Today in 1999, a moment in the golf world that you don’t see everyday: a bunch of people moving a boulder for a pro golfer in the middle of a tournament.
That pro golfer was Tiger Woods, who was playing in the Phoenix Open.
This was only Woods’ third year as a pro golfer, but he was already a superstar.
And he was a very successful superstar: in 1999 he won eight titles, including the PGA Championship.
But his drive on the 13th hole at TPC Scottsdale… wasn’t quite what the 23 year old wanted.
It was a big drive, and it did dodge the cacti on the par 5 hole, but it smacked into a boulder, one that was now between the ball and where Woods needed that ball to go.
That meant he’d have to hit the ball around the obstacle just to get back on track.
That’s never ideal in a pro golf tournament where every shot counts.
But Woods had another idea.
Under PGA rules, an attached obstacle was immovable, but a loose obstacle could be moved.
Woods got an official to declare that this boulder was a loose, and therefore moveable, obstacle.
Then he asked if he could have help moving it, and the official said he could.
This boulder may not have been attached to anything, but “loose” wasn’t exactly the first word that came to mind.
It weighed a ton (that’s not hyperbole, it was about two thousand pounds).
But about a dozen spectators volunteered to roll the boulder just out of the way of the shot.
Woods shook hands with each of them to say thanks.
This was all legal, though somewhat controversial; some analysts noted that not every golfer would’ve had enough spectators to move a boulder for them, the way the ultrafamous Woods did.
That said, the boulder heaving didn’t turn the tide in Woods’ favor; he finished third overall in the tournament.
And while he did end up with a birdie on the 13th hole that day, his first shot past the boulder went into a bunker.
Today in 1928, movie star Madge Bellamy married Logan Metcalf, a bond broker.
But days later she filed for divorce.
According to a syndicated article in the Omaha Sunday Bee-News, her main objection was that her new husband quote “was too fond of ham and eggs.”
That wasn’t a euphemism, by the way.
Throwback Thursday: That time Tiger Woods had his gallery perform manual labor and move a boulder (Golf Digest)
Refused $2,000,000 to Return to Her Husband – and Yet She Loves Him (Omaha Sunday Bee-News via Newspapers.com)
Backing our show on Patreon is as good as a hole in one in golf
Photo by Ben Lei via Flickr/Creative Commons