Tiger Woods' strategy on the 2nd hole at the Masters is to hit the fans with his ball
It turns out that sometimes he gets some help by intentionally aiming his approach shot at the fans.
Woods' friend and Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay was discussing advice that older players give younger players at the Masters when he told the story of how he received an odd tip from Woods on how to play the second hole when the pin is placed towards the back of the green.
Here is the story:
"Tiger Woods told me how to play the second [hole]... and he learned from Ray Floyd in the back-right hole location, you land the ball hole-high and let it bounce into the gallery and it hits the gallery in their feet and it stops there and you chip back and you putt it in [for birdie]. So that's how Ray Floyd played that hole location. That's how Tiger told me to play that hole location."
Unfortunately for Begay, things didn't go as planned when he tried it.
"When I did it, the gallery moved out of the way and didn't take one for the team. My ball ended up going about 20 yards over that green and I ended up having a really hard chip coming back to the hole."
Begay did note that Woods gave this advice at a time when the second hole was not quite as long as it is now, so it is not clear if Woods still uses this strategy. However, there are a number of photos through the years of Woods chipping onto the second green from a spot just in front of the gallery, such this one from 2009.
Woods always has to deal with a large crowd following him around the golf course. On hole No. 2 at the Masters, Woods has used that to his advantage.