Welcome to “The Big Three-Oh!” I’m turning 30 at the end of July and to celebrate, I am counting down my best/favorite sports moments in my lifetime. If you missed the kickoff post, check it out for the background for the series. Today I’m talk about one of the most notable accomplishments from a single athlete in my lifetime. The first Tiger Woods entry on this list, The Tiger Slam.
#16 — The Tiger Slam
Weirdly enough, there are not too many YouTube Videos on the Tiger Slam itself. The reason is likely because of the recent Golf Channel doc, but I thought maybe there would have been more out there. Plenty of videos on the 1997 Masters, the famous chip-in 2005, and obviously, the 2019 Masters, but this 2001 featurette will have to do.
My love golf has clearly been shown to you all throughout the years and especially with the 2016 Ryder Cup entry earlier on the list. As a kid, most members of my family played golf, mini-golf was awesome, Mario Golf was one of my favorite games but I have one person to thank for my obsession: Tiger Woods. I’m sure my parents would have enrolled me in the Friday afternoon golf clinic they sent me to at Gulph Mills but Tiger Woods made golf cool. That goes without saying as Tiger’s impact on golf is still felt today but for a kid in the 90s, there wasn’t a less impressionable audience.
By the time the Tiger Slam came around, I only wanted to know one thing: how was Tiger doing. It’s pretty remarkable how often I’d watch golf with my family hoping just to see Woods on TV. The Tiger Slam itself was monumental to my golf, specifically the 2001 Masters. I remember being glued to the TV that weekend to see how Tiger did and to understand to weight this moment was carrying was incredible to discover as a 10-year-old.
There are plenty of other Tiger moments that could’ve made this list and there will be more so I don’t want to steal the spotlight from those or give them away, for that matter. This feat being on the list should speak for itself but it definitely deserves a spot in the middle of the list. Future entries will continue to get more personal, including the other Tiger moments.
Today’s Instagram Athlete
Nine years ago to count down the days until my 21st birthday, I posted a picture of athletes wearing the cooresponding number of day left to Facebook. While I did not have an Instagram account back in 2011, I have one now so I’ll be revisiting this idea in conjuncture with Top 30 Sports Moments. FOLLOW MY INSTAGRAM SO YOU DON’T MISS IT
Bobby Clarke nabs this spot again. 16 is a weird number to pick from because not too athletes wear it in Philadelphia. The Flyers have had it retired for Clarke, the Sixers have had a bunch of process players wear it, and most recently Bryce Treggs and Cesar Hernandez both wore it for the Birds and Phillies, respectively. I could’ve picked Joe Montana but I went for the more selfish pick. Clarke was captain of the two Stanley Cup-winning Flyers teams, eventually GM of the team (to mixed results), and still maintains a solid relationship with the fans.
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