What Tiger Woods once said was the only thing that ever intimidated him on a golf course 

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Tiger Woods had ice in his veins in the biggest moments in his career.

From Woods’ first Masters win in 1997, to what was perhaps his final Green Jacket in 2019, he’s shown no fear since he exploded onto the scene as a teenager. 

Woods’ aura was often enough to win him tournaments during his dominance in the early 2000s. Between 1997 and 2008, Woods won 14 major championships, and during that time, he never lost when leading through three rounds. 

It has always seemed like Woods was born for these moments. The greatest player of all time never shied from the bright lights, and was never fearful of the big moments. And as a 17-year-old, he revealed that he hadn’t been intimidated by anything on the golf course since he was 11 years old. 

The only thing that intimidated Tiger Woods on a golf course

At 17, Woods was the hottest young talent in the sport. He won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship for the third consecutive time and had already played a number of PGA Tour events. 

Woods was attracting a wave of media attention despite still being in high school, and they had already begun to notice his steely composure and fearlessness on the course.

ESPN asked a 17-year-old Woods whether he had ever been intimidated by something on the course, and he had to think back to when he was 11 years old to think of an example.

Woods responded, “We had this one tournament at the junior world when I was 11 years old, my first year at the 11 and 12 age group. On the very first hole of the last day, I was trying to win the tournament. It’s a par four, this 12-year-old kid drives the green.

“That intimidated the hell out of me. I ended up beating him that day, and my dad and I had a long talk about it. After that, nothing has ever intimidated me. Ever.”

It was clearly a formative moment for the young Woods, which leaves you to wonder what would have happened if he had lost that tournament. Would he have still been the ice-cold competitor we saw dominate the PGA Tour for a decade?

But Woods, being Woods, won. And as the unstoppable force in golf, there was never anything to be fearful of when he was at his best.

How Tiger Woods used his mentality as one of his biggest weapons

Woods might as well have been a few shots up when he stepped up to the first tee at major championships. He’d won the mental battle with nearly every golfer in the sport through the legacy he had built early in his career.

He played into that fact, too. Woods would play tricks on par threes to mess with his opponents’ rhythm. On the final round at the 2019 Masters, Woods wouldn’t entertain Tony Finau’s conversations, showing his opponent the mentality it was going to take to beat him that day.

In team events, that worked against him. Woods had a terrible Ryder Cup record, which some attributed to his teammates’ inability to handle the bright spotlight that followed him. 

But the fearlessness that Woods and his father developed from when he was 11 years old was crucial to him having one of the most esteemed careers of all time.