Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler put on a clinic for the Nexus Cup at Liberty National.
@eastsidegolf on instagram
We’ve seen very little of Tiger Woods in 2023, especially on a golf course with a club in his hands. But golf fans got a little taste of Tiger action on Tuesday.
Woods is at Liberty National in New Jersey for this year’s Nexus Cup, an exclusive amateur event featuring 18 teams hosted by the 15-time major champion.
At one point, Woods joined fellow PGA Tour pros Rickie Fowler and Will Zalatoris for a driving range clinic in front of the Nexus Cup participants.
Tiger Woods has been sharing secrets of ‘the craft,’ Rory McIlroy says
Fortunately for all of us, Instagram user @eastsidegolf filmed a lengthy portion of the exhibition so we could take a peek at the pros dishing advice and jokes in equal amounts.
While Fowler and Zalatoris were earnestly trying to answer the MC’s questions and provide some insight, Tiger seemed more interested in earning laughs and disrupting the clinic with some healthy chirping and trash talk.
The MC opened the video by asking the pros about their warmup, saying, “What’s the warm-up process here; have we done some stretching this morning?”
“Nope,” Tiger quickly responded, eliciting laughs from the crowd. It wouldn’t be the last time.
Soon after, Fowler began to demonstrate some of his recent swing fixes, but Tiger interrupted to chime in and ask Fowler, fresh off a trip to Rome with the U.S. Ryder Cup team, “How was Rome?” That earned more laughs from the guests.
‘He isn’t playing any good’: Tiger Woods’ ex-coach pans Justin Thomas Ryder Cup captain’s pick
As Fowler’s demonstration went on, Woods set up behind him, mimicking his every move and getting more laughs from the crowd, with Rickie repeatedly looking over his shoulder to see what the fuss was about.
“He does this at home as well,” Fowler joked, referring to their shared home base of Jupiter, Fla., where they spend a not insignificant amount of time playing and practicing together.
After yet another moment of distraction provided by Woods, Fowler stopped the lesson and turned around to stare him down.
“I’m over here, just working on my game,” Tiger responds, cracking up the fans once again.
And Zalatoris wasn’t safe either. When the host mentioned it was the young pro’s first time at Liberty National, Tiger couldn’t help throwing another dig at Zalatoris’ young age and lack of accomplishments early in his career, saying, “You never played the playoff out here?”
The video is long and well worth a watch for any golf fan interested. Beyond the laughs, Fowler and Woods also dish out plenty of instruction gold, too.
At one point, Woods sauntered over to Fowler’s back and extracted Rickie’s mallet putter from the bag, which features a thick SuperStroke Traxion Wrist Lock grip that’s very different from what Tiger’s used to. As Fowler continued to talk, Woods set up with the putter, then with a confused look on his face turned to Fowler and asked, “How do you use this thing?”
Fowler proceeded to give Tiger a quick lesson in using his unique flatstick. The MC was surprised enough by the interaction to make a quip of his own: “Never thought we’d see the day that Tiger Woods is asking how to hold a putter.”
That earned a laugh from Woods and caused him to walk to his own bag and pull out his famous Scotty Camron blade.
“I brought my own baby with me,” Woods says smiling.
Tuesday was one of the few times we’ve seen Tiger since his latest injury complications. There’s no word yet on when or if he will ever try to compete on Tour, but by the looks of it he’s making some serious progress.
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Spanish