This practically defines the dynamics Mark O’Meara and Tiger Woods have had for decades. Their friendship began when a young Woods moved next to him in Orlando’s exclusive Isleworth enclave and O’Maera treated him like a little brother. “So that’s how I would correlate my relationship and what Tiger meant to me and the reason why I felt like I wouldn’t have won those two majors possibly at 41, if he hadn’t come into my life,” he once said.
They pretty much practiced all the golfing swings ahead of the tournaments together and struck an unlikely connection. One was 22 years old and an eligible bachelor and the other was 41, married, and had two kids. The latter, who is now 67 has decided to retire and spoke to ‘Golf Today’ regarding his decision. While doing so, he made sure to share a small anecdote regarding his dear friend, Tiger Woods.
At the 1998 Cisco World Match Play Championship, Mark O’Maera defeated Vijay Singh, but the next day, he and Woods were supposed to play in the finals. The night before the finals, the two friends had dinner together and Tiger Woods was very excited about facing his friend, though O’Maera was nervous about losing. What happened next?
Tiger got out there and next thing you know he is like 5-under through seven holes. He has got fist pumping going on… I look over, I say, ‘Look, there’s a lot of people out here. They are out here to see you show. You gotta slow down’. He goes, ‘Well, play then’. I am like, ‘I am trying to’. … I hit a good tee shot. I hit it about two and a half feet, he hit it on the back edge. He putted it down to about three feet. And as you can see, he made me putt this putt.”
But what took place next was something the duo can laugh about today.
“I looked over to him before I was going to putt it and I said, ‘Tiger, … you are not going to make me putt this, are you?’ And he looked over and he goes, ‘You haven’t won a hole yet, have you?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god’ and I made it and then as I was walking off the green, I went right to him with a mean look on my face and I told him, I said, ‘Let me tell you something… ‘If you ever make me putt a putt like that again, our friendship is over. Do you understand what I am saying?’”
Well, Mark O’Maera ended up winning, and with that, he also became the oldest player to win the event.
Tiger Woods really wanted to win against Mark O’Maera
While Woods’s skills may have pushed O’Maera to give his best, the latter understood that Woods really wanted to win. When the younger player refused to concede the two-and-a-half-foot putt, O’Meara knew this was no friendly competition. But it seems like Woods experienced bad luck.
After a poor drive at the 17th, the younger golfer was struggling to make a birdie. Somewhere, he knew he needed to do more when he holed from ten feet. But both the golfers found bunkers at the last and had to lay up. Though Woods hit his pitch to eight feet from the light rough, O’Meara saw his spin back off the green from the fairway.
He then negotiated the collar and a double break, but the 18-foot putt slipped in to give the older golfer the victory. Do you know what happened next? O’Maera turned to Tiger Woods and said, “I am sorry someone has to lose a match like that.” Well, someone finally got their revenge.
This also reminds us of their clash in The 127th Open at Royal Birkdale in 1998. Young stars Tiger Woods and Justin Rose commanded a lot of attention, but O’Maera’s experience enabled him to win the title. What’s interesting is that just three months before this event, Tiger Woods had given O’Maera a green jacket upon winning the Masters.
