Tiger Woods collectables are as coveted as ever these days as evidenced by a set of irons he used during his historic 2000 season recently fetching $5.15 million, a record for golf memorabilia. And striking while the iron(s) is hot, another man just cashed in on Tiger’s name. Literally.
The cool story comes from Wisconsin.Golf’s Gary D’Amato, who wrote about the recent windfall for a Wisconsin man named Scott Mohr. You should read Gary’s story, but essentially, Scott was the marshal chairman at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open, and a decision he made at the end of that eventful week wound up banking big more than a quarter century later.
As golf fans are well aware, that was the tournament where Tiger Woods made his PGA Tour debut just days after winning a third consecutive U.S. Amateur title and turning pro. You know, “Hello, World” (see above photo). Woods only finished T-60 that week, but he made a hole-in-one and ushered in a new era in golf.
Mohr told D’Amato that as he drove away from Brown Deer Park Golf Course that Sunday night, he noticed the handwritten scoreboard by the clubhouse and took a section that had Woods’ name on it. Have a look:
Since then it has hung as a cool keepsake in Mohr’s basement rec room, but when he heard about a ticket from that event selling for $37,200, he reached out to Heritage Auctions. Another smart move.
On Sunday, Scott went to bed thinking this prized possession was only going to fetch $16,500. But apparently something called “extended bidding” happened after he went to sleep.
“When I went on the website [the next] morning, I called [wife] Nancy from the other room and said, ‘You might want to look at this,’” Mohr said. “She looks at it and blinks and goes, ‘What? WHAT?’”
So what was the WHAT exactly? Try $69,000. Yep, 69 THOUSAND dollars. For a section of thick-stock paper with some writing on it. Albeit some nice writing. Those calligraphers do a great job.
Who would pay so much for such a thing? Maybe Duffy Waldorf or Richard Zokol wanted proof to show people they beat Tiger Woods once upon a time?
Regardless, while Heritage Auctions gets a cut of that winning bid, that’s a sweet payday for Scott. Of course, Scott is also giving up a sweet souvenir in the process.