Tiger Woods almost won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 1998 ( Image: Andrew Redington/Getty Images))
He achieved a hole-in-one once. Then, remarkably, he managed another one, with the second occurring right in front of Tiger Woods.
But Holden Bautista’s feats weren’t over.
A short while later, the 11-year-old dunked on the 15-time major winner.
There are good days. And then there are days like the one Bautista had last weekend. Let’s start with the aces. Those are rare, and they also set up what came later.
Bautista was playing the TGR Jr Invitational, hosted by Woods. On Sunday, at the Woods-designed Hay short course at Pebble Beach, he made his first hole-in-one. On hole 8, he made his second, and TaylorMade, one of Woods’ sponsors, shared video of it.
Bautista hit. He talked to his ball. It went in. Bautista ran around. There were shouts. Nearby was Woods. They eventually met up, and Woods shook his hand.
“Proud of you,” he said.
“Thank you,” a smiling Bautista said.
“Keep at it,” Woods said.
In a way, he did.
Later, Woods hosted a reception. There was a Q&A.
And Bautista was given a mic. TaylorMade and golf personality Tisha Alyn captured and shared that, too. Here was the exchange, along with the reactions.
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“Well, one, have you ever gotten two hole in ones in one round?” the 11-year-old asked.
There was laughter. Woods closed his eyes. Bautista continued.
“I, I mean, you’re the GOAT.”
Woods lowered his head. He shook it. There was more laughter. Bautista continued.
“I … you’re like, you’re the GOAT, and I, I … and it would be … I feel like it would be expected.”
Tiger Woods opened his eyes. He shook his head. He smiled. There was more laughter. Bautista continued.
“But it’s OK, it’s OK. I feel like I’m putting you under a spotlight now.”
There was applause. Finally, Woods spoke.
“He just mic-dropped it on top of everybody, right?”
Indeed. Good job, everybody. A short later, as part of the video shared by Alyn, Bautista had another question for the host, and this was good, too.
“But also, after something like a hole in one or like a chip-in,” Bautista asked, “what’s your mentality moving forward into the next hole?
At first, Woods joked, then offered a tip.
“Yeah, you had to go there, double-hole-in-one time,” he said. “OK, I’ll give you that one. Uh, no, but seriously, on a serious note to that, when I’ve had a high of making an eagle or a hole-out or I’ve had the low of making a tap-in for a 10, it’s about, as I was saying earlier, it’s about staying right here, right now.”
