Tiger Woods’ ‘idiot’ jab helps journeyman match his best PGA Tour finish

Tiger Woods, even from his sick bed a couple states south of last week’s PGA Tour event in Jackson, Miss., still exerts influence on those able-bodied enough to tee it up inside the ropes.

Just ask William McGirt, who was winless as he began his sixth tour season in October. Thanks in part to a bit of serendipitous needling a few years ago from the former world No. 1, the 36-year-old journeyman just missed taking last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship winner Peter Malnati to a playoff.

To extend the rain-delayed tournament into overtime, McGirt needed a birdie on the 72nd hole, a rather critical piece of data he might have overlooked had it not been for a chance encounter with Woods at the 2012 PGA Championship. After coming in a shot back of Malnati’s 18-under on Monday, McGirt regaled Golf Channel with a tale of how Woods upbraided him for not knowing where he stood down the stretch of the 2012 Canadian Open.

“I was telling the story on the putting green at the PGA at Kiawah [later] that year, and I told Joe LaCava [Tiger’s caddie] that I had never looked at a leaderboard on the back nine and that it was my only regret,” said McGirt about his lapse in the first event in which he was in contention. “Tiger was hitting putts and he looked straight up, and he said, ‘What?’

“He walks over and we’re basically nose to nose, and he says, ‘OK, spill the beans,’” McGirt recalled. “I told him it was basically my first time in that situation on tour and that I didn’t really want to screw it up by looking at leaderboards. So, we had a nice little conversation, and he goes, ‘You’re an idiot.’”

Needless to say, Woods’ scolding stayed with the North Carolina native, who posted his first of three tour runner-up finishes (including Monday’s) that week in Canada.

“I took that [advice] and kind of learned from it,” said McGirt, who briefly shared headlines with the 14-time major champion in Woods’ last tour event. “The few times I have been in contention since then, I’ve stared the leaderboards down. I want to know what I have to do.”

Should Tiger be looking for a new gig when his playing career comes to an end in the near future, motivational coach might be a good fit.

“I took a good, hard look at the leaderboard when I got on the green,” McGirt, perhaps with Woods’ scathing words still ringing in his ears, told reporters after Monday’s finale. “I felt like when I made the turn, I had a look at the leaderboard, I felt like 18 was probably a playoff and 19 was probably clear.”