In February 2015, Tiger Woods stood at a Torrey Pines press conference and told the assembled media something that Golf Twitter spent the better part of a decade turning into a punchline. Nobody expected the next person to make that joke to be Woods himself.
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That detail is buried at the end of an Instagram carousel Amanda Balionis posted on Sunday, which she captioned:
“Swipe to the end for a glute activation joke because why not 😂.”
Walking past Woods at the 18th hole after Jacob Bridgeman had just claimed his maiden PGA Tour title at Riviera, the CBS Sports reporter caught the 15-time major champion in an unscripted moment. “Don’t you love those glutes?” Tiger Woods said casually, to no one in particular. Balionis, visibly caught off guard, laughed. The clip has been circulating ever since.
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The impact of the joke depends on understanding what the original quote cost Woods.
In 2015, at the Farmers Insurance Open, Tiger Woods withdrew after 11 holes due to a back injury. His explanation at the press conference became a reference point in golf for years.
“It’s just my glutes are shutting off. Then they don’t activate, and then, hence, it goes into my lower back. So, I tried to activate my glutes as best I could in between, but they just never stayed activated.”
Billy Horschel had to pick up Woods’s tee pegs because Woods could not bend down far enough. At that point, Woods was ranked 56th in the world. It was his third withdrawal in eight events, and in the previous 16 months, he had completed four rounds only twice.
The difference between his past achievements and his physical condition was clear. The glute quote became a marker for the lowest point in his career. Woods referenced that moment again at the 18th hole of a $20 million Signature Event he hosted eleven years later.
That wasn’t the only moment like this that week. Watching Bridgeman’s second shot in the third round almost go in for an albatross on the par-5 11th, Woods told CBS commentator Jim Nantz from the booth that he wished he could hit shots like that.
It was an honest comment from someone recovering from his seventh back surgery, turning 50 in December 2025, and now building a new career in the boardroom and the broadcast booth instead of on the fairway. Both moments from that week showed the same thing: someone who has come to terms with the difference between who he was and who he is now.
Jacob Bridgeman’s maiden PGA Tour win at Riviera completes the picture
Bridgeman, 26, from Clemson, finished at 18-under after rounds of 66, 64, 64, and a final round of 72. He nearly lost a six-shot lead but held on with a three-foot par putt at the last to edge out Rory McIlroy and Kurt Kitayama by one. The win earned him $4 million from a $20 million purse.
He became the first first-time visitor to Riviera to leave with the trophy since Adam Scott in 2005, and the victory moved him from 52nd in the world to inside the top 25 while pushing him to the top of the FedExCup standings.
“This is way, way better than I’ve ever dreamt it,” Bridgeman told Balionis after the round.
Tiger Woods, the host, was there to hand Bridgeman the trophy. Woods, still recovering from his seventh back surgery, spent the week in the commentary booth and around the 18th green. While Woods watched, Bridgeman held off the field at a $20 million Signature Event. This is the new reality for Woods.