It’s one of the most famous interviews in our sport’s history.
A two-time U.S. Open winner, an intimidating force, asking a newly minted professional about his goals.
Not career goals, mind you. His goals that week.
“A victory would be awfully nice, too,” Tiger Woods said to Curtis Strange ahead of Woods’ first pro start on the PGA Tour at the ’96 Greater Milwaukee Open.
The look on Strange’s face as he tries to digest what is being uttered by this 20-year-old – a phenom, sure, but still, a young man – said what every veteran what thinking:
This kid has no idea what’s about to hit him.
Of course, we had no idea – not Strange, nor Faldo, nor Norman, nor any of golf’s collective voices – that what Woods spoke was more than bravado.
“Second sucks and third is even worse,” Woods told Strange in that sit-down.
Full-field tee times from the 86th Masters Tournament
Woods finished tied for 60th that first week. He won four starts later, and again two starts thereafter.
That was the mentality of Tiger Woods for the better part of 40 years. When he showed up to events, he expected to win. He believed he’d win. He knew he’d win.
And, for the better part of 40 years, that was very much the case. Woods won he was a rookie. He won when he was going through swing changes. He won (a lot) when he was the world’s best. He won consecutive majors – four in a row, at one point – and piled up victories at courses he loves, courses he tolerated and in any manner of ways.
Tiger’s greatest skill, more so than his best-ever iron play or his ever-clutch short game, was finding a way to win in a sport that isn’t fond of allowing victories.
All of that bring us to now. Tiger Woods is going to compete in the Masters Tournament. He will be in a filed alongside 64-year-old Bernhard Langer and 19-year-old Aaron Jarvis.
As rumors surfaced of Woods preparing at Medalist and the golf world Googled airplane tracking websites, I kept going back to that interview with Curtis Strange, because with his career and adult life ahead of him, Tiger told us what he knew to be true.
Tiger played to win. Every start.
And that’s what he did 82 times on the PGA Tour, including – improbably – at Augusta National in 2019.
“A victory would be awfully nice. too.”
For Tiger, competing this week is a win. A victory worthy of celebration. Golf is a sport that awards one trophy but allows others to succeed. A player can make a cut following a long slump. A player can top-10 into the next event. A player can achieve a personal goal that doesn’t make the front page of a website but provides a sense of accomplishment.
Unlike in basketball or football or baseball, winning isn’t always winning. Winning, in golf, is accomplishing. Golf, as fickle as it can be, allows a win a hole, when you think about it. Hit your best drive of the day, make your first par, roll in that lengthy birdie putt – or just stop the bleeding during a terrible stretch. You can win in little ways.
Tiger won. He already did it. This week will be a celebration of the most important figure to ever walk a fairway, to ever pure a 5-iron off a hanging lie, to ever fist-pump a putt that had no business dropping.
History engulfs every golf fan, patron or watching from home, when this April week arrives. It’s about legends playing the Par 3 Contest and the ceremonial first-tee starters.
Jack Nicklaus will be back for the latter, and every time the six-time champion appears in his yellow sweater, with his “Is this really all for me” grin, it’s a win. And we celebrate.
Tiger mustering something inside of him that only the likes of Nicklaus or Tom Brady or Serena Williams could understand, is why he said those words to Strange 26 years ago.
For Tiger Woods, this has always been about finding a way to do something that no one else could fathom – not you, not me, not even Curtis Freaking Strange.
Some predict Woods will win this week, but his score shouldn’t be a focal point. He is, after all, a 46-year-old whose body has been through the unimaginable.
But this time around, Woods doesn’t have to think about how much second sucks or how even more grotesque third place is; all he needs to do is walk onto the first tee on Thursday and soak it all in.
A man beating the odds. A man beating death. A man showing once again what victory really looks like. Only this time, he – we – won’t have to wait until Sunday evening.
Tiger has won the 86th Masters Tournament, jacket or no jacket.
