Even the incomparable Tiger Woods couldn’t go through an entire tournament at The Honors Course without some sort of train wreck.
The Stanford sophomore made a legendary triple-bogey seven on the par-4 ninth hole during the final round of the 1996 NCAA championship. He shot an 8-over 80 that day.
He still won handily.
Woods shot a 3-under 285 over four rounds back in 1996. Rory Sabbatini finished second and four shots back.
“To this day you see his competitiveness with Rory, and I think that was the case back then too,” said Stanford coach Conrad Ray, who tied for 73rd while playing for the Cardinal in 1996. “Tiger played so well the first three days and we were fortunate. We rode him like a mule.”
The 2010 crop of college golfers will get their first taste of The Honors Course this morning during a shotgun start at 9 a.m. for their practice rounds.
The competition begins Tuesday with the first of three stroke-play rounds before the field is cut to eight for match-play over the weekend.
Follow this link to a hole-by-hole preview of The Honors Course
“What I recall is a course that did not give up birdies,” said Arizona State coach Randy Lein whose Sun Devils captured the team crown in 1996. “For all the NCAAs, The Honors Course proved to be the most challenging and the most difficult, but in a fair way. It’s just a great test of golf.”
Arizona State beat UNLV by three strokes with Darren Angel leading the way with a 3-over-par tournament. East Tennessee State was third, followed by Stanford then Arizona.
“I was talking to the guys yesterday and I told them about how Scott Van Pelt — he was a rookie for the Golf Channel back then — and he was doing all the interviews that year,” Lein said. “I remember the final round and how we finished with UNLV, and as we got close to the end, UNLV was making birdies and it got real close.”
Woods’ 80 added some interest to the medalist race. On No. 9, he missed the green to the right and faced a delicate chip on the green with Lake Lupton just on the other side. He hit it too hard and his ball rolled into the water for a triple-bogey. He followed with four straight bogeys.
“I’m exhausted right now,” Woods said back then. “That took a lot out of me. People will never know how much it took out of me. I had to dig really deep, give all I had.”
Similar disasters awaits at The Honors.
“This will be my second NCAAs there and I remember a few things,” said Texas coach John Fields, who coached at New Mexico in 1996. “I remember how great the course was, that my team never broke 300 and we finished sixth (and) that Tiger shot three rounds in the 60s, then 80 and still won.
“Mr. (Jack) Lupton rolled out the red carpet for the national championship. It’s not always like that, but it was at The Honors Course.”