Remember those Tiger Woods clubs that were on sale on eBay some months back? Well, they are back, this time with a lot more creditability that they are in fact Woods’ clubs.
GreenJacketAuctions.com is offering the purported irons Woods used to sweep the majors in 2000 and 2001 in an online auction that ends Sept. 11 at 8:00 p.m. EST. With a current bid of $1,100, the price is far from the $250,000 that the irons were fetching in the spring.
However, we now know a lot more about the irons and the man offering them for sale.
Steve Mata, the former Titleist VP, was a fixture on PGA Tour driving ranges during the early-to-mid-2000s. He would have been the man that dealt with Woods when he played Titleist irons during the Tiger Slam.
At the time the irons were up for sale on eBay, Woods was unclear if they were his irons or not, but he was clear on one thing.
“He (Mata) may have my set of irons, but they’re not from those tournaments. They’re in my garage,” Woods said in May. “I don’t know where they’re from, but the sets that I won all four major championships with, they’re in my house.”
Mata has taken a lie detector test and claims that the irons in question are the actual irons used for the Tiger Slam. He has also signed an affidavit under oath attesting to the authenticity of the irons.
The lot for sale consists of the following:
Irons
• Each club is stamped with a “T”
• No serial number exists on these custom irons
• Lofts: most clubs are approximately 2 degrees weak (e.g. 2-iron is 21 degrees)
• Shaft: Dynamic Golf X100
• Lie: approximately 1 degree upright
• Swingweight: D4
• Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Wedges
• Each hand-stamped “TIGER”
• Vokey 258-08: 58 degrees with 8 degrees of bounce on the sole, bent to 56 degrees and hand-stamped “56º”
• Vokey 260-06 (60 degrees loft with 6 degrees of bounce)
• Shaft: Dynamic Golf S400
• Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
To further support their claim, GreenJacketAuctions.com is using a Sept. 16, 2000 Golfweek article about the clubs and a statement from PGA Tour player Greg Kraft that supports Mata’s assertion.
“It’s sad Tiger is not on board with Steve (Mata),” Kraft said. "There was a time they were very tight, which is why he gave him those irons. I was not visually there when he gave them to him but remember it well. I was in awe knowing how much they would be worth if ever sold...I remember talking about it. So I do remember most of the facts and do trust Steve Mata. I would have to think that after all Tiger has been through he is confused and doesn’t remember. It would be easy to sort out if they talked. The one thing I do know is that Steve Mata would not lie.”
Coincidentally, the action closes after the third round of the BMW Championship, an event Woods may not play.
