Background

Before Tiger Woods was the greatest golfer of the 2000s, he was a kid at Stanford University. Pictured here are Woods (on left) and Greg Norman at the 1995 Masters Tournament.

What the photo reveals

As a 19-yearold freshman at Stanford, this would be Woods’ first major championship. Woods placed 41st in the tournament and was the only amateur to make the cut. Norman finished tied for third place.

Analysis

They stay focussed and so is the photographer, who too stays extremely focussed. The already-legendary Greg Norman is looking at “an object” in his way and the legend-to-be Woods is looking at “his object” in another way. The photographer looks at both of them –his object-- in HIS own way.

But, if WE are to focus our attention onto the photo carefully, it is the young Woods who is really central in this picture. He is the main focus of the camera.

Look at Woods’ face! The steely mind and his incredible focus are written all over his face. And, most of all, when we focus on Tiger Wood’s face here, everything else that is surrounding that main object –Woods’ face—turns out to be very much subservient or unimportant.

The blurred foreground, the greenish and soothing background, as well as the remarkably old-fashioned and cine-star-like face of Greg Norman… all of them are giving way for Woods’ face to emerge to the top.

In fact, that was the real case that happened only a few years after the photo. Everything else was superseded by the youngster. Woods emerged surpassing all else. Therefore, this photo, in a way, forecasts what’s going to happen – Beware of “Tiger Woods”, he’s going to be the main man soon!

Photographer

An Allsport photo extracted from The Tiebreaker

An afterword

Two years later after this photo, Woods would go on to win his first Masters, becoming the youngest – and first person of colour – to win the tournament. Years later, he solidified himself as the world’s best golfer amid a remarkable and unprecedented run at winning tournaments. After ugly extramarital affairs and numerous injuries which derailed his career, Woods found himself on top once again after winning the 2018 Tour Championship. Now recovering from injuries in another nearly-fatal accident, Woods is considered to be one of the greatest sporting idols ever, as seen here in a charming style with an idol of his pet sport standing by him when he was in his teenage.