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ESPN's Stuart Scott was lured to golf by Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods
ESPN's Stuart Scott touched all corners of the sports world, but one in particular touched him back. He was addicted to golf. Crack for men, he once called it.
Michael Jordan was partly responsible. So was Tiger Woods. Jordan, a fellow North Carolina Tar Heel, invited Scott to play in his celebrity golf tournament in Las Vegas in 1997, at a time he had become intrigued by Tiger Woods, he said.
(Getty Images)
The hook was set, and he went from playing once a year at most to playing as often as he could.
"You know how you get up at night to use the bathroom?" he told Travel and Leisure in 2002. "I put that time to use. I've got a women's 7-iron in my bedroom, just short enough for me to take a full swing without cracking a hole in the ceiling."
Scott, who succumbed to cancer Jan. 4 at age 49, often played in pro-ams and other celebrity fundraisers, including Woods' Tiger Jam.
"I'm setting up over a drive when I look back and see the host. Tiger. Watching me," he said. "He's waiting to hit next. Somehow I crush the ball 260 yards, a big drive for me, and look back at him like, Howzat, dog?' And he laughs.
"Did you hear?' Tiger says. They're building a new K-Mart.'
"They are?
"Yeah. Between your ball and the place where mine is going to land.'"
He once played with David Duval in a pro-am and offered this anecdote to Travel and Leisure:
"One time I hit a good shot and David Duval, who's funnier than people think, yells, Boo-yah!' Duval can do my lines, from Boo-yah' to He must be buttah because he is on a roll.'"
Duval and Woods were among those from the golf world to Tweet their condolences:
A sad day. RIP Stuart. #BooYah
— David Duval (@david59duval) January 4, 2015
Stuart wasn't covering heroes & champions, it was the other way around. Thinking of my friend & his daughters.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) January 4, 2015