Furthermore, knowing how the economics of these things worked, I figured this would be both the first and the last chance I had to see Mr Woods, because his appearance fee was something like $650,000 Australian dollars (this was before he had won any Majors). Now he requests a minimum of something like $2 million US dollars (about $3.6 million Australian - the aussie has taken a hammering the last few years ... sigh).
So I paid my $22, got there to see Tiger in Round 2 on the Friday where he was recovering from shooting 79 in the first round. My first impression of Tiger was that he looked very slight (he was listed at 155 lbs back then) but was hitting shots extremely far with a short backswing and a high torque downswing. The highlight of the round was when he smashed a 311 m (342 yard) drive about 35-40 m past Peter Senior and Peter McWhinney (Australian golfers). Overall Tiger played well and I think he shot something like 68 in that 2nd round.
Later that afternoon I was walking up the fairway and someone behind walked in front of me. I looked up and it was Tiger in his blue Nike rainsuit and spikes (Golf Shoes).
Now yours truly is or was at that time 180.8 cm at best (5'11 1/6"; when I don't slouch which is rare), and there was no way Tiger was 3 inches taller than me! He was as I had estimated about 6'0" and if I was real generous maybe 6'0 1/2" (184 cm) but even that was unlikely as one of my golf buddies is that height and he appears taller than Tiger.
One might argue that Tiger has grown since November 1996. This is unlikely since he was one month shy of his 21st birthday at the time. Furthermore his apparently inflated height listings have had him at 6'1" since 1993 when he was 17 and thereafter 6'2" to this day. When you see Tiger competing with his main challengers today: Phil Mickelson (6'2"), Ernie Els (6'3";), Vijay Singh (6'2") you will clearly notice that they are taller than him even though he is listed similarly at 6'2". Tiger's caddy Steve Williams is 6'11/2" but he is taller than his boss.
For some photographic evidence of Tiger Wood's height please see the gallery.
This web site is merely a small point of interest that many people may not be aware of, and I offer it as trivia. There are numerous web pages which provide a wealth of information and pictures covering Tiger's career which I have not sought to replicate in these pages. It was my interest in anthropometry (the study and measurement of human dimensions), auxology (the study of human growth) and Golf that provided the inspiration for this website.
