19th Hole
Tiger’s 1997 Masters ball fetches monstrous sum at auction

Tiger Woods may have limped out of this years Masters, but golf memorabilia collectors still want a piece of the 15-time major champion.
In 1997, when still addressed by the media guide as Eldrick Woods, the then 21-year-old broke all records when becoming the tournament’s youngest champion and setting a record margin, coming home 12 strokes clear of Tom Kite.
After a bogey on the fifth hole – his first in over 36 holes – Tiger handed his Titleist #1 to then 9-year-old Julian Nexsen, who subsequently had the ball and associated items auctioned earlier this month. The lot, auctioned by Golden Age Auctions, saw the hammer come down at $64,124.40.

Photo courtesy of Golden Age Auctions
The auction site declared that Lot#5 of its Masters Week Auction came with “impeccable provenance,” claiming that, “unless Tiger himself or his caddie Fluff intentionally saved a ball from this historic final round (which we doubt), this may be the only confirmed golf ball from the final round of Tiger Woods’ first Major Championship victory.”
The victory, the first of five green jackets for the great man, was of more significance than even the stunning winning margin. It represented not only a higher level of golf than we had witnessed before, forced Augusta to look at Tiger-proofing the course and also had a huge social significance, encouraging many to take up the sport that may not have done so otherwise.
Golden Age Auctions explained how the ball came into the possession of the young fan.
“Our consignor, Julian Nexsen, was 9 years old in 1997. The Greenville, SC native was attending the 1997 Masters with his father and some family friends. They were stationed between the 5th green and 6th tee box as Tiger Woods was walking by during his final round. Tiger had just bogeyed the 5th hole – his first bogey in over 36 holes. As he walked to the 6th tee box, Tiger handed the young Julian Nexsen his golf ball – presumably retiring the one he just used to bogey hole #5.
The young boy was elated – Tiger Woods had just handed him a golf ball. Dozens of people witnessed Tiger Woods hand that golf ball to Julian Nexsen, including a reporter from the Washington Times. That reporter, Barker Davis, immediately came over and spoke to Julian Nexsen and his father. The next day, The Washington Times front page featured an article titled, “Tiger Woods completes rout at Masters”. In that article, Davis states:
After making his first bogey in 36 holes yesterday, Woods stopped on his way to the sixth tee to give a ball to 9-year-old Julian Nexsen of Greenville, S.C.”
“That reporter sent the young Nexsen a copy of that Washington Times newspaper, which his parents then shadow box framed with the Tiger Woods golf ball, his badge from the 1997 Masters Tournament, and a couple pairings sheets from the Sunday Final Round.
These items have been framed together ever since.
Adding to the provenance, the now 35-year-old Nexsen has graciously signed a legal Declaration in which he certifies under penalties of perjury as to the authenticity of this Tiger Woods 1997 Masters golf ball and the story of that Final Round interaction with Tiger Woods.”
In 2022, the auctions site attracted bids of over $5 million for a set of Tiger’s Grand Slam clubs and over $140k for a red shirt he wore during his 2010 Masters, his comeback tournament after several months away from the game and said by the auction company to be the “only Sunday red from a Masters Tournament that has been auctioned.”
Despite appearing in just five official tournaments since and including the 2022 Masters, and even with a best finish of tied-45th at Riviera, Tiger remains the one player that automatically moves every needle in the sport. That is the stuff of legend.
More from the 19th Hole
- Viktor Hovland appeared to send a message to ‘brutally slow’ Patrick Cantlay during Masters final round
- ‘They should be ashamed’ – LIV pro rips Augusta National for handling of ex-champ’s retirement moment
- Jason Day reveals the shocking extent of Tiger’s injury at 2022 PGA Championship
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.