If there is one match in TGL which you can almost guarantee Tiger Woods will make himself available for, it is surely Jupiter Links’ final regular season fixture against Atlanta Drive.
While Tiger Woods is perhaps not the best trash-talker in TGL, fans clearly love to see the 15-time major champion involved in the league given how much of his career he spent with his guard all the way up.
Woods has however, embraced his leadership role with both the PGA Tour and TGL in recent years. And perhaps no player has had a better claim to consider Woods a mentor than Justin Thomas.
Thomas has been close with Woods for some time, with the pair forming a superb partnership at the 2019 Presidents Cup when the latter was the playing-captain. And they have not been afraid to poke fun at each other.
Justin Thomas shares Tiger Woods’ brutal reaction to being pranked
Many will remember when Woods ensured Thomas had an unbelievably long introduction on the first tee at the 2019 Hero World Challenge. And it seems that Woods is even more irritating when you attempt to go back at him.
Speaking to 5 Clubs back in 2022, Thomas shared how you pay the price for pranking Woods.
“Tiger’s the same way, you can’t prank him,” he said. “We used to work with the same physio and I was waiting for him on the table and he had just some slides, not flip-flops, but just the sandals, and his were sitting there on the table while he was getting treatment. And I was sitting there waiting for him to finish, and I grabbed his slide, he had these Nike slides, and I just put, ‘To Tiger, thanks for being my biggest fan’, and I signed it.
“And then, the next day when I got done with my round I had shaving cream in all of my shoes. So I was like, that’s nice. I literally just signed one of your slides that you can get countless amounts of for free, and you put shaving cream and ruined all of my shoes. That does not seem like a fair trade at all.”
Why Thomas is right to call for the PGA Tour stars to display more of their personality
Obviously, Woods is not someone who needs to have any sort of personality away from the golf course to be loved by the fans. It remains a special occasion whenever he tees it up.
But you can understand why Thomas has been the one now calling for the players to be more accommodating with the media while at tournaments this year.
It is imperative that the PGA Tour creates new superstars. And while there may never be another Tiger Woods, there are a number of players who would surely become considerably more popular with fans if they managed to get more of their personalities across.
It is important that some of the antics are not forced, as that will annoy fans just as much as the often stale product currently on show. But the players should not be afraid to provide these glimpses behind the scenes which simply help their characters shine through.
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