Andy Ogletree will always remember his first encounter with golf legend Tiger Woods, but for all the wrong reasons.
Ogletree was paired with Woods at the 2020 Masters, which had been delayed until November due to the pandemic.
It was a dream pairing for a then-22-year-old Ogletree, who was competing in just his second major.
Woods was also one year removed from his first major victory in eleven years when he shocked the world to win the 2018 Masters.
Safe to say, Ogletree was in for the experience of a lifetime.
However, it wasn’t a physics-defying tee shot or an ice-cold putt from Woods that left a lasting impression on Ogletree.
Instead, it was a rather odd remark from Woods that left Ogletree miffed.
“It was November Masters – no fans, just me and Tiger – and we’d teed off down 10,” Ogletree told the Fairway to Heaven podcast.
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“We’d both hit the fairway and I could tell he was walking over towards me and gonna say something to me. He walks over and we had just had a rain delay that morning.
“He was like, ‘Man, wouldn’t it be fun just to get a running start and slide down this hill?’ And I just started laughing. I was like, ‘Man, that was interesting,’ and so I kind of gave him some s*** back, right? And he thought it was hilarious.”
It seemed as if that moment broke the ice between the pair, as Ogletree revealed Woods became ‘super nice’ to him and ‘talked a lot’.
Even Woods’ longtime caddie, Joe Lacava, was ‘pretty helpful’ in telling Ogletree ‘what to do and when to talk’.
Whatever Woods and Lacava told Ogletree, it certainly seemed to work as he made the cut.
Woods did the same, but it proved to be a Masters he won’t want to re-live after the 48-year-old made 10 on the par three 12th hole.
His tee shot landed on the green but rolled back into the water, only for his drop shot to suffer a similar fate.
Woods’ fifth shot then landed in the bunker and his sixth landed back into the water.
He copped a penalty shot from the sand and thankfully landed on the green.
Woods eventually put himself out of his misery with a two-putt to score 10.
Ogletree knew all about Woods’ misfortune on the 12th hole, but when the two caught up inside Butler Cabin with their families after the tournament was done, the amateur decided to play dumb.
“So we were all in there talking and didn’t really know what was going on, and they take me to Butler Cabin and someone slaps me on the back,” Ogletree said.
“And I turn around and it’s Tiger and he’s like, ‘Congrats man’, and it was really cool. We got to talk and stuff and he was like, ‘How’d it go?’
“And I was like, golf talk, ‘I missed a few putts and I felt like I should have played better,’ whatever, like everyone says right? I was like, ‘How’d it go for you?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, crap.’
“He was like, ‘Oh, you haven’t heard?’ So I just completely played it off. I’m like, ‘Heard what?’ And he’s like, ‘Bro, I made a 10 on 12.’ I was like, ‘A 10?’ He went through every shot, and I’m like, ‘I know what you did, I’ve already seen it on the TV,’ but I just completely put my foot in my mouth asked Tiger Woods how he made a 10.”
Woods’ brutal 10 on the 12th saw him finish T38 on -1, while Ogletree ended the 2020 Masters T34 with a score of -2, which remains his best-ever finish in a major.
Ogletree, who showed strong form on the Asian Tour, joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit this year.
The Mississippi native is part of the HyFlyers GC along with Phil Mickelson, Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale, with the team sitting second-last in the LIV league standings.
