Tiger Woods 'Tiger Slam' Irons

The tools of the most dominant run in golf

Between June 2000 and April 2001 Tiger Woods won four major championships in a row: the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the Open Championship at St Andrews, the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the Masters at Augusta National. Because the wins spanned two calendar years it was not a Grand Slam in the strict sense, and it became known instead as the Tiger Slam. Woods is the only player to have held all four modern major titles at the same time.

The clubs at the center of this page are the irons and wedges said to have done that work: a set of Titleist 681-T forged irons running from the 2-iron to the pitching wedge, plus two Vokey wedges stamped 'Tiger.' Eleven clubs in all. Woods had signed with Titleist and Nike when he turned professional in August 1996, deals described at the time as the richest endorsement contracts in golf.

According to the account given by the two Titleist representatives who received them, Woods kept playing this set until 2001, about seven weeks after the Masters, when he took a fresh set at a tournament pro-am. In 2002 he switched to Nike clubs.

The handoff at the tour van

In 2001 Rick Nelson and Steve Mata, who handled player promotions for Titleist, delivered a new set of 681-T irons and Vokey wedges to Woods. Nelson took Woods' old irons and wedges to the Titleist tour van to confirm that the new clubs matched the specifications of his gamers. Once the specs checked out, Woods gave the old set to Nelson and Mata.

Published accounts place the handoff at a Wednesday tournament pro-am in 2001, but they do not agree on which one: the same magazine has named both the Buick Open and Westchester Country Club. Sources give Mata different titles, from vice president of player promotions to director of tour operations. Mata kept the clubs at home for nearly a decade.

Mata grew up in Carlsbad, California, the center of American club making, and worked more than 20 years in the golf industry, first with TaylorMade and then Titleist. He lost his Titleist job around 2008, and in September 2010 he told a reporter he needed to find work. That month he sold the clubs.

Four majors, ten months

The run began at the 100th U.S. Open, June 15-18, 2000, at Pebble Beach. Woods shot 65-69-71-67 for 12 under par and won by 15 strokes over Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez, still the largest winning margin in major championship history. He was the only player at par or better and the first in the championship's history to finish in double digits under par. In the second round he ripped an iron from deep rough over the ocean and a cypress tree at the par-5 6th, reaching the green in two.

A month later, at the Old Course in St Andrews, he shot 67-66-67-69 for 19 under and won the Open Championship by eight. At 24 he became the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam, and his 19-under total stood as the lowest score in relation to par in any major for 15 years.

At Valhalla in August he and Bob May both finished at 18 under. Woods holed a five-footer on the 72nd green to force a three-hole playoff, then won it to become the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year. At the Masters in April 2001 he shot 70-66-68-68 for 16 under and beat David Duval by two to hold all four titles at once. The winner's share at Augusta that year, $1,008,000, was the first seven-figure prize at a major.

From $57,242 to $5.16 million

Mata put the set up for sale in 2010, asking $250,000. Soon after the listing went live, Woods said the clubs were not what Mata claimed: he had used two different sets during the Slam, he said, and both were at his home. Mata signed a sworn affidavit and took a polygraph test, which he passed, and touring pro Greg Kraft publicly backed his account that Woods had given the clubs away. On September 12, 2010, the sale was announced at $57,242.40, far below the asking price.

The buyer was Todd Brock, a Houston private equity investor and self-described Tiger Woods superfan. He hung the clubs in a frame in his office and told no one he owned them for 12 years. 'It's like a Rembrandt, where somebody takes it to their castle and it's never seen again,' he said later.

In March 2022 the set returned to auction with an opening bid of $25,000 and added provenance: Mata's affidavit and polygraph results, a 2020 declaration from Nelson corroborating the handoff, and a September 2000 magazine article listing the exact specs of the clubs Woods used to win the 2000 PGA Championship. The clubs were also photo-matched. With 17 days left, bidding stood at $67,843. Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, again said the clubs were not legitimate.

Bidding closed late on Saturday, April 9, 2022, during the Masters, at $5,156,162.40. It was Woods' first tournament in more than 500 days. The price was more than seven times the previous record for golf memorabilia, $682,000 for Horton Smith's green jacket from the first Masters, sold in 2013. Brock said the proceeds would go to his foundation.

How the set is identified

The set is eleven clubs: Titleist 681-T forged irons from 2-iron through pitching wedge and two Vokey wedges stamped 'Tiger.' The strongest physical detail is the 58-degree Vokey bent to 56 degrees, a tweak Woods made during his Titleist years that matches the specifications published in a September 2000 magazine article on his PGA Championship clubs.

Wear is the other tell. The faces show a tight, centered wear pattern, most visibly on the 8-iron, the kind of mark left by a player who strikes the ball in nearly the same spot every time.

The provenance rests on the testimony of the two Titleist representatives, Mata's polygraph, Nelson's 2020 declaration and the photo matching. Against it stands Woods' 2010 statement that both of his Slam sets remained at his home and his agent's denial in 2022. No source resolves the dispute, and this page does not attempt to.

The numbers

2000 U.S. Open, Pebble Beach

65-69-71-67 = 272, 12 under. Won by 15 strokes. Winner's share $800,000.

2000 Open Championship, St Andrews

67-66-67-69 = 269, 19 under. Won by 8 strokes. Winner's share £500,000.

2000 PGA Championship, Valhalla

66-67-70-67 = 270, 18 under. Won a three-hole playoff over Bob May (3-4-5). Winner's share $900,000.

2001 Masters, Augusta National

70-66-68-68 = 272, 16 under. Won by 2 strokes. Winner's share $1,008,000.

Combined

Four consecutive major wins, 65 under par across 16 rounds.

Timeline

1. Dec 30, 1975

   Eldrick 'Tiger' Woods is born in Cypress, California.

2. Aug 1996

   Woods turns professional and signs endorsement deals with Nike and Titleist.

3. Jun 18, 2000

   Woods wins the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by 15 strokes at 12 under par.

4. Jul 23, 2000

   Woods wins the Open Championship at St Andrews by eight at 19 under, completing the career Grand Slam at 24.

5. Aug 20, 2000

   Woods beats Bob May in a three-hole playoff to win the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

6. Sep 2000

   A golf magazine publishes the specifications of the clubs Woods used to win the PGA Championship, including a 58-degree wedge bent to 56.

7. Apr 8, 2001

   Woods wins the Masters by two over David Duval, holding all four major titles at once.

8. 2001

   About seven weeks after the Masters, Woods takes a new set and gives the old irons and wedges to Titleist's Rick Nelson and Steve Mata.

9. 2002

   Woods switches to Nike clubs.

10. 2010

    Mata offers the clubs for sale, asking $250,000; Woods says both of his Slam sets are at his home.

11. Sep 12, 2010

    The sale is announced at $57,242.40; the buyer, Houston investor Todd Brock, is not named at the time.

12. 2013

    Horton Smith's green jacket from the first Masters sells for $682,000, a record for golf memorabilia.

13. 2020

    Rick Nelson signs a declaration corroborating the handoff of the clubs.

14. Mar 23, 2022

    The set returns to auction with a $25,000 opening bid.

15. Apr 9, 2022

    Bidding closes at $5,156,162.40 during the Masters, Woods' first tournament in more than 500 days.

The world in 2000

• Jun 26, 2000

  A first draft of the human genome is announced at the White House.

• Jul 11, 2000

  A Camp David summit between Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat begins; it ends without an agreement.

• Aug 8, 2000

  The Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley is raised after 136 years on the ocean floor.

• Sep 15, 2000

  The Sydney Summer Olympics open.

• Oct 12, 2000

  The USS Cole is bombed in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 crew members.

• Dec 12, 2000

  The Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore ends the Florida recount.

• Jan 20, 2001

  George W. Bush is inaugurated as president.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Tiger Woods 'Tiger Slam' Irons is number 16 of 100 in the memorabilia entries of the FLOAT 100. 100 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (12 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The set first sold for $57,242.40 in 2010, after the seller had been asking $250,000.
• To back his story, the original owner took a polygraph test, and passed.
• The man who bought the set in 2010 kept the clubs framed in his office for 12 years and told no one he owned them.
• The 2022 price was more than seven times the previous golf memorabilia record, set by a green jacket from the first Masters.
• Woods' 15-stroke win at the 2000 U.S. Open remains the largest margin in major championship history.
• The 2001 Masters was the first major to pay its winner more than $1 million.