April 10 (Reuters) – A golf ball Tiger Woods gave to a younger fan through the last spherical of his victorious 1997 Masters event has bought for $64,124, public sale home Golden Age Auctions mentioned on Sunday.
Woods bogeyed the fifth gap and handed the ball to Julian Nexsen, who was nine-years-old on the tie. Bidding for the Titleist ball, which has ‘Tiger’ stamped on it, started at $500 when Nexsen put it up for public sale on March 27, the public sale website mentioned.
Woods, then 21, gained the primary of his 15 main titles in gorgeous vogue on the 1997 Masters with a report margin of 12 strokes and have become the youngest golfer to triumph at Augusta Nationwide.
“Until Tiger himself or his caddie Fluff deliberately saved a ball from this historic last spherical (which we doubt), this can be the one confirmed golf ball from the ultimate spherical of Tiger Woods’ first main championship victory,” Golden Age Auctions mentioned.
In keeping with the auctioneers, “dozens of individuals” witnessed the second Woods handed the ball to Nexsen. It additionally featured within the Washington Instances newspaper the following day.
Nexsen has signed a authorized declaration certifying the authenticity of the golf ball and the story of his last spherical interplay with Woods.
Woods, 47, withdrew from this yr’s Masters because of harm earlier than the resumption of the third spherical, saying he had reaggravated a tissue irritation that causes ache within the heel.
In November final yr a signed Woods ball bought for a report $186,000, Heritage Auctions mentioned. Woods hit a hole-in-one with the ball on his skilled event debut in 1996.
Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Peter Rutherford
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