Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player describe teary, emotional Tiger Woods at Champions Dinner
AUGUSTA, Ga. – During his press conference on Tuesday, Tiger Woods showed a rare flash of emotion when asked to recount his victory last year at the Masters.
“I’m still getting chills just thinking about it,” he said as he choked back tears.
Later that day, Woods hosted the Champions Dinner and he was still in a sentimental mood.
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“Tiger was very emotional. I’ve never seen Tiger that way,” six-time Masters winner Jack Nicklaus said on Thursday.
According to Nicklaus, who joined Gary Player on the first tee as honorary starters early Thursday, it was probably the smallest crowd at the dinner he could remember because of travel restrictions and COVID-19. There were 26 of 33 possible attendees, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Woods, who won his fifth green jacket and his 15th major championship last year at Augusta National, said that his victory at the 1997 Masters and last year’s triumph stand above the other majors he’s won, for a number of reasons.
“[Woods] said he was on the way to the golf course and he had to stop because he had tears in his eyes,” Players said, “and paused for a little while on the road because a lot of memories were going through his mind very quickly, to have won the tournament again with his children there.”