Tiger Woods is known to be one of the best golfers, if not the greatest golfer of all time, and is credited for bringing golf into the spotlight. His rise in golf is well documented, but so is his fall, due to a lot of scandals involving cheating and his DUI accident. Like anyone, that has a huge effect on your personal life and many of Tiger’s friends stuck by his side and helped him get through one of the most challenging parts of his life. But at the same time, Tiger decided to stay away from a few of his friends. Some big-name sports stars are no longer getting calls from Tiger, or even have his number.
As should be expected, golfers make up a good portion of Tiger’s friend list, and a few on his stay away. He has some friendly rivalries and some not so friendly ones. But overall, it looks like Tiger has maintained friendships through all the scandal, and is well on his way back to his superstar form.
15 Friends: Rickie Fowler
Tiger Woods recently said that Rickie Fowler has become his really great friend recently. In fact, along with Justin Thomas, Woods credits Fowler as someone who was crucial to his comeback. They live near each other in Jupiter Island, Florida, and they go to each other’s house and practice wedge shots together.
14 Friends: Mark O’Meara
Tiger Woods’ best friend on the PGA might still be Mark O’Meara. The two are very close and Tiger woods shares a lot of his secrets with Mark. Mark even joked that if people thought his ex-coaches book was bad, his would be so much worse. But of course, he would never betray his friend and release those details.
13 Stay Away: Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is another golfer who has a strong rivalry with Tiger Woods. And Rory has even come out and said he doesn’t have any close friends on tour. Maybe it’s best not to get close to people on tour, especially those who are your biggest rivals like Tiger Woods would be for him.
12 Friends: Arjun Atwal
Arjun Atwal is another unknown to many, but he’s another close friend of Tiger Woods, consider that they are neighbors in Florida and often practice together. Atwal has said he picks Tiger’s brain as much as he can to get tips, and Tiger turns to him for advice as well, showing that sometimes your best friend is the guy you share a property line with.
11 Friends: Phil Mickelson
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are great rivals on the course, and their rivalry has had some historic battles. But they still remain close friends and have said they get along with each other, especially in the team events like the Ryder Cup. There was some heat between the two, but that has all been put aside now.
10 Stay Away: Michael Jordan
Another victim of the Tiger Woods scandal was his good friend Michael Jordan. Like Barkley, Jordan and Woods used to golf a lot together, but once the scandal broke, Woods cut ties with the greatest basketball player of all time and didn’t extend his new number to him. He probably was way too embarrassed.
9 Friends: Justin Thomas
Justin Thomas has a lot of experience playing alongside Tiger Woods on the PGA and while they don’t do a lot of talking on the course, they remain close friends off it. Thomas has said when he is on the course with Tiger, they are quiet because there is a lot of people around.
8 Friends: Steve Stricker
Golfer Steve Stricker is one of Tiger Woods’ best friends and closest people he can talk to, as he knows what winning and pressure is like on tour. Stricker and Woods talk a lot about the short game of golf, as they share putting tips and spent hours together on the putting green. And both were recently named vice-captains of the 2018 Ryder Cup team.
7 Stay Away: Sergio Garcia
Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods had a strong feud on the PGA tour, so it should be no surprise they aren’t friends. From calling each other names in the media to Garcia making racist suggestions, it sparked a lot of interest in golf as the two played off against each other many times on Sundays.
6 Friends: Tony Romo
Tony Romo has Tiger Woods to thank for one thing, his golf club set. That’s because the world's best golfer gave Tony Romo his old clubs. To think the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback needed hand-me-downs, but when they are coming from Tiger Woods, you take them hoping a little of his magic is still in them
5 Stay Away: Roger Federer
Tennis star Roger Federer used to be close friends with Tiger Woods, but said in 2018 that he no longer speaks to Tiger, but when Tiger went through some of his personal issues, he changed his number and never reached out to Roger. Woods was dropped from the Gillette commercials where they met, so communication hasn’t been great.
4 Friends: Kobe Bryant
Before Kobe Bryant’s death, he and Tiger Woods remained very close friends. They both know what it’s like to be in the spotlight, and have gone through their own personal scandal that nearly shattered their personal and professional life. Tiger was heartbroken when he found out one of his best friends passed away.
3 Stay Away: Charles Barkley
Tiger Woods used to play rounds golf with his good friend Charles Barkley all the time, trying to help improve his terrible swing. But after Tiger went through his issues in 2009, he stopped checking in and playing with Barkley, and hasn’t reached out to him. Barkley hasn’t spoken to him since before the accident.
2 Friends: Fred Couples
Despite everything that has happened to Woods in his lifetime, Fred Couples has stood by his side. It seems to be a common theme for Woods, who hangs on to people older than him. They still take in a few practice rounds together and Tiger is even using Couple’s former caddie Joey LaCava.
1 Friends: Notah Begay III
Some might be asking who is Notah Begay III. He’s one of the Tiger Woods’ longest best friends. The two were teammates at Standford. They were roommates at college and while Woods definitely was better than him on the pro tour, Begay has come to Tiger’s defence over every scandal and is backing up his friend.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErZ%2Bippeoe6S7zGhoaWWRqbWtsdOeqmasmZyys3nWqKadq12ewG6y0aKcp5yjYsSqwMdmbGaglWLAta3YrGSar5Gueqe%2BzqZm