Varner III Reveals Woods Sent A Note To His Dying Friend
The 31-year old explains the very personal reason why Tiger Woods' 2019 Masters victory was special for him


Harold Varner III has revealed that Tiger Woods sent a message to his dying friend just before he won the 2019 Masters.
Initially, Varner III had been asked what he recalls of Woods’ 1997 Masters win, to which the American responded: “Great question. It's 25 years. I remember nothing. I wasn't watching it. I was 6 years old. You know, I just wasn't watching at the time.” However, even though the 31-year-old has no recollection of Woods’ first ever Masters victory, he’s unlikely to forget his last Augusta National win – and not just because of what happened on the course.
“I tell everyone the most important one that I've ever seen that I watched and I didn't even watch all of it was 2019. Just because my best friend - he sent a note to my best friend the Wednesday before, and he was dying, and my really good friend basically said he was going to win on his birthday, and Sunday was his birthday, and, yeah, it was nuts. That's the most important one to me.”
Varner III went on to explain why he thinks Woods, who will play in The Masters as he returns from injury following a car accident, is the greatest of all time. He said: “Obviously, race plays a part of it, but at the end of the day he is one of the best players, and I've always thought that. I've always thought he was the best player ever.”
While 46-year-old Woods is a veteran of The Masters with five victories, 2022 marks the first time Varner III competes in the tournament. Varner III has never won a Major, but the World No.40 enters the tournament having made an encouraging start to 2022. He won February’s PIF Saudi International and finished tied for sixth in the unofficial fifth Major, The Players Championship, last month. Most recently, he finished tied for 18th at the WGC-Match Play.
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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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