Tiger Woods was untouchable in his prime - breaking records, winning it all, and never letting anyone come close to him in terms of dominance. In addition to his game, fans loved his calm disposition and his impressive quality of handling pressure.

In a recent episode of the podcast The Golfer’s Journal, famous American sportswriter Gene Wojciechowski was asked by host Tom Coyne about his experiences with Woods during his most dominant era. 

“And um then the tournament would start and you would see this sort of transformation of him.”

Woods was exposed to the frenzy of the media when he was just an amateur. Down the years, he got used to the flashlights and the microphones. The 15-time Major winner knew how to handle intense situations and direct his focus.

Wojciechowski mentioned Woods' unique eyes that were always straight ahead around fans, but were also taking it all in. 

“He was taking it all in, but he didn't want anyone to know that he was looking at them or he was focused, but yet he could see everything.”

Golf had witnessed nothing like Woods’ peak. The hype, the fame, the wonderkid who lived up to every expectation and even exceeded it - it was a joy to watch.

“It was just cool to witness it. It was cool to kneel down inside the ropes and you're 8 ft away and you can hear the velocity, the power of his swing.”

Wojciechowski witnessed Tiger at his absolute height and labelled the power of his swing as “supernatural.” However, he revealed that Woods’ persona outside of tournaments was completely different.

How is Woods Outside Of Tournaments?

Woods had a perfect balance of competitiveness and composure. When not competing, he was an entirely different personality.

“We'd go out there and find him as he's playing a practice round and and he would kind of like wave you out a little bit or you could walk out there. Those were like the coolest times," Wojciechowski said.

Woods, especially at the peak of his career, had a “larger than life” aura. The Tiger Effect took the game by storm and in no time, Woods had millions of fans. Courses would be filled by them and he would frequently be mobbed by fans, only for the security to shove them off.

“Not that he would say anything that was that revealing, but it was just relaxed and you saw him differently.”

Even though Woods was on another level, fans have repeatedly revealed their warm interactions with him. During tournaments, his focus and hunger to win were second to none, but outside of that, he was just a guy from Cypress, California.

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Kalp Thaker