At Riviera Country Club, Tiger Woods says, you hear things.
They usually come later in the day on Fridays and Saturdays. The 10th tee box, he said, is a popular spot for ’em. So are 17 and 18.
“Beverages served, things done,” Woods said.
But the most unexpected interaction the 15-time major winner has had at the historic course?
That came when he was a kid.
Woods told the story on Tuesday in a press conference ahead of this week’s Genesis Invitational, an event in which he’s the host. Woods knows Riviera well. He made his first PGA Tour appearance at the Los Angeles course, as a 16-year-old at the 1992 L.A. Open. (If you’re curious, Woods shot rounds of 72 and 75 and missed the cut by six shots.) Before that, he attended the tournament with his dad, Earl.
It was in that stretch, Woods said, where he first heard some words.
“Banter back and forth between the pros and the gallery,” he said.
In retelling the scene, Woods then said he had “kind of a cool story.” It came at one L.A. Open, as Woods said he was watching the action on the 8th green.
“And this golf ball comes slamming in there,” he said, “I go running over to it, and it’s a Ram golf ball. I’ve never heard of Ram. What is Ram? I’m 8 years old, right?
“So I go running over there, and I’m just looking at it, and this caddie just pushes me out of the way. ‘Kid, get out of the way.’
“I look up, and I don’t know who he is at that time, and later find out it was Bruce Edwards caddying for Tom Watson. So I used to give him a lot of grief about that.
“He said, ‘Yeah, you were in the way.’”
Woods then laughed.
Only at Riv.
“For me, that’s part of the neat things being here at Riv,” he said, “being able to go back in time as a kid.”