Trip Kuehne is perhaps best remembered for his defeat to Tiger Woods in the 1994 U.S. Amateur final. But many don’t know the two golfers had known each other long before their 36-hole match-play final at TPC Sawgrass. Kuehne, who never turned professional despite a successful amateur career, was also the only player Woods ever caddied for. In fact, Kuehne’s siblings were among Woods’ closest friends growing up. That’s not all!
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Woods and his father, Earl, would often stay at the Kuehne family home when traveling for tournaments. When Woods first travelled to a tournament without his father, he stayed with the Kuehnes. Needless to say, Kuehne knew Woods well by the time they met in 1994. However, familiarity did little to change the outcome. While appearing on the GOLF’s Subpar podcast recently, Kuehne revisited his battle with Woods.
“My whole mindset going into that week—my dad was caddying for me, I was playing well—was just, let’s see what we can do,” Kuehne said. “… So, everything was fine. My toughest match was my semifinal [against] Chris Cox… my college teammate and… best friend… Dad and I talked a lot about going into that finals match. It’s imperative to get off to a hot & fast start because Tiger and all juniors have historically started pretty slow.”
In the final, 18-year-old Woods staged one of the greatest comebacks in U.S. Amateur history. He overcame a six-hole deficit against Trip Kuehne to win 2-up. Kuehne, 22 at the time, started strongly, making seven birdies in the first 13 holes. He held a four-up lead after shooting a 6-under 66 in the morning round. But Woods refused to give in. He stayed in contention with recovery shots from the trees and pine straw.
Then, he surged in the afternoon, winning six of the final 10 holes. Birdies on the 16th and a dramatic chip-in on the island-green 17th gave him the lead for the first time. Woods sealed the victory when Kuehne three-putted the 18th. The win made Tiger Woods the youngest U.S. Amateur champion at the time, a year younger than Jack Nicklaus in 1959. He also became the first Black golfer to win the title.
Regardless, Trip Kuehne, founder and senior managing partner of Dallas-based investment firm Double Eagle Capital Management, LP, has since identified three critical mistakes that cost him the 1994 U.S. Amateur final against Tiger Woods.
“The first mistake is … I was thoroughly kicking his a** and on the 14th hole, I was barely in the right rough, and I wanted to hit an eight iron… My dad [who caddied for me] looked at me and said, ‘Hey, hit a nine iron flyer.’ … I hit the shot, and I hit this nine iron right at it. Came up about 15 yards short and kind of gave away that hole with a bogey,” Kuehne explained. “So instead of me just throttling him, he got a little bit of momentum.
“And then [the second mistake], starting the second 18. Then, fortunately or unfortunately, I was so relaxed I went to sleep…,” Kuehne added. “We had an hour and a half… in between 18 holes and [I went to the locker room and] I fell asleep. [I] got woken up about 30 minutes before we were going to play the next 18.”
Kuehne’s final mistake came on the ninth hole at TPC Sawgrass. Despite holding a four-up lead, he was unsure what lay to the right of the fairway mounds. He initially considered hitting a 3-wood toward the green but eventually changed his mind and opted to lay up with a 4-iron. As he recalled, “The last second I was over gonna hit a 3-wood,” but he changed his decision. The result was disastrous: he “fat hooked it in the bunker” and made bogey.
That mistake, Kuehne believes, handed Woods the momentum he needed to fight his way back into the match. That said, Kuehne is hardly the only one to have had a win over Woods snatched away.
A journeyman who nearly stole ‘Tiger Slam’ from Tiger Woods
At the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, Tiger Woods and unheralded Bob May staged one of golf’s most gripping major duels. May, a journeyman who had never won on the PGA Tour, carded two straight 66s and entered the final round one stroke behind Woods. The pair then traded blows all afternoon, each firing a back-nine 31 with no bogeys.
May held a one-shot lead late, but Woods birdied the 17th to draw even. On the par-5 18th, May holed a curling 15-footer for birdie. Woods answered with a nerveless five-footer of his own to force a three-hole aggregate playoff, both finishing at a then-record 18-under 270. In the playoff, Woods seized control on the first hole by draining a 25-foot birdie putt.
Meanwhile, May scrambled for par. Both made solid pars on the 17th. On the final hole, Woods escaped a bunker to within two feet and converted for par. May’s lengthy birdie attempt slid just past. Woods won by one stroke, completing his third major of the year and getting one step closer to the eventual ‘Tiger Slam.’
Clearly, defeating Tiger Woods isn’t an easy task. However, these men faced him one-on-one and nearly did it.