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It’s safe to assume there are some collectors who would pay a pretty penny for the golf ball Tiger Woods used to win The Masters for the first time, and while we know who ultimately ended up with that piece of history, its whereabouts seem to be a bit of a mystery.
Tiger Woods didn’t waste much time living up to the hype surrounding him when he joined the PGA Tour in 1996. It only took him five tournaments to secure his first victory and he had three wins under his belt by the time he arrived at Augusta National the following year to compete in The Masters for the first time as a pro.
If there were any doubts he had what it takes to compete with the best golfers on the planet prior to that point, he firmly put them to rest by setting a tournament record that stood until 2020 by shooting -18 and beating the closest competitor by 12 strokes at the age of 21.
In 2023, one of the balls Tiger used during the final round fetched more than $64,000 at auction, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest the one that rolled into the cup to cap things off on the 18th hole would go for much, much more.
What happened to that ball? Well, based on what billionaire banker Warren Stephens had to say during an interview with Golf Journal, it ended up in the possession of his son—although he’s not super confident about its current whereabouts.
Stephens is the son of Jackson T. Stephens, who was serving as the chairman at Augusta National when Tiger secured his first green jacket.
Warren’s eldest son not only had a front-row seat to the action but crossed paths with Woods and the wake of the victory and apparently got to snag a piece of golf history based on what his dad had to say about what transpired when the champion was heading to the tent where he signed his scorecard:
“Either Tiger or Fluff [caddie Mike Cowan] gave the ball to our son. Now, the million-dollar question is where is it? I’m not 100% sure. I think we’ve still got it somewhere. It’s probably in our house somewhere.”
Most people would probably be pretty stressed about misplacing a piece of history that could literally be worth at least a million dollars, but the value is probably the last thing on Stephens’ mind when you consider he has an estimated net worth of over $3 billion.