SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods has heard just about everything over the years while playing before the biggest crowds in golf, and he tends to ignore it. Most puzzling was what he kept hearing Sunday along the back nine of the South Course at Torrey Pines.
“Do it for Mamba.”
Only after Woods finished his final round of 2-under-par 70 to tie for ninth in the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open did he realize what it meant. His caddie, Joe LaCava, told him as they walked to the scoring room that former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash.
Woods could be heard replying, “Excuse me?”
Such was the shock for Woods that he made a rare detour from his two media stops to sign autographs, presumably to collect his thoughts. Woods typically signs after he is done with his interviews.