 --> 0:29:47.360 people around and everybody stopped to watch this guy ta off. 0:29:48.600 --> 0:29:50.760 And that speaks volumes when you know about the tour. 0:29:51.520 --> 0:29:54.600 In nineteen ninety six, Curtis Strange was a well respected 0:29:54.680 --> 0:29:56.920 forty one year old pro in the latter stages of 0:29:56.960 --> 0:29:59.520 his playing career. He was seven years removed from his 0:29:59.520 --> 0:30:02.080 back to back US Open victories, and although he still 0:30:02.080 --> 0:30:04.440 had some game, he was preparing for his next step. 0:30:05.400 --> 0:30:07.720 In addition to playing at the GMO, he was helping 0:30:07.760 --> 0:30:10.240 out with ABC's coverage and he figured he had the 0:30:10.240 --> 0:30:13.160 connections to land the biggest one on one interview of 0:30:13.200 --> 0:30:13.560 the week. 0:30:14.200 --> 0:30:16.720 So I had the same agent as Tiger and Susan 0:30:16.760 --> 0:30:20.000 Norton and so, and I know Tiger pell. I played 0:30:20.040 --> 0:30:21.960 with Tiger in the Masters when he was still an 0:30:21.960 --> 0:30:24.600 abler in the second round, kind of knew him and 0:30:24.680 --> 0:30:27.040 knew a little bit of him and knew the lead up. 0:30:27.120 --> 0:30:31.280 And I was in my third or fourth year at ABC, 0:30:31.880 --> 0:30:33.840 and I don't know why they agreed to this, but 0:30:33.960 --> 0:30:36.480 I went to my producer since I knew Tiger a 0:30:36.480 --> 0:30:40.280 little bit, I wanted to do the interview, and so 0:30:41.160 --> 0:30:44.720 they said okay, and then Tiger and his people said 0:30:45.040 --> 0:30:47.760 sounds good to us. So it came together in the 0:30:47.800 --> 0:30:50.080 last couple of days. In fact, I saw Tiger on 0:30:50.120 --> 0:30:52.400 Tuesday and I ran over to him. I said, Hey, 0:30:52.400 --> 0:30:55.840 can you do a Can you work with us Thursday 0:30:55.920 --> 0:30:58.400 night after you finished planning, I'm going to do the interview. 0:30:58.400 --> 0:31:00.680 When we talked to us, he sees Sharon Op. That's 0:31:00.680 --> 0:31:03.080 probably the last time he ever answered an interview request 0:31:03.200 --> 0:31:03.680 like that. 0:31:04.840 --> 0:31:07.360 In spite of all the excitement around Tiger, Strange was 0:31:07.400 --> 0:31:09.320 by no means certain that he was about to sit 0:31:09.360 --> 0:31:11.920 down with the greatest golfer since Jack Nicholas. 0:31:12.200 --> 0:31:14.479 But I didn't know much about him, I tell you, 0:31:14.560 --> 0:31:17.880 if it wasn't for we had the same agent back 0:31:17.880 --> 0:31:20.080 at that time, and if it wasn't for me knowing 0:31:20.720 --> 0:31:23.800 him and through some other really close people in the 0:31:23.840 --> 0:31:26.600 amateur game, I wouldn't have known he'd won three juniors 0:31:26.600 --> 0:31:29.480 and three ameters in a row. And I suspect more 0:31:29.520 --> 0:31:32.240 than half of the PGA tour players didn't know that either, 0:31:32.440 --> 0:31:35.360 and the other half probably didn't care because that's just 0:31:35.400 --> 0:31:38.720 the way the tour is, and it's a hard game 0:31:38.760 --> 0:31:40.920 out there, and you got enough to take care of 0:31:40.960 --> 0:31:43.680 in your own self worry about some other kid coming out. 0:31:44.240 --> 0:31:46.000 But they all knew Tiger was going to be good. 0:31:46.320 --> 0:31:48.800 How good, we had no idea, And as I said, 0:31:48.840 --> 0:31:51.720 most players didn't know he was such a phenomenal ameterur player. 0:31:51.760 --> 0:31:54.800 So I guess what I'm saying is it just wasn't 0:31:54.920 --> 0:31:57.640 much talked about, was much said about him until maybe 0:31:57.640 --> 0:31:59.720 that particular week at the GMO. 0:32:00.360 --> 0:32:03.560 Strange, like many of his fellow pros, since to mismatch 0:32:03.640 --> 0:32:05.840 between how little he knew about this twenty year old 0:32:06.000 --> 0:32:08.840 and how much attention he had attracted. So going into 0:32:08.920 --> 0:32:12.400 the interview, Strange was determined not to be another fanboy. 0:32:12.760 --> 0:32:16.040 He was going to ask real questions. 0:32:15.640 --> 0:32:16.720 And I worked hard. 0:32:16.800 --> 0:32:19.600 I was playing that week, so I was trying to 0:32:19.600 --> 0:32:22.360 do that as well. I worked with Trico, work with 0:32:22.480 --> 0:32:25.440 Jack Graham, our producer, on getting the questions right, getting 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:27.640 them in sequence, getting them in order. Of course, a 0:32:27.680 --> 0:32:30.479 lot of it is ad lib going off his answer, 0:32:30.760 --> 0:32:33.440 and we found out how that can be during the interview. 0:32:34.360 --> 0:32:37.240 It took place in a darkened room with Curtis Strange 0:32:37.280 --> 0:32:40.360 and Tiger Woods sitting across from each other. Here's the 0:32:40.440 --> 0:32:41.000 key moment. 0:32:41.480 --> 0:32:44.480 What would be a successful week here at Milwaukee. 0:32:46.520 --> 0:32:47.480 To two things. 0:32:47.600 --> 0:32:50.479 I think if I play four solid rounds, went off 0:32:50.480 --> 0:32:53.760 to a good start today. If I can do that 0:32:53.840 --> 0:32:56.200 for three more days, and I'll be very happy. And 0:32:56.720 --> 0:32:58.280 a victor would be an awesome nice too. 0:33:02.840 --> 0:33:07.280 A victory do you think to me that comes off 0:33:07.320 --> 0:33:10.760 as a little cocky or brash, especially talking to the 0:33:11.000 --> 0:33:12.640 you know, the other guys on tour that have been 0:33:12.680 --> 0:33:15.120 out here for years and years and years and you know, 0:33:15.520 --> 0:33:18.400 certainly an incredible I'm in a record, But what do 0:33:18.400 --> 0:33:21.320 you say to those guys, Well, when you come out here, 0:33:21.360 --> 0:33:23.160 you're first, you know what I'm saying, your first pro tournament, 0:33:23.160 --> 0:33:25.280 as you say, you know I can win. 0:33:25.640 --> 0:33:29.320 I understand that. I've always figured that why go to 0:33:29.320 --> 0:33:31.520 a term if you're not going there to try and win, 0:33:32.240 --> 0:33:35.720 There's really no point in even going. That's attitude have 0:33:35.760 --> 0:33:38.320 had my entire life, and that's attitude I will always have. 0:33:40.360 --> 0:33:41.000 As I would. 0:33:40.840 --> 0:33:43.640 Explain to my dad's second sucks, the third's even worse. 0:33:44.680 --> 0:33:45.640 It's just a feeling on. 0:33:45.640 --> 0:33:46.680 Tour that's not too bad. 0:33:46.720 --> 0:33:48.160 Sometimes that's not too bad. 0:33:48.200 --> 0:33:49.440 But I want to win. 0:33:50.240 --> 0:33:51.280 That's just my nature. 0:33:53.800 --> 0:33:57.680 You'll learn. I'm just kidding. I'm sorry. 0:33:57.680 --> 0:33:58.480 I had to say that. 0:33:59.760 --> 0:34:04.640 My job that evening was to get inside tiger Woods 0:34:04.800 --> 0:34:06.760 a little bit, not so much as golf game, but 0:34:06.840 --> 0:34:10.279 get inside you this young man who's getting ready to 0:34:10.320 --> 0:34:15.080 embark on a long, difficult career in golf. And I 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:18.640 tried to listen really hard to come back with some 0:34:18.719 --> 0:34:22.600 good follow ups, and then he came out with you know, 0:34:22.719 --> 0:34:26.600 the shocking answer to a question of mine is that, 0:34:26.760 --> 0:34:29.319 you know, I expect to win, Second sucks, and third 0:34:29.400 --> 0:34:32.480 is even worse. Well, quite frankly, how this all came 0:34:32.520 --> 0:34:35.719 about when that When I heard that, it shocked me, 0:34:36.400 --> 0:34:38.240 and I think you can see it on my face 0:34:38.840 --> 0:34:42.040 that well, that's a little cocky, I'm thinking. And I 0:34:42.040 --> 0:34:44.240 asked him, I said, do not think that that sounds 0:34:44.239 --> 0:34:47.479 a little brash to all the other tour players? Yes, 0:34:47.560 --> 0:34:49.480 I do, but that's the way I think, which was 0:34:49.520 --> 0:34:52.560 a fair enough answer, and then we all chuckled and 0:34:52.600 --> 0:34:56.960 I said the infamous You'll learn, and what I meant 0:34:57.000 --> 0:34:59.680 by that is you'll learn that sometimes second doesn't suck, 0:35:00.520 --> 0:35:04.160 because if you play your ass off and somebody else 0:35:04.440 --> 0:35:07.040 on tour plays a little bit better, then I always 0:35:07.040 --> 0:35:09.040 looked at it as well, you can't beat yourself up 0:35:09.040 --> 0:35:12.320 for that. If you finish second by not finishing well 0:35:12.719 --> 0:35:15.799 or not performing well sometime in the tournament where you 0:35:15.960 --> 0:35:18.240 really kind of messed up, then you can get upset 0:35:18.239 --> 0:35:20.840 at yourself. But if you play your best golf, and 0:35:21.320 --> 0:35:23.560 which you can do on tour, and get beat by 0:35:23.640 --> 0:35:26.279 one or two by a better player that week, I 0:35:26.280 --> 0:35:29.560 don't think you should beat yourself too badly because you're 0:35:29.560 --> 0:35:31.759 going to be able to have that opportunity plenty in 0:35:31.800 --> 0:35:35.480 the company years on tour to beat yourself up. So 0:35:35.680 --> 0:35:37.839 that was my point, and it was also a little 0:35:37.880 --> 0:35:40.879 bit of just and also a little bit that you're 0:35:40.880 --> 0:35:42.319 going to learn that it's a little bit harder than 0:35:42.360 --> 0:35:44.719 you think it is, pal and that was the end 0:35:44.719 --> 0:35:44.960 of that. 0:35:45.640 --> 0:35:49.360 Periodically, the interview resurfaces on the Internet, and the replies 0:35:49.360 --> 0:35:53.760 aren't always kind to the interviewer. Here's a sampling, and that, kids, 0:35:53.920 --> 0:35:56.600 is what we call putting Curtis Strange in a body bag, 0:35:57.040 --> 0:35:59.399 clear case of you don't know who the f you're 0:35:59.400 --> 0:36:04.719 talking to, open mouth, insert foot Curtis. What we forget, though, 0:36:04.800 --> 0:36:06.960 is that the tiger Woods sitting in front of Curtis 0:36:07.000 --> 0:36:10.120 Strange that day wasn't yet the tiger Woods we now know. 0:36:10.640 --> 0:36:14.440 Amateur success, even amateur dominance, didn't always translate to the 0:36:14.440 --> 0:36:17.360 PGA tour, and the pros tended to believe that you 0:36:17.440 --> 0:36:18.680 had to earn your bravado. 0:36:19.200 --> 0:36:22.040 Every player on tour that heard that or saw that 0:36:22.120 --> 0:36:25.560 agreed with me. You know, Jesus is just you know, 0:36:25.880 --> 0:36:28.840 of course nine's one eighty two tournaments. So he proved 0:36:28.880 --> 0:36:30.840 us wrong. You know, at the time of the place 0:36:30.880 --> 0:36:33.120 he hadn't hit, but he hadn't played but run round 0:36:33.120 --> 0:36:36.400 of golf in his life professionally. So give me a 0:36:36.440 --> 0:36:42.160 fucking break. What they what they lose in these twenty 0:36:43.080 --> 0:36:46.879 some odd years is that this was a young man. 0:36:47.480 --> 0:36:52.400 He'd been professional four or five days, and we didn't 0:36:52.400 --> 0:36:55.080 know how good he was, and we were soon to 0:36:55.120 --> 0:37:01.600 find out. But being honest, and he was being honest, 0:37:02.400 --> 0:37:09.120 and it wasn't any disrespect whatsoever. I'm proud of it. 0:37:11.000 --> 0:37:13.200 I'm proud that I got the interview. I'm proud that 0:37:13.280 --> 0:37:16.520 we did it. I think we at ABC did a 0:37:16.600 --> 0:37:21.480 nice job putting it together. And if somebody takes it 0:37:21.520 --> 0:37:25.680 out of context twenty three years later, then they're not educated. 0:37:26.200 --> 0:37:29.319 It's as simple as that. I guess it wasn't a 0:37:29.360 --> 0:37:31.200 bad thing if they're still talking about it. 0:37:31.760 --> 0:37:35.160 Strange. Also acknowledges that what he experienced is brashness in 0:37:35.239 --> 0:37:37.680 nineteen ninety six turned out to be a key to 0:37:37.719 --> 0:37:38.719 Tiger's greatness. 0:37:39.120 --> 0:37:44.120 That attitude did taking the just unbelievable heights, not accepting 0:37:44.239 --> 0:37:48.160 anything but perfect, not accepting anything but a win. You know, 0:37:48.680 --> 0:37:51.240 I dare say that he won tournaments and wasn't happening. 0:37:51.480 --> 0:37:53.480 That's what made him so good to have that attitude, 0:37:54.040 --> 0:37:57.240 but you also had to back it up with tremendous 0:37:57.239 --> 0:38:01.239 ability too. So and as well as he showed us 0:38:01.239 --> 0:38:03.360 he can play in the next couple of years, the 0:38:03.520 --> 0:38:05.319 second really probably does suck to this. 0:38:05.360 --> 0:38:06.359 Kid, you know. 0:38:07.880 --> 0:38:11.440 And so what I thought he didn't understand was out 0:38:11.480 --> 0:38:14.560 how good the tour players were. What we didn't didn't 0:38:14.640 --> 0:38:18.080 understand is now actually good and better than anybody else 0:38:18.120 --> 0:38:18.560 he was. 0:38:19.280 --> 0:38:22.160 In the end, According to Haimi Diaz, Tiger didn't really 0:38:22.160 --> 0:38:23.800 take offense to Stranger's questioning. 0:38:24.400 --> 0:38:26.280 Well, I know he had a lot of respect for Curtis, 0:38:26.320 --> 0:38:29.359 but I also I think he knew John Cook has 0:38:29.360 --> 0:38:30.440 a saying about Tiger. 0:38:31.000 --> 0:38:33.080 It's very simple, but he knows who he is. 0:38:33.640 --> 0:38:37.560 He's fully aware of how great he is and what 0:38:37.600 --> 0:38:41.239 his capacity is, and how that to some people is 0:38:41.280 --> 0:38:45.000 a little bit incomprehensible. Uh that there, you know, he's 0:38:45.040 --> 0:38:48.680 ahead of the curve, and he understood why Curtis was skeptical. 0:38:49.120 --> 0:38:52.239 But I think it just the way the way he 0:38:52.320 --> 0:38:55.520 answered those questions, I remember it was he didn't do 0:38:55.600 --> 0:38:57.160 it in a connoisanting way, but it was almost like 0:38:57.200 --> 0:38:59.960 he just don't understand you don't understand how good I am, 0:39:00.200 --> 0:39:02.160 and I'm not going to brag about it, but this 0:39:02.280 --> 0:39:04.080 is why I believe I can do it every week, 0:39:04.200 --> 0:39:05.759 because I am that good. 0:39:06.080 --> 0:39:07.319 And you know, it's hard to take. 0:39:07.360 --> 0:39:11.480 If you're a pro who's hardened and know that the 0:39:11.480 --> 0:39:13.799 game is mostly about defeat, to see that kind of 0:39:14.040 --> 0:39:15.759 seems like brashness. 0:39:16.920 --> 0:39:20.560 So, all things considered, the interview was quite revealing, not 0:39:20.600 --> 0:39:23.920 only about Tiger's mindset, but also about how other pros 0:39:23.960 --> 0:39:26.360 on tour felt about him. There was plenty of laughter 0:39:26.440 --> 0:39:28.760 between the two men, but there was also some tension, 0:39:28.880 --> 0:39:32.000 some awkwardness, some doubt about what they would say next. 0:39:32.719 --> 0:39:35.480 In future years, we'd hardly ever see Tiger in a 0:39:35.520 --> 0:39:38.720 media situation as unpredictable or as honest. 0:39:39.800 --> 0:39:41.319 You know, I just think it was an extension of 0:39:41.440 --> 0:39:42.280 extreme fame. 0:39:42.840 --> 0:39:44.439 I don't think he had any sort of, as I said, 0:39:44.440 --> 0:39:48.520 an innate dislike of the media, but the media machine 0:39:48.960 --> 0:39:53.120 became something he couldn't control, and the more famous he got, 0:39:53.160 --> 0:39:56.239 the less control he had. Obviously, the questions got more 0:39:56.239 --> 0:39:59.000 and more probing as he became a bigger celebrity and 0:39:59.040 --> 0:40:03.000 a bigger figure ofuriosity, and with that he felt his 0:40:03.360 --> 0:40:07.319 private life. He had an innate sense that losing your 0:40:07.360 --> 0:40:11.680 private life was dangerous, so he was cautious. 0:40:11.320 --> 0:40:11.880 In that regard. 0:40:11.920 --> 0:40:14.239 And remember doing a story for him, a story on 0:40:14.320 --> 0:40:15.279 him for a travel on. 0:40:15.320 --> 0:40:17.200 Leisure Golf, and he talked about his core. 0:40:17.360 --> 0:40:20.520 He had to keep his core private and you know, 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:23.360 inward and not let too many people see that or 0:40:23.400 --> 0:40:26.160 touch it. And some of the media was part of that. 0:40:26.920 --> 0:40:29.800 But anyway, I'm saying a lot of things that probably 0:40:29.880 --> 0:40:32.279 just add up to one thing, which is basically, as 0:40:32.280 --> 0:40:36.160 he got more famous, he got less willing to open 0:40:36.200 --> 0:40:36.880 up his life. 0:40:37.000 --> 0:40:39.600 And maybe that's part of why when Strange came up 0:40:39.600 --> 0:40:42.280 with the idea of doing a sequel interview twenty years later, 0:40:42.520 --> 0:40:45.280 it never came together. He did follow up with Tiger, 0:40:45.360 --> 0:40:47.120 but not in front of the cameras. 0:40:47.760 --> 0:40:50.719 About eight or ten years later, we were having a 0:40:50.719 --> 0:40:53.480 beer somewhere and it was just he, I think it 0:40:53.520 --> 0:40:56.640 was he and I and his agent, and I said, 0:40:56.680 --> 0:40:59.080 you know, I won't tell you something. Remember that interview. 0:40:59.160 --> 0:41:02.919 I see we all learned. I just so you didn't 0:41:02.960 --> 0:41:18.600 learn we all learned. And he kind of smiled and said, yeah. 0:41:18.840 --> 0:41:20.680 I said at the beginning of this episode that this 0:41:20.719 --> 0:41:23.080 wouldn't be a story about what happened on the golf 0:41:23.120 --> 0:41:25.560 course at the ninety six GMO, but there are a 0:41:25.600 --> 0:41:29.279 few things we should remember. Before the Wednesday pro am, 0:41:29.480 --> 0:41:32.279 Jerry Dematto of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was standing by 0:41:32.320 --> 0:41:34.640 the first tee at brownd Ear Park golf Course and 0:41:34.719 --> 0:41:37.600 he saw Tiger arrive almost late for his tea time. 0:41:38.480 --> 0:41:41.120 I remember Tiger started rushing to the first tee for 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:44.320 his pro am and on the way his caddy, Fluff Cowen, 0:41:44.520 --> 0:41:46.680 ran out of the Brown Deer Clubhouse with a brand 0:41:46.719 --> 0:41:50.600 new Titleist staff bag still wrapped in plastic, and Tiger 0:41:50.640 --> 0:41:53.239 and Fluff sort of hurriedly ripped the plastic golf and 0:41:53.440 --> 0:41:55.560 transferred his clubs from a I think it was a 0:41:55.640 --> 0:41:59.320 Stanford carry bag to a Titleist staff bag. I was 0:41:59.360 --> 0:42:01.880 standing there white with maybe four other people, in the 0:42:01.880 --> 0:42:04.799 shade of a tree, and I thought, I honestly thought, boy, 0:42:04.880 --> 0:42:06.839 this is sort of the symbolic moment where he has 0:42:06.920 --> 0:42:08.400 just become a professional golfer. 0:42:08.960 --> 0:42:11.000 The motto was back at the first t the next 0:42:11.080 --> 0:42:14.319 day when Tiger hit his first shot as a professional. 0:42:14.200 --> 0:42:15.880 You know it was a special vibe. It was a 0:42:15.920 --> 0:42:19.560 crowd of five deep where typically a newly minted pro 0:42:19.640 --> 0:42:21.919 on the first p it during the Greater Milacke Open 0:42:22.000 --> 0:42:25.399 might attract you know, his family and twenty curious spectators, 0:42:26.040 --> 0:42:29.960 Tiger obviously had. It was different. He had a huge gallery, 0:42:30.160 --> 0:42:32.320 you know, four or five deep, many of whom I 0:42:32.840 --> 0:42:35.640 believe followed him for all eighteen holes, probably just to 0:42:35.680 --> 0:42:37.640 say that they, you know, witnessed his first round as 0:42:37.640 --> 0:42:41.239 a professional. So there was definitely an excitement and a 0:42:41.320 --> 0:42:44.240 vibe in the atmosphere, in the air that that typically 0:42:44.239 --> 0:42:46.759 wouldn't be on the first pe for almost any group 0:42:46.760 --> 0:42:47.839 death Greater in Wachie Open. 0:42:48.520 --> 0:42:51.600 Throughout the week, Tiger's groups attracted galleries the likes of 0:42:51.640 --> 0:42:54.840 which tournament director Tom Strong had never seen at the GMO, 0:42:55.080 --> 0:42:57.240 which had its positive and negative sides. 0:42:58.160 --> 0:43:00.439 You know, when he went out and played, it didn't 0:43:00.480 --> 0:43:02.359 matter if it was the poem or it was the 0:43:02.400 --> 0:43:06.400 first round. They were seven deep following him, and it 0:43:06.480 --> 0:43:10.480 was every hole. People just wanted to see him. I 0:43:10.480 --> 0:43:13.400 think we all know was something special. But at that point, 0:43:13.760 --> 0:43:15.920 I think the other thing I can tell you that 0:43:15.920 --> 0:43:19.279 that's probably the first time I really saw players get interrupted, 0:43:19.440 --> 0:43:22.840 is Tiger finished putting. He was and there's still people 0:43:22.880 --> 0:43:25.040 to put on the green. All of a sudden they 0:43:25.080 --> 0:43:28.040 started rushing to the next hole, and so then you 0:43:28.160 --> 0:43:30.920 had that that interruption that kind of came around. It 0:43:31.040 --> 0:43:33.239 really wasn't a lot our Marshalls could do at that 0:43:33.320 --> 0:43:36.319 point other than you know, kind of say holp, you know, 0:43:36.680 --> 0:43:39.200 stand please and whatever. But they were just going to 0:43:39.280 --> 0:43:40.879 try and position for the next hole. 0:43:41.520 --> 0:43:44.360 Nowadays, Tiger has been known to mark his ball instead 0:43:44.360 --> 0:43:46.799 of tapping in so that his playing partners don't have 0:43:46.840 --> 0:43:50.799 to deal with the commotion. To tom Strong, though, the 0:43:50.840 --> 0:43:54.680 most remarkable thing about the galleries wasn't there size or excitability, 0:43:55.080 --> 0:43:56.400 It was who was in them. 0:43:56.719 --> 0:43:59.600 What I saw was a lot more kids, a lot 0:43:59.640 --> 0:44:02.239 of peopleeople who didn't even play the game I think 0:44:02.280 --> 0:44:05.320 were out there. It was just it was a mix 0:44:05.360 --> 0:44:07.520 of people that just wanted to come out. You had 0:44:07.520 --> 0:44:10.319 your avid golfers to those just knew this was kind 0:44:10.320 --> 0:44:13.399 of special. You had Bucks players and wanting to come 0:44:13.400 --> 0:44:16.160 out and see him. The interest level and wanting to 0:44:16.160 --> 0:44:19.120 be at the program and just be around him. It 0:44:19.280 --> 0:44:21.480 just kept building an entire week. 0:44:21.960 --> 0:44:25.600 And that emotion came pouring out whenever Tiger did well. 0:44:25.840 --> 0:44:29.120 Just about anything that didn't matter whether he made a birdie, 0:44:29.120 --> 0:44:32.760 whether he made her, people were just flapping and hooting 0:44:32.800 --> 0:44:37.720 and hollering. Like you just it gave you chills at times, 0:44:37.880 --> 0:44:39.440 just with what was all going on. 0:44:39.920 --> 0:44:43.640 So when Tiger did something truly spectacular, the crowds were primed. 0:44:44.120 --> 0:44:46.920 That final round when he made the whole one on fourteen, 0:44:49.080 --> 0:44:49.800 this is six. 0:44:49.680 --> 0:45:02.400 On, they were. 0:45:02.320 --> 0:45:11.040 Right the ninth, all over one. 0:45:14.400 --> 0:45:21.399 So Tiger Woods, and I don't know if you've ever 0:45:21.440 --> 0:45:24.360 been to Brown Ear, but it's a really big park. 0:45:24.920 --> 0:45:28.239 So I was probably a good eight hundred to one 0:45:28.239 --> 0:45:31.399 thousand yards away from that hole because I was back 0:45:31.400 --> 0:45:34.080 at my office, you know that I had the window 0:45:34.080 --> 0:45:35.840 open and stuff like that, and all of a sudden, 0:45:35.880 --> 0:45:39.680 I hear this roar and there was there was only 0:45:39.719 --> 0:45:42.400 one person that they were streaming for at that point 0:45:42.719 --> 0:45:45.800 in time. And then immediately right over the radio comes 0:45:45.840 --> 0:45:49.520 Tiger just aced fourteen, and the place was going nuts. 0:45:49.960 --> 0:45:52.600 But for the most part, Tiger's week at the GMO 0:45:53.000 --> 0:45:56.480 wasn't about extraordinary golf. He played fine, opening with a 0:45:56.560 --> 0:45:59.480 sixty seven, getting derailed by a third round seventy three. 0:46:00.000 --> 0:46:02.399 I never quite finding that extra gear. We would soon 0:46:02.440 --> 0:46:05.200 find out he had. He ended up tied for sixtieth. 0:46:06.600 --> 0:46:09.240 This is where my own memory kicks in. I remember 0:46:09.280 --> 0:46:12.480 watching bits of the GMO telecast and following the scores. 0:46:13.080 --> 0:46:15.479 I was twelve and a big fan of Wisconsin native 0:46:15.520 --> 0:46:18.759 Steve Stricker, who placed third. But I was intrigued by 0:46:18.800 --> 0:46:22.560 this good looking, cool looking, powerful young player that everyone 0:46:22.560 --> 0:46:25.520 seems so excited about. So when Tiger made the cut 0:46:25.560 --> 0:46:27.959 and shot three rounds in the sixties, I thought, Hey, 0:46:28.360 --> 0:46:32.920 pretty good, he can compete. What I didn't know, What 0:46:33.000 --> 0:46:35.400 no one really knew except maybe Tiger himself, was that 0:46:35.520 --> 0:46:37.919 T sixty was about the worst his talent would allow 0:46:38.000 --> 0:46:40.839 him to do. It would be another nine months before 0:46:40.880 --> 0:46:43.960 he finished that low in another PGA Tour event. Over 0:46:43.960 --> 0:46:46.600 the next thirteen years, he would finish worse than T 0:46:46.760 --> 0:46:51.120 sixty a total of nine times. Now, if you're a 0:46:51.200 --> 0:46:53.640 golf fan, you know the rest of Tiger's trajectory. In 0:46:53.719 --> 0:46:56.719 ninety six and ninety seven, eleventh place at the Bell 0:46:56.800 --> 0:46:59.799 Canadian Open, fifth place at the Quad City Classic, third 0:46:59.800 --> 0:47:02.640 p at the BC Open, and then a win at 0:47:02.680 --> 0:47:05.800 the Las Vegas Invitational, another win at the Walt Disney 0:47:05.800 --> 0:47:08.480 World Classic. In less than a quarter of a season, 0:47:08.719 --> 0:47:12.360 Tiger had qualified for the Tour Championship. Five months later, 0:47:12.560 --> 0:47:16.480 he won the Masters by twelve strokes. Tiger Mania was 0:47:16.480 --> 0:47:19.400 in full effect and a new era in professional golf 0:47:19.680 --> 0:47:29.560 had begun. But history, like memory, is all about point 0:47:29.600 --> 0:47:32.719 of view. When we tell ourselves the story of the 0:47:32.840 --> 0:47:35.600 rise of Tiger Woods, we tend to adopt the perspective 0:47:35.640 --> 0:47:38.880 of the public. That is, a perspective trained on Tiger 0:47:38.960 --> 0:47:42.680 himself wherever he happened to go. And that's reasonable. But 0:47:43.040 --> 0:47:45.680 of course the places Tiger visited and the people he 0:47:45.800 --> 0:47:50.040 encountered went on existing after he left. This is one 0:47:50.080 --> 0:47:53.000 advantage of stopping to examine a single moment in history. 0:47:53.440 --> 0:47:55.399 You can remember some of the things that usually get 0:47:55.400 --> 0:48:00.200 forgotten because they occurred after the spotlight moved on. In 0:48:00.239 --> 0:48:03.400 nineteen ninety seven, Tiger was on his now familiar minimalist 0:48:03.480 --> 0:48:06.279 schedule about twenty events per year, selected with an eye 0:48:06.280 --> 0:48:10.680 to sponsors per sizes in major championship preparation. The Greater 0:48:10.760 --> 0:48:15.520 Milwaukee Open didn't fit and he never returned. Here's Gary Demata. 0:48:16.400 --> 0:48:18.839 It was just one huge here when Milwaukee was sort 0:48:18.880 --> 0:48:22.040 of the epicenter of the golf universe, and then when 0:48:22.239 --> 0:48:25.480 it went back after that very quickly to being just 0:48:25.560 --> 0:48:28.719 another small town stop, one a few remaining on the 0:48:28.760 --> 0:48:32.000 PGA Tour. And I know to this date there's still 0:48:32.000 --> 0:48:34.560 a lot of people around here who are I wouldn't 0:48:34.560 --> 0:48:36.920 say bitter, but I guess disappointed as a better word, 0:48:37.000 --> 0:48:40.200 that Tiger didn't start to repay the GMO's exemption and 0:48:40.560 --> 0:48:43.719 return at least once just to say thank you. I've 0:48:43.719 --> 0:48:45.520 heard that over the years people have griped that he 0:48:45.600 --> 0:48:48.200 never came back. And I asked him in over the 0:48:48.800 --> 0:48:51.359 you know, over the intervening years, if he'd consider coming 0:48:51.400 --> 0:48:54.560 back to Milwaukee. He was also vague, always vague about 0:48:54.560 --> 0:48:58.000 his answer, which was understandable. You know, he'd ask me 0:48:58.040 --> 0:49:00.839 when when the tournament was on this schedule, even though 0:49:00.840 --> 0:49:03.640 he probably knew, and he tried that sort of thing, 0:49:03.760 --> 0:49:06.600 but he got the impression pretty quickly that, you know, 0:49:06.640 --> 0:49:08.000 he really wasn't going to come back. 0:49:08.960 --> 0:49:12.600 Even as Tiger Woods's popularity infused the PGA Tour and 0:49:12.640 --> 0:49:16.480 the sport at large with new energy, the GMO declined. 0:49:16.680 --> 0:49:19.320 As time went on. It sort of sort of lost 0:49:19.360 --> 0:49:23.759 that prestige. The last few years, US Bank sponsored it 0:49:23.800 --> 0:49:26.279 and it was called the US Bank Championship in Milwaukee, 0:49:26.560 --> 0:49:29.320 and by the end of its run for whatever reason, 0:49:29.360 --> 0:49:32.680 whether it was a lack of marketing, muscle or other things. 0:49:32.680 --> 0:49:35.840 On the summer calendar. You know, the Milwaukee Brewers were 0:49:36.560 --> 0:49:39.480 started to be a big draw and built a new stadium, 0:49:39.520 --> 0:49:42.520 and we have a big event called Summerfest in the 0:49:42.520 --> 0:49:44.560 middle of our summer and a lot of a lot 0:49:44.560 --> 0:49:47.399 of ethnic festivals, and I think it sort of got 0:49:47.400 --> 0:49:49.399 lost a little bit on the summer calendar, and by 0:49:49.400 --> 0:49:52.080 the last couple of years it was not attracting very 0:49:52.080 --> 0:49:52.720 big galleries. 0:49:52.800 --> 0:49:53.480 Unfortunately. 0:49:54.160 --> 0:49:55.840 I think if you had to put a finger on 0:49:55.880 --> 0:49:57.960 the biggest reason why the tournament went away, it was 0:49:58.040 --> 0:50:01.399 sort of a lack of overall communities for corporate and 0:50:01.560 --> 0:50:04.600 community and civic involvement in the tournament just seem to 0:50:04.600 --> 0:50:07.480 wan in those last couple of years, and certainly the 0:50:08.040 --> 0:50:10.040 economic downturn was a factor. 0:50:11.080 --> 0:50:13.319 In two thousand and nine, Bo Van Pelt won the 0:50:13.320 --> 0:50:16.839 final edition of the Greater Milwaukee Open. After that year, 0:50:17.239 --> 0:50:22.880 US Bank, Withdrewett sponsorship in the event, dissolved. The GMO 0:50:23.000 --> 0:50:25.520 had been part of the PGA Tour for forty two years, 0:50:25.719 --> 0:50:28.840 but today outside of Wisconsin, if people know about it 0:50:28.880 --> 0:50:31.160 at all, it says the answer to a trivia question, 0:50:31.719 --> 0:50:34.640 where did Tiger Woods debut as a professional? Where did 0:50:34.680 --> 0:50:38.120 Tiger Woods say Hello World? Where did Curtis Strange tell 0:50:38.160 --> 0:50:41.200 Tiger Woods You'll learn? Where did Tiger Woods make his 0:50:41.200 --> 0:50:44.520 first professional hole in one? This is the way with 0:50:44.560 --> 0:50:47.879 someone as legendary as Tiger cross paths with him once 0:50:48.040 --> 0:50:51.480 play one small role in his continually retold biography, and 0:50:51.560 --> 0:50:53.960 it may end up being the main thing people remember about. 0:50:53.960 --> 0:50:58.400 You consider Jim Riswold, who by any measure, has had 0:50:58.440 --> 0:51:00.680 an exceptional career as one of the great admin of 0:51:00.719 --> 0:51:03.320 the past thirty years. When I sent him an email 0:51:03.360 --> 0:51:06.319 asking to interview him, he replied, sure, I can talk 0:51:06.360 --> 0:51:08.439 about Hello World for the million time. 0:51:09.400 --> 0:51:14.440 I mean, Garrett, it's hysterical. I you know, I it 0:51:14.480 --> 0:51:18.000 makes me feel old. It's just like, do you know 0:51:18.040 --> 0:51:22.080 who I used to be? That guy that did these 0:51:22.120 --> 0:51:26.879 ads that people are talking more about now than they did. 0:51:27.120 --> 0:51:32.240 When they ran today. Riswold is a full time artist. 0:51:32.120 --> 0:51:34.000 Or I'd like to say, I've gone from a career 0:51:34.280 --> 0:51:37.520 selling things that people don't need to making things that 0:51:37.560 --> 0:51:42.640 they don't want. I eat my art, but it keeps 0:51:42.680 --> 0:51:45.200 me happy. I mean, I had to leave the business 0:51:45.280 --> 0:51:49.560 because I got quite ill, and I was supposed to die, 0:51:50.120 --> 0:51:53.319 and you know, because Lukemi is a killer. And then 0:51:53.360 --> 0:51:57.720 I got another cancer after that. My boss Dan White 0:51:57.800 --> 0:52:01.400 quipped when I finally retired the second time, you can't 0:52:01.400 --> 0:52:08.040 do anything right, including dying. Yeah, So I happily hear, 0:52:08.800 --> 0:52:12.600 you know. And I still freelance every once in a while, 0:52:12.920 --> 0:52:17.719 but advertising a young person's game, and I am not 0:52:17.800 --> 0:52:18.560 a young person. 0:52:21.440 --> 0:52:23.560 I heard versions of that sentiment a lot in my 0:52:23.600 --> 0:52:26.919 interviews for this episode. Man, we were younger back then, 0:52:27.400 --> 0:52:30.319 and boy have we gotten old. It's tried to say, 0:52:30.520 --> 0:52:33.760 mend obvious, but crucial. Those of us who remember Tiger 0:52:33.960 --> 0:52:36.520 erupting onto our TV screens in nineteen ninety six and 0:52:36.640 --> 0:52:39.799 ninety seven are now twenty three years older. Even the 0:52:39.840 --> 0:52:42.719 youngest of us are in our thirties, So recalling the 0:52:42.760 --> 0:52:45.880 Tiger of that time becomes at least partly an exercise 0:52:45.920 --> 0:52:49.319 in nostalgia and recalling not just who Tiger was, but 0:52:49.400 --> 0:52:51.839 who we were and what we've seen and been through 0:52:51.880 --> 0:52:54.600 in the years since. We've all come a long way, 0:52:55.160 --> 0:52:55.799 and so has he. 0:52:56.920 --> 0:53:02.040 I just I'm marvel at noan Tiger all these years 0:53:02.320 --> 0:53:06.600 and work in TV since that first day he played 0:53:06.640 --> 0:53:11.320 golf on tour, watching him and talking about him so much, 0:53:11.719 --> 0:53:15.280 and dissecting everything which we do, which is what unfair 0:53:15.400 --> 0:53:18.560 is held, that's what we do. I marvel at what 0:53:18.640 --> 0:53:21.720 he has been able to achieve in this day and time. 0:53:22.200 --> 0:53:26.399 Pretty phenomenal stuff. Now, how can you dominate the best 0:53:26.440 --> 0:53:29.439 of your sport by that much that it doesn't come 0:53:29.480 --> 0:53:33.439 along very often? And we're just lucky to have that 0:53:33.520 --> 0:53:37.440 guy that came along happened to be a golfer. I 0:53:38.040 --> 0:53:39.600 just don't think you can put it to words, how 0:53:39.719 --> 0:53:42.279 hell big a factor he's been in our game the 0:53:42.320 --> 0:53:44.880 last twenty three years. 0:53:50.440 --> 0:53:53.400 This was the third episode of Frida Egg Stories. It 0:53:53.440 --> 0:53:56.840 was created and hosted by me Garrett Morrison, with mixing 0:53:56.880 --> 0:54:01.120 and engineering from Jay Eric. Our executive producer is Andy Johnson. 0:54:01.680 --> 0:54:02.480 Thanks for listening.