Getty Image / Donald Miralle
While the news was breaking that Kobe Bryant, his daughter GiGi and a total of seven other people had passed away in a helicopter crash on Sunday, some of golf’s best were teeing it up at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Tiger Woods, who was a friend of Bryant’s and a lifelong Lakers fan, was one of those golfers trying to chase down the leaders on Sunday afternoon. During the broadcast, it was unclear whether or not Woods had heard of the devastating news, but after the round, he admitted that he didn’t know anything about it until his caddie, Joe LaCava, told him after the two walked off of the 18th green.
He admitted that he heard people in the gallery saying ‘do it for Mamba’ throughout the day but didn’t understand why until LaCava broke the news to him. The news began to come out about Bryant’s passing when Woods had already played a handful of holes in his round.
LaCava telling Tiger about Kobe. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/7EsIAuywKI
— Jay Rigdon (@jayrigdon5) January 26, 2020
Tiger says he didn’t know about Kobe’s death until his caddie told him walking off the 18th green. The two were buddies and Woods is a lifelong Lakers fan. https://t.co/6RF7YxITyQ
— Mark Harris (@itismarkharris) January 26, 2020
Tiger from the heart on Kobe's tragic death: "Well, life is very fragile as we all know. You can be gone at any given
time and we have to appreciate the moments that we have. I just can't imagine what his family's going through right now."— Evin Priest (@EvinPriest) January 26, 2020
Woods carded a 2-under 70 during his final-round at Torrey Pines putting him in a tie for ninth at 9-under for the tournament. Marc Leishman went on to win the Farmers Insurance Open at 15-under, besting Jon Rahm by a shot.