News

Disputed 'Tiger Slam' irons for sale again

August 24, 2010

The Titleist irons said to have been used by Tiger Woods in accomplishing his Tiger Slam in 2000-'01 are back on the auction block, at Green Jacket Auctions. Two bids already have been received, the opening bid at $1,000.

The irons belong to former Titleist tour representative Steve Mata, who in May listed them on eBay for a starting bid of $250,000. When Woods disputed that those were the irons he had used in winning four straight major championships, eBay removed the listing.

Mata once worked closely with Woods on his equipment and said that Tiger gave him the irons.

Green Jacket Auctions notes that it hired a polygraph examiner to give Mata a lie detector test.

"Have you ever even heard of someone taking a polygraph to support a piece of sports memorabilia?" the website asks. "We hadn't, but figured one of the greatest pieces of golf memorabilia in history deserved for us to think outside the box and go all-out to prove its authenticity. Steve Mata, of course, passed."

-- John Strege