When a new Tiger Woods story surfaces, you best believe we are going to cover it. This one in particular about how he marks his ball is a beauty.
It dates back to the 1996 U.S. Amateur when Tiger, who was gunning for a record third straight title, battled much lesser known Steve Scott at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club near Portland, Ore. in one for the ages.
Scott was 2 up on Woods with three to play, and while putting on the 16th — the 34th hole of their match — Scott asked Woods to re-mark his ball to the side of his original mark so it wouldn’t be in Scott’s line. Woods did, but after Scott putted he noticed that Woods had not moved his ball back to its original location.
If Woods would have putted without moving his ball back, he would have been penalized with a loss of the hole, thereby losing the match to Scott. But Scott had no interest in winning on a rules technicality. He quickly alerted Woods, who moved his marker back to its orginal position. Woods then made the birdie putt, won the hole and later the match — the preface to what would become a historic professional career.
“I did forget (to move my ball back),” Woods said. “For him to (remind me) was pretty remarkable. Ever since that one moment I always mark my marker heads up, and if I ever move my coin or someone asks me to move it, I always move it to tails, so when I look down at my ball if it’s showing tails, that means I moved it. That’s true sportsmanship (what Scott did). A testament to what the game of golf is all about.”
There you have it folks. Now you could mark your ball like the 14-time major winner.
[Golf.com]
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