You’ve heard the stories, the look that made grown men crumble on the tee box, the glare that “looked through your soul,” as many put it. For years, it wasn’t just Tiger Woods’ swing that unnerved his opponents; it was the icy focus in his eyes, and few understood that intensity better than those who faced it head-on.

“…That, to me, was the first time I had really felt truly physically intimidated by another human being…I had to re-gather myself really quickly,” is how Arron Oberholser described his meeting with Woods in the final round of USC’s invitational while talking on the Subpar podcast a few years back.  It’s not like Woods held an upper hand over Oberholser. Both of them had won six collegiate titles each. In fact, they had even played against each other before this incident. 

He isn’t the only victim. Former six-time PGA Tour winner Hunter Mahan, too, was a prey to this intimidation. and reflects here not just on a singular event, but on Tiger’s broader psychological aura.”...he stepped on that tee and there was an intimidation, there was an intensity that was very unknown to everybody…everyone was very uncomfortable about it and they couldn’t do anything about it,”  Mahan once said on the Par 3 Podcast. Sigh, another casualty. Mahan came from a younger generation, but even they weren’t immune to Tiger’s presence. The silence, the focus — it shifted the mood instantly. But now there’s a twist.

The murmurs haven’t yet died down, because someone else has something to say now, which completely changes the narrative. Veteran player Buddy Marucci has called off ‘the myth of the Tiger stare. In the 1995 U.S. Amateur final, 19-year-old Tiger Woods battled 43-year-old Buddy Marucci. Marucci pushed him to the final hole, but Woods won by two. It was Tiger’s toughest test in his three straight Amateur wins.

“I thought that people overstated the fact that he was intimidating…He’s an intimidating-looking man because he looks like Michael Jordan.” Marucci said in the recent episode of the Golfer’s Journal Podcast.  Comparing Tiger to Michael Jordan here is layered. Not only is it a nod to physical presence, but to competitive mystique. Jordan didn’t need to trash-talk — his aura did the work. For Marucci, Tiger had that same energy, it separates how Tiger looked from how he played. Marucci argues that it wasn’t the stare that made him special.

Recalling , Marucci had only praises for the young Woods. “I thought he won because he was just better than everybody else. And that in itself could be intimidating, but he didn’t do anything…He was just better.” Tiger was formidable in that final. He clawed back from 3-down after 18 holes. He sealed the match on the 36th with a pure 8-iron approach that he stuck to tap-in range for birdie.

“I stood right next to him when he hit it. The fact that the ball ended up a foot or so from the hole was probably the least impressive part of it. It’s the way he hit the shot,” Marucci once told the USGA. After the match, he met Woods and told him that one day he would win the U.S. Open. Well, we all know how that turned out.

So, the ‘Tiger stare’ might have just been a myth. “He used that discomfort to his advantage.”  There’s historical backing here. Tiger worked with Dr. Jay Brunza, a Sports psychologist, who introduced him to hypnosis and mental conditioning from a young age. That emotionless focus, controlled breathing, lack of expression, it wasn’t natural. It was trained. So yes, the stare may be overstated in isolation. But in the context of Tiger’s complete psychological profile, it becomes part of a larger picture — one where discomfort, silence, and control weren’t just traits. They were tactics.

Whether it was instinct or intention, the stories, reactions, and body language all point to one thing — Tiger’s presence was never ordinary. And as the debate continues, one question still lingers:

The ‘Tiger Stare’—A myth or a mental game?

People can talk all they want, but Tiger Woods has never cared for the mythologizing. When he was once directly asked about his ‘glare’, he snapped. “I can’t control you. The only thing I can control is me. Now, if I do this more efficiently than you, if you get intimidated, that’s your own f***ing issue,”  he said during a 2018 Tiger Jam Charity event.

For Tiger, it’s a byproduct of tunnel vision. The man is not performing for anyone; he’s just locked into his game. And maybe that tends to get under people’s skin.

Still, some moments hint at something more deliberate. New York Times Bill Pennington once highlighted a moment from 2019. During the Masters—on the infamous 12th hole—Francesco Molinari and Tony Finau dumped their balls into Rae’s Creek. In Pennington’s words, Woods “stood defiantly on the green, glaring back at Finau and Molinari” with arms crossed,  an expression that said, “Can you hurry up? I’ve got a tournament to win.“

Maybe that’s just Tiger’s way of doing things. The truth is, even he didn’t think of it until people made a big issue out of it. As he said, if it bothers you, it’s on you. Honestly, you don’t need intimidation when your game does all the talking.