You’ve undoubtedly seen old videos of Tiger Woods making holes-in-one. In typical Tiger fashion, he made an ace in his professional debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1996.
The following year, he sunk an ace at the famous 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale.
And then in 1998, he made another hole-in-one at The International, which was held at Castle Pines in Colorado. Believe it or not, that was the last time Tiger Woods made a 1 on a hole in competition or otherwise.
That’s right. Over the next 20 years, which included what many consider to be the best stretch of golf ever played by an individual, Tiger Woods would win 73 times on the PGA Tour, which included 14 major championships and 18 World Golf Championships, and never hit an ace.
That incredible drought ended last week.
“Some of the best years of my career and I never made one,” Woods said during a Tuesday practice round at Albany in the Bahamas where he will host this week’s Hero World Challenge, according to Golfweek.com’s Dan Kilbridge. “For some reason, it took (20) years. Never made one this century, and lo and behold, I make my 20th.”
Playing alongside his son, Charlie, TGR executive Rob McNamara and Fred Couples at the Madison Club in La Quinta, California on the day before Thanksgiving, Woods knocked a 5-iron in from 210 yards on the par-3 second hole.
McNamara said that a front bunker obstructed the view of the hole from the tee, but when they reached the green, there was a pitch mark some 15 feet in front of the hole, but no ball was in sight.
“We didn’t see it go in,” Woods said. “Somehow when we got to the green it was gone. I thought it might be over the back but I said no, I hit it a lot softer than that. And we get up there and then it’s in the hole.”
Of his 20 lifetime aces, only the three mentioned above have come in PGA Tour competition.
