Tiger’s 2000-01 irons and wedges, used for “Tiger Slam”, go up for auction
Arguably the most accomplished set of irons and wedges in golf history are up for sale.
That’s right, the clubs Tiger Woods used to win the “Tiger Slam” in 2000-01 are up for auction for the first time since 2010.
They sold for $57,242 in 2010 to Todd Brock, and are expected to fetch near, or maybe more, than a million dollars this time around. Bidding doesn’t close until April 9, and the current winning bid is already $71,327. April 9, coincidentally, is the final round of this year’s Masters.
The set consists of 2-iron through pitching wedge, as well as a 58-degree wedge (bent to 56 degrees) and a 60-degree wedge. Both wedges have “TIGER” stamped on them.
The marquee item is the 8-iron, on which the wear mark is described as “otherworldly” by Golden Age Auctions, who is selling the clubs.
Golden Age Auctions is the same company that sold one of Woods’ backup Scotty Cameron putters last year for $393,300.
Tiger used the clubs for the four consecutive major victories that make up the “Tiger Slam” – the 2000 U.S. Open, Open, PGA Championship and 2001 Masters – before switching to a new set seven weeks after the ’01 Masters. At that point, he gave the iconic clubs to former Titleist director of player promotions Rick Nelson and Titleist VP of player promotions Steve Mata.
Mata took the clubs home with him and owned them until he put them up for auction in 2010.
Golden Age Auctions has affidavits from both Nelson and Mata verifying their authenticity. They also have the results of a 2010 polygraph test from Mata and a copy of a September 2000 Golfweek magazine article, which detailed the exact specs of Tiger’s clubs used to win the 2000 PGA Championship. The article perfectly matches the description of the clubs, including the 58-degree wedge being bent to 56 degrees.
Tiger is the only golfer to ever hold all four modern major championships at the same time, and the clubs he used to do it will soon be headed to the highest bidder.