Saturday, February 17, 2001
You tee off at 6:42 . . . with Tiger
By BOB HARIG
St. Petersburg Times
For most golf enthusiasts, watching Tiger Woods and getting close
enough to see him in action is a thrill. So how about playing
with him?
“It was like a Walter Mitty situation,” said Tampa auto
dealer Ralph Ghioto III. “It was certainly once in a lifetime.
The reaction I got was shock. 'You must be kidding me.' He has
to be the most famous person in the world.”
Ghioto, 36, a member of Avila Country Club, played with Woods
on Feb. 7 in the pro-am preceding the Buick Invitational in San
Diego.
His Century Buick in Tampa won a dealer sales contest that included
an all-expenses-paid trip and a spot in the Buick Invitational
pro-am. Ghioto, however, had no idea it would include playing
with Woods.
That came about due to some good fortune and Ghioto's proficiency
at the game. Woods, apparently, stipulates that only 12-handicap
golfers or better be allowed in his group during pro-ams (not
including celebrities). Ghioto got the call because he is a 5-handicap.
He made the most of the situation. His father, Ralph Jr., caddied.
And his wife took plenty of photos.
Not that he would need any to remember the day. Ghioto shot 77
on his own ball, with one birdie (on the final hole) and six bogeys.
Not bad in the company of the world's best golfer, the man who
has won the past three major championships.
“For 25 years old, Tiger is a very polished young man,”
Ghioto said. “It's amazing considering what he's got going
on.
If you engaged him in conversation, he was very nice. He helped
me read a couple of putts. I'm sure he has to be a little bit
guarded. But as someone to play golf with, he was a gentleman.
“We had one of the guys in our group make a 2 on a par 4
and Tiger was giving him high-fives. He was mostly all business.
I didn't expect him to be Mr. Slap-on-the-Back. But he was very
amiable and personable.”
The round began at 6:42 a.m. because Woods stipulates that he
be in the first group during pro-ams, in part to limit the size
of the crowd that tracks his every move. Which is one of the negatives
of being Tiger.
“When he walks off a green and they make the corridor with
the ropes to the next tee, it's a solid wall of people,”
Ghioto said. “He has to walk straight ahead. I feel sorry
for him in that respect. And a lot of people just don't understand.
He can't sign all those autographs. People have things to sign
everywhere, and he can't sign that stuff. He can't stop or he'll
never get to the next tee.”
Woods couldn't hit balls before the round because of the time,
but once he got going, it was an impressive display, Ghioto said.
“When we got to No. 9, a par 5, you could tell there was
another gear,” he said. “On every par 5, he turned up
that dial a little bit. He increased his speed and didn't lose
his balance (when he swung).
“There was one shot that really impressed me. It was the
12th hole, a par-3, 185. The wind was howling right in our face,
and Tiger's caddie (Steve Williams) said to hit one low. Tiger
hit a 4-iron and the ball never got above 5 feet. If you were
standing there, it would have hit you in the chest. It never had
any tendency toward rising. It was a bullet. The wind didn't affect
it at all. He said, 'Is that low enough for you?' There were a
few of those magic moments, those exchanges, that I was able to
catch.”
Ghioto had a few moments of his own, such as the drive and 5-iron
he hit to the par-5 18th green. Woods hit a 7-iron second shot
to the green, but it was outside of Ghioto's ball. Woods helped
Ghioto line up his eagle putt, but the ball failed to drop.
Not everything could be perfect.
“We were out there for more than four hours,” Ghioto
said, “but it was like you snapped your fingers, and it was
over.”
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
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