Former Tour Pro Describes His First Impression of Tiger Woods: ‘What the F*ck Was That?’

Tiger Woods entered the world of golf as a true talent. He turned heads with his Amateur titles from 1994-96, as people instantly knew he would go on to create history. 

Recently, a former PGA Tour player shared his experience of watching young Tiger for the first time. John Maginnes is a former Tour player turned golf commentator. He was being interviewed on a weekly show called Golf Subpar, where he talked about his first impression of Tiger Woods. 

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John Maginnes played against Tiger on one of his first-ever Tour events as a pro. It was B. C. Open in 1996, and they were paired together to play. Although it was many years ago, John still remembers the first impression he had of Tiger. 

Tiger Woods did the impossible!

John explained that he met the soon-to-be legend at the 1996 B.C. Open. He said, in a moment at the tournament, Woods was 30 yards short of him, and he felt confident in winning against the rookie. But then, Tiger took an iron from his drivers and swung with his all power. 

“I’m standing 10 feet away from the hardest golf swing I’ve ever seen in my life, the loudest contact to a balata golf ball I’ve ever heard. And this ball took off and looked like a laser,” John said about that shot of Woods. 

Maginnes further added that while he thought the ball would land soon, it kept going like a laser and found the green. John said that he was awestruck when Woods covered about 275 yards with that swing. However, the confident young talent had already started walking since he knew he hit it right. 

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John remembers that he looked at Mike ‘Fluff’ Cowan, Woods’ then caddie, and asked him, “Fluff, what the F was that?” And he replied, “That’s our 2-iron we carried about 275.”

As John shared his first impression story of Tiger, we couldn’t help but spot a little fanboy in him. The impact Tiger made on John Maginnes at the 96 B.C. Open was huge, as he remembered every minute detail about that encounter.