When Tiger Put His Best Move On A Young Johnny Football

I went in with low expectations going in and came away pleasantly surprised by by Johnny Manziel's interview with Golf Digest's Craig Bestrom.

Besides an obvious love for the game, the Cleveland Browns backup QB talked about the time he tried to get his hero Tiger Woods' autograph. Naturally, the big guy game through with an epic tale of evading the dreaded youth of America who might, I don't know, take the autograph and worship it? Sell it on ebay?

Is the story true about Tiger disappointing you by refusing an autograph request?

[Laughs.] Yeah, that happened. My dad played in a member-guest at Isleworth every year with a friend, and we'd take our family vacation to Orlando. One day I ended up playing with a bunch of kids at the house of Thurman Thomas [Pro Football Hall of Famer], of all people. I think he was friends with some of our family friends. Somehow we heard that Tiger was out playing on a nearby course [The Golden Bear Club at Keene's Pointe], so another guy and I ran out there looking for him.

Were there other people out there watching him?

No, it was a really quiet day. Tiger was playing a practice round all by himself.

How old were you?

About 9 or 10. At that time, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods were the biggest people in the sports world—in my sports world, anyway. We saw Tiger on the 16th hole and asked for his autograph, and he said to catch him right after the round. I was sitting about 100 yards from the 18th green, and he drove by in a cart and was pulling his hat really, really low. I remember him saying, "No autographs today."

Were you crushed?

I was really bitter about it for a day, but today I don't really think much of it. I'm sure there are stories about me, maybe not in the same fashion, but maybe someone has asked, "Hey, can I take a picture with you?" And I say, "Sure, I'm gonna use the restroom, and I'll be right back." Then, something comes up. If I ever run into Tiger at Nike or somewhere, it'll be a funny story.