Tiger Woods has spent most of his career treating the media like a minefield. Whenever he is on camera, he gives only short, measured answers to maintain his carefully controlled image. That stoic persona is so well established that people sometimes forget that he could have a softer side, too. That’s why when he happily invited golf media personality Tisha Alyn to take a TikTok, it felt to her like catching him off‑script.
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Speaking with the NUCLR GOLF Podcast‘s hosts John, Hutch, and Ryan, she described the moment as crazy. But her story doesn’t just humanize Tiger; it highlights how rare it is to see him drop the guard he’s maintained for decades.
“He’s always stoic; his cards are always so close to his chest. But, for example, at Tiger Jam when I got to interview him — it’s also in 2023 — he was just so smiley, so happy, and he was like, you wanna take a picture? Come on, let’s go. Then you wanna take a video, you wanna do a TikTok. I don’t get TikTok, but my son loves TikTok. He is just so addicted; it’s like golf and TikTok, golf and TikTok. Come on, come get in here, let’s take a video, and I’m just like, crazy. This is crazy,” Alyn recalled.
“It’s really fun when you catch him in those offbeat moments, but although it is when his guard is kind of like down, it kind of feels really calculated at the same time. Like there are moments when he allows himself, and then very quickly it’s like he’s guarded again, or he intentionally will have his people in his life, whether it’s his caddy or his team, literally physically block him so you can’t take pictures of him, and in those moments you’re just like, oh, I get it, I get what you’re putting down, and you just kind of leave it be, but that’s the power that he has.”
At Tiger Jam, the TGR Foundation’s annual Las Vegas charity event designed for donor access, photo ops, and media content, Alyn caught Woods in a rare, unguarded moment.
That softer side emerged when Woods celebrated the TGR Foundation’s 30th anniversary, visibly emotional as he reflected on the foundation’s impact. He said that the foundation is helping change the world, something he can’t do on the golf course.
There are also a few stories and inside jokes from inside the ropes. One example is the “Tiger Who?” hat story from the 2000 Presidents Cup. Vijay Singh’s caddie also wore the hat, and after noticing, Woods didn’t speak to Singh or his caddie for about a month. But it became his favorite anecdote, which he makes LaCava retell at many team events.
But as Alyn noted, these moments are rare because, more often than not, he has his guard up. There are many in which long-time caddie LaCava and other team members have managed crowds and access around Tiger Woods.
For instance, his ex-caddie Steve Williams encountered two media incidents at the 2004 US Open. He first kicked a New York Daily News photographer’s camera in the second round. Then, during the final round, he snatched a camera from a spectator because they clicked at the wrong time and disturbed Woods’ swing.
Woods’ rare off-guard moments offer a glimpse of a more relaxed side of a golfer known for being stoic. For Alyn, catching that side of Woods was a memorable reminder that even the most guarded athletes have moments when they let the walls come down.