Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas look set to smash the record price paid for a Tiger Woods signed golf ball with bids currently at $35,000 against an estimate of $50,000.
The ball is the one used by Tiger to score his first hole in one at a professional competition at the 1996 Great Milwaukee Open.
Tiger hit his hole in one using his 6 iron on the 188 yard par 3 14th hole, in the final round, on his way to finishing in a tied 60th place.
The Titleist 1 ball has been signed by Tiger in black sharpie and is being sold with a notarized letter of provenance provided by the vendor Bob Gustin.
"On September 1st, 1996, I attended the Greater Milwaukee Open golf tournament along with my fiancé Nancy Bolman, at that time, now my wife of 25 years, my wife's sister Diane Beck and her husband David Beck. We brought lawn chairs and set up behind the par 3 14th hole.
"Later in the day, Tiger Woods came to the tee box and hit a six iron into the hole for a 'hole in one.' When Tiger arrived at the green and pulled the ball from the hole, my brother-in-law, David Beck, yelled out to Tiger 'throw the ball out,' which he promptly did and right at us. Dave grabbed for the ball but it bounced off his hand and right into my lap.
"Being an avid collector, I wanted to try and get Tiger to sign the ball. I found a staff member that was able to get the ball to Tom Strong, the tournament director, who was able to get Tiger to sign the ball for me. I also saved the video from the evening news on a VCR tape. That video is still available online at PGA TOUR Video Tiger Woods hole in one 1996."
Tiger's fist competition is reaching mythical status as Heritage have previously sold a ticket to the 1996 Great Milwaukee Open for $99,000 in February 2022.
A ticket!
Regular readers will know we've been promoting Tiger Woods memorabilia for some time. In October 2022 we highlighted that global search interest in Tiger was +82% over the previous three months and +172% year-on-year, with his autograph up 26.67% in value.
Further reading:
Tiger Woods golf memorabilia stars at auction
Tiger Woods' Scotty Cameron golf putter sells for $393,300
Tiger Woods golf memorabilia breaks records at auction
The world's most valuable autographs October 2022
About your Author:
Adrian Roose has over 30 years’ experience covering all aspects of the rare stamp & memorabilia industry during which he has sold over £50m of unique items, helping build collections for Royalty, household name celebrities and 1,000s of collectors around the world.
Adrian was previously a Director at Stanley Gibbons, a Board Member of Stampex, and Executive Director of Paul Fraser Collectibles, PFC Auctions and JustCollecting, prior to founding The Memorabilia Club.