When did you first hear of Tiger?

I read an article in one of the Golf mags about Tiger when he was 6 years old. I think he was winning tournaments that early and he has never done anything I know of but hit golf balls.

I didn't even start watching golf religiously until 1996. That just so happened to be the year Tiger turned pro. I guess I timed it just right to come along for the ride.

I heard about Tiger when he was going for his third straight U.S. Amateur Championship, so I guess that was August of 1996.

I'm sure I heard stuff about him when he was a little kid, but I just never paid much attention to golf stuff when I was younger. :/

I did not see the famous Mike Douglas show when he was 2, but I did see his appearance on That's Incredible when he was 5. I believe it was 1981. (I wish I'd saved that Betamax tape.)

His name then went below the radar on a national level, but I remember talking about him again in the early 90's. Then he started winning US Juniors and US Amateurs, and by the time 1996 rolled around, it was full-on Tigermania.

He made the news, mags and papers long before that. I assume he was born around 76 or so and at 6 he was competing in Jr. tournaments. He was born to play golf, like Patton was born to be a war general.

My earliest memory of Tiger is hearing about this awesome young amateur player going for his 2nd straight U.S. Amateur and watching then, I can't remember if that was the year the U.S. Am was at TPC at Sawgrass or not though. But once he won his 2nd straight I made it a point to see if he'd win 3, then he did and I kept tabs on his results early as a professional, didn't he win an event in one of his first couple of months as a pro?

His first U.S. Amateur was the one as Sawgrass. He defeated Trip Kuehne (Okie St. boy). Maybe that's why I'm not a Tiger fan. I should have known.

It's nice to know that I heard about him around the same time as some people. I figured I was real late to the party.

I first became aware of him when her won his second junior amateur. Pros were already starting to talk about his potential even then.

I posted this on another thread recently. But since it's the point of this discussion, I'll repaste it here:



Before the world knew about Tiger, I met a man who had just been at the California State high school championships to support his son who was playing. We were at dinner at a marketing seminar and when our table began discussing the next day's golf outing a gentleman I was sitting by said that he had just witnessed the future of golf.

He then told us a story about the finish of the tournament: (he said) Tiger was playing in the last group and needed par to win as medalist and take first place for his team. With all the teams that had finished, parents and coaches surrounding the final par four green, Tiger missed his approach and was shortsided in long grass with a downhill lie. He took a couple of full swing practice cuts which caused whispers in the crowd and then WIFFED - he slipped the club completely under the ball causing it to settle down in the grass even further.

He needed to get up and down to tie now. He stepped away from the ball and took a moment to compose himself then set up and played the same full swing flop shot again and holed it out to win.

The man telling the story said, "This scrawny kid has ice water in his veins. His name is Tiger. Remember that name."

I played golf briefly back in the mid '70s and gave it up for 20 years. I was stuck in a hotel room on a Sunday in '96 and somehow ended up watching Norman fail to win the Masters. The golf bug bit me that day and I soon heard about this kid Woods who was just turning Pro.

Tiger didn't inspire me to take up the game again, but I'm glad I got back in it just as golf's most exciting era began.