The Loop
Throwback Thursday: Tiger Woods and two Las Vegas showgirls?
By Alex Myers
We don't expect to see golf history to be made at this week's Shriners Hospitals For Children Open, but 17 years ago in Las Vegas, that's exactly what we got.
Under a different name -- the Las Vegas Invitational -- the event was the stage for Tiger Woods' first professional win in just his fifth start on the PGA Tour. Then 20, Woods shot a final-round 64, beat Davis Love III in a playoff and posed with two Vegas showgirls at the trophy ceremony (left). Little did we know how fitting that image would be.
Seventeen years later, Woods has continued to win at a prodigious clip. And of course, he was linked to Vegas and scantily-clad girls a lot more during a 2009 sex scandal that irrevocably tarnished the reputation of the world's most famous athlete.
Woods isn't in Sin City this week -- at least, he's not in the tournament's field -- but he'll remain part of the event's lore. The Shriners may have done away with the showgirls at the trophy presentation, but we'll always have this photo.