AUGUSTA, Ga. – During his pre-tournament news conference on Tuesday, Tiger Woods told the story of playing Augusta National’s Par 3 course with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in 1995, when Tiger – still an amateur – made his first start in the Masters. Here’s Tiger’s account:

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Tiger Woods in his first Masters in 1995.

“I said, ‘Well, I don't have any cash.’ He says, ‘Don't worry about it. Just play hard.’

‘I said, all right, here we go.

“We go and play. We have a great time. I'm pretty chatty out there. I'm trying to gain as much intel as I possibly can, and I'm asking them on every hole, what do you do here, what do you do here, what do you do here, and I'm pretty sure they got sick and tired of me.

“We get to 18, and Arnold makes a nice putt for birdie on 18 for all the skins, basically. And I could see Jack is over there, a little ticked about it. He says, ‘Enough of this. Why don't we go get him on the par 3 course?’

“I said, ‘Well, Jack, I don't have ‑‑ my tee time is much later.

"Just come with me.

"Yes, sir. How are we going to get on there?

“He says, ‘Don't worry about it." We walk over there, we are on deck, just out of the blue. OK, this is nice. We get around and play the par 3 course, and probably the most nervous I think I had ever been was the last hole on the par 3 course.

“You think it's just a simple 9-iron shot, no big deal. Arnold almost holed it, Jack almost holed it, and now it's my turn. I was just trying to go for dry land, and somehow I was able to hit on dry land and I was pretty stoked about it.”