What do you think about the bond between Mark O’Meara and Tiger Woods? Having spent more than forty years on greens, O’Meara has known Woods since his early days and calls him his “little brother.” So, naturally, they share a lot of stories, and O’Meara shed light on one of it last year.

Although the story dates back to 1998, when Mark O’Meara won his first major, he talked about it last year with Golf.com. At the Masters, there is a tradition that the prior year’s champion sticks around for the weekend, regardless of whether or not he makes the cut, to honor the next Masters champion with a green jacket. In the case of O’Meara, it was Tiger Woods who had remarkably won the 1997 Masters. 

Talking about it, the 16x PGA Tour winner said, “I’ve got Tiger Woods—who is kind of like my little brother — putting the green jacket on me at 41 years of age.” However, what happened next became a memorable moment for both. “Tiger’s a little bit taller than I am, and he had it up, and I couldn’t get my left arm into the jacket. And it was kind of an awkward situation, and finally, I turn around and looked at Tiger, and I’m like, ‘Hey, you gotta lower the jacket.’ And so he did, and I got my arms in there and he gave me a hug,” said the 67-year-old hilariously.

Mark O’Meara recently announced that after the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach, he will bid adieu to professional golf. Do you know that O’Meara has claimed victory at Pebble Beach in three different decades? He first won the 1979 California State Amateur, and then he claimed the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am a whopping five times.

O’Meara’s relationship with Tiger Woods has been evident. It all started back when Woods moved next to him in Orlando’s exclusive Isleworth enclave and the veteran golfer treated him like his own. Woods is apparently a good omen for the 67-year-old, as he once mentioned: “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.” Despite a 19-year age gap between the two, they share more heartwarming moments.

Mark O’Meara once told Tiger Woods to “slow down” 

This incident also occurred in 1998 but at the Cisco World Match Play Championship. After defeating Vijay Singh, Mark O’Meara was set to face Tiger Woods in the finals. Although the 82x PGA Tour winner was excited to face his friend, O’Meara was nervous. While talking about it O’Meara said “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’. 

However, Woods had a hilarious response. “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.” Their banter continued even further. Following that O’Meara looked at Woods before he was going to putt and jokingly asked ‘Tiger, … you are not going to make me putt this, are you?’ 

As it happened Woods asked him ‘You haven’t won a hole yet, have you?’ and allowed him to putt. Later Mark O’Meara walked up to him and said ‘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.” 

Now that Mark O’Meara is bidding farewell to professional golf, he will certainly miss Tiger Woods and these memories. What are your thoughts on their relationship? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!