For a man known for serenading fans with the smooth melodies of his saxophone, Kenny G is probably the last person you’d expect to drop an F-bomb. Even more surprising? That he once directed it at Tiger Woods. But apparently, that’s exactly what happened—and, to be fair, Tiger kind of had it coming.
Let’s rewind to the 2001 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, one of the most dramatic, star-studded finishes in celebrity golf history. While Davis Love III narrowly beat Vijay Singh by one stroke in the PGA Tour portion of the event, the real excitement came from the pro-am. On one side, Tiger Woods and his friend/former Stanford teammate Jerry Chang. On the other, Kenny G and Phil Mickelson.
It seemed that Mickelson and Kenny G were on the verge of clinching the title, but both faltered on the final hole, dropping them into a tie with Woods and Chang at 34 under. As Kenny G walked off the 18th green, his flip phone rang (remember, it was 2001). To his surprise, the caller was none other than Tiger Woods.
“Kenny, it’s Tiger,” Kenny G recalled on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio. “I said, ‘How the heck did you get my number?’ He replied, ‘Hey, man, I’m sitting on my plane, about to take off, and wanted to watch the last hole. Man, you really choked, didn’t you?'”
Ouch, Tiger.
Kenny G didn’t hold back, though. “I told him, ‘Hey, Tiger, screw you!’ And then he just started laughing. He said, ‘I just wanted to say congratulations. I’m proud to share that trophy with you.’ And I told him I appreciated that.”
Classic Tiger—he can dish it out, but he can take it too.
The exchange was lighthearted, and despite the slip-up on the last hole, Kenny G had an impressive week. “When I was out of a hole, he made some clutch putts,” Mickelson said after. “He averaged two or three natural birdies per round. He’s a fundamentally solid player.”
Though Kenny’s last name is actually Gorelick, after that performance, maybe it should stand for GOLF.