Many a golfer might dream of playing alongside Tiger Woods at some point but Brandel Chamblee believes that over the years, it’s actually been a nightmare for those who have.
Woods was the world’s most dominant player for much of the 2000s and there was a time when if Woods wasn’t in contention to win, it was actually a shock.
So many times in his prime, Tiger would produce the goods when it mattered. Indeed, you don’t have 15-major titles and 82 wins on the PGA Tour if you can’t.
However, Woods was also a serious danger to players who ended up being paired up with him and especially so, on Sundays.
And speaking on that very issues, golf analyst Brandel Chamblee has shared some stats he dug up to prove that theory.
How many shots golfers would lose when competing against Tiger Woods
Speaking on his latest podcast episode of The Favourite Chamblee, the popular golf analyst shared his thoughts on playing with Tiger and in particular, a comment from Billy Horschel that caught his eye.
“When you start to think about when you ascend to a spot in the game you are intimidating and your presence causes other players to fold. Tiger Woods was back in 2008 or 2009, I sat down one day and it took me several days. But I calculated the score of every single player who played with Tiger Woods on Saturday or Sunday,” Chamblee said.
“The reason I did Saturday and Sunday rather than Thursday and Friday is because if you are paired with Tiger on Saturday and Sunday you are by all practical means playing the same by the first two rounds. So I tried to get some idea of the cost of playing with Tiger Woods.
“These guys who are getting paired with him on Saturday and Sunday are ostensibly playing the same and the cost of playing with Tiger Woods was something like three and a half shots.”
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What Billy Horschel said about Tiger Woods that shocked Brandel Chamblee
Continuing his story, Chamblee then recalled a specific comment from Billy Horschel and admitted that at the time, he disagreed with the American.
“I can remember Billy Horschel one time said that he couldn’t wait to get paired with Tiger Woods for the weekend at San Diego. I thought okay but it would be cheaper if you just bought a pro-am spot on Wednesday,” Chamblee continued on.
“A pro-am spot is only going to cost you $10,000 or $15,000 but to get paired with him on Sunday is going to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. You may gain from the experience but it is literally going to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars because it will cost you three and a half or four shots and it did in this particular instance.”
It just goes to show, then, that the theory of being around greatness and it hindering does hold some truth and weight.
Over the years, we’ve seen countless top sports stars do it – see Michael Jordan as an example in basketball – and when you have that aura, it’s a huge help.
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