FINAL WORD Scolded by Oprah How a poor Masters prediction incurred the wrath of TV’s most popular daytime talk show host BY ED SHERMAN T he annual playing of the Masters always brings back memories. Few are more indeli-ble than when you make that first trip to Augusta National, taking that initial breathtaking view of golf’s sacred ground. I also have unforgettable memories of my first Masters, but not in the way you would think. My first trek led to an all-time career embarrassing moment with the worst prediction in the history of sports. Then it all was climaxed by being called out by Oprah. Is that enough of a hook to get you to read on? While everyone hopes Tiger Woods recovers from his Feb. 23 car accident so that he might add more chapters to his incredible story, nobody will ever forget what he did at the 1997 Masters. It also was my first Masters as the Chicago Tribune’s new golf writer. The build-up was all about Tiger Woods. After turning pro the previous August, he immediately dominated, creating a media frenzy. Golf quickly became all Tiger, all the time. Just minutes before air, the door swung open, and in walked Oprah . And she immediately got in my face. Well, I took it upon myself to turn down the Tiger hype machine. My first golf story was an analysis piece on why Woods wasn’t going to win the upcom-ing Masters. I actually thought I made a pretty good case. The 21-year-old failed to make the cut in his first two Masters, which he played as an amateur. He hadn’t contended in a tournament in nearly two months. And no less than that year’s defending champ, Nick Faldo, insisted it took him six or seven years to figure out Augusta. “There’s a learning curve,” said the three-time Masters winner. Nope, I predicted, Tiger wasn’t going to win in his first Masters as a pro. There was so much mania about Woods, the sports editor decided to run my “lower-the-expecta-tions” forecast as the main story on page 1 of that day’s sports section with this banner headline: Tiger Won’t Tame Augusta . It was the worst headline in the Tribune since Dewey Defeats Truman . With the story getting major play, I was way out on the ledge of possible humiliation. However, I 72 | CHICAGO DISTRICT GOLFER | APRIL 2021 quickly felt vindicated when Woods opened his first round with a bumbling 4-over par 40 on the front nine. When he hit his tee shot over the green at the par-3 12th, he was looking at another bogey. And then Woods does what he does: chipped in for a birdie. “Uh oh,” I thought. Revitalized, Woods started his assault on Augusta National, and my prediction for that matter. He played the back nine in a 6-under 30 to finish with an opening 70. Then he spent the next three days put-ting on a display never before seen at the Masters. Woods didn’t just tame Augusta, he tranquilized it. Woods shot a record 18-under, winning by 12 shots, if only, it seemed, to reinforce my dumbness. As my hero Maxwell Smart, the bumbling TV secret agent, would say, “Missed it by that much.” In the days before widespread email, the voice-mail messages were constant through the weekend, with my newfound critics taking great delight in seeing a golf writer doing the equivalent of hitting six straight drives OB. The jabs mostly were stinging, but not malicious. One political writer even used me as an example, writing he was “another Ed Sherman” because of some of his wrong predictions about Bill Clinton. I did a little spin control with a Monday mea culpa column that took some of the pressure off, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy one person. A few days after his historic victory, Woods and his father Earl came to Chicago to appear on Oprah Winfrey’s show. I was invited to report about the show while watching in the control room. Just minutes before air, the door swung open, and in walked Oprah. And she immediately got in my face. “I want to meet the guy who said Tiger wouldn’t win the Masters,” she shrieked. “I bet you’re eating some crow.” In every way possible, I replied. Then I got some national publicity when she told Woods about our encounter on the show. To this day, 24 years later, I still get reminded about my ill-fated prediction. But I would write the same thing if I had to do it again. I mean, it made for a great story about my first Masters. How many sportswriters get dissed by Oprah? ● Ed Sherman , a former golf writer at the Chicago Tribune , is a frequent contributor to Chicago District Golfer .
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