The Legend of Tiger Continues to Grow

In 1995, Casey Martin, Notah Begay, and Conrad Ray were teammates with Tiger Woods at the University of Stanford.  Tiger’s success and domination during his college days have been well-documented.  He won eleven of thirteen tournaments in the two years he attended school, including his first ever tournament in ’94 as a Freshman.

On a conference call previewing this year’s NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, a new story emerged, one that doesn’t have Tiger winning the tournament, but still adding to the legend that is Tiger Woods.

 
According to his three teammates, in 1995, Albuquerque, New Mexico was hosting the NCAA Regionals.  Notah, a native of the town, took the team to his favorite BBQ restaurant the night before the tournament.

That night, things took a turn for the worse.  Martin recalls he and Tiger, who were rooming together, “throwing up all night.”

Notah describes seeing them that night as “on death’s door practically.”  He also told the two that one of them was going to have to play tomorrow or the NCAA defending champions would suffer an early exit due to forfeit.

Tiger would show up the next day and shoot an even-par 72.  Including one hole in which he would back-off from his shot, vomit, and ultimately par the hole.  After the round, both Woods and Martin were sent to the ER for IV treatments.

The funniest part of the story is the fact that Conrad Ray, who is now the Stanford Men’s Golf Team Head Coach, was also a Freshman at Stanford at the time and was the team’s alternate.  When he asked then coach Wally Goodwin why the coach didn’t fly him in to compete as a sub, the coach replied, “I’d rather have Tiger sick as a dog than tag you in.”  Harsh, Coach Goodwin.  But also probably the right call.

Cover Photo via Flickr