1998 Tiger Woods Signed Spectators Handbook The Memorial Tournament Muirfield Village

An bold signature of Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo on a 1998 Spectator Handbook from The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club.  A rare find with early signature of Tiger Woods.

https://www.thememorialtournament.com/the-memorial/past-results/recap/1998/

he 1998 Memorial Tournament field had people talking about which one of the "terrific 20-some-things" would add his name to the list of marquee golfers who have won Jack Nicklaus' event. All five, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, David Duval, Justin Leonard and Phil Mickelson, had at least one win heading into the Memorial and were ranked among the top 10 golfers in the world. Tom Watson called them "the best generation of golfers in a long time," and Tom Lehman observed that veterans like himself had better "kick it up a notch or quit".

They had come together only three times previously during the 1998 season, at the Mercedes Championships, the Players Championship and the Masters. Mickelson had won the Mercedes and Leonard the Players, and all five finished among the top 16 at the Masters. A "name" player had joined the club of Memorial winners when the tournament ended, but it wasn't one of the young guns. Instead, it was a wiser Fred Couples, who, despite an aching back, had been making the game look easy well before Els was tabbed the "Big Easy".

Couples sailed his way to victory by four strokes over Andrew Magee with four consecutive rounds in the 60s. Couples held at least a share of the lead for the last three rounds, and his 72-hole total of 17-under-par 271 equaled the third lowest in the history of the tournament. It matched Hal Sutton's score in 1986 and came up short only of Tom Lehman's 268 in 1994 and Greg Norman's 269 in 1995. Chronic back problems have resulted in Couples bringing along his personal physical therapist, Tom Boers, to each event.