TIGER WOODS was a “ghost” behind the scenes who never gave any clues about his wild lifestyle, according to a golfer who played with him.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Brian Henninger also says he’s surprised by Wood’s blossoming romance with Vanessa Trump.
Henninger played with top stars including Woods, Phil Mickelson and Sir Nick Faldo.
The American says Woods would cut an isolated figure among golfers and was so focused he could be intimidating.
But Henninger, who also described Faldo as “arrogant” and branded Jack Nicklaus a “narcissist”, said this attitude set him apart.
Henninger told SunSport: “Tiger Woods is not a person you’re going to go and hang out with.
“He’s not eating with you in the lunchroom. He’s pleasant though. He’d say ‘Hi Brian’. He knows a little bit about everybody, he does his research.
“I’ll never forget the first time I met him. We were at the Western Open, we’re in this fitness trailer, they were stretching us or something.
“He goes ‘hey, I saw your Trojans got beat by Stanford the other night’. I mean, I’ve never met him.
“So I think he’s one of those prepared guys in any situation.
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“Behind the scenes, he was a ghost to most of us. We didn’t really know about his life off the course. We know what the media shared with us, but I didn’t really know that lifestyle.
“He was a natural show off. He had so much popularity and it’s incredible.
“I didn’t get to travel and own mansions, private jets and have Michael Jordan as my best friend…even though I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that stuff.
“But he didn’t show signs on the golf course of being affected by any of it.
“Scottie Scheffler is coming along doing similar things. I don’t know all the matrix behind it, but they are very close in terms of how many times they’ve won at a certain age and all the accomplishments.
“They can just turn it on and off. I mean, they get to the golf course and they’re like different human beings.”
He added: “Tiger could be intimidating to some extent. I played with him right at his peak in the early 2000s.
“It’s so unique when you’re with these people who are so different. They have skill sets beyond what you can kind of comprehend or define.”
Woods was rocked by scandal in his prime, divorcing Swedish model Elin Nordegren in 2010 after allegations of multiple affairs.
Then in 2017, Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving after he’d been found passed out in his car with prescription drugs and marijuana in his system.
Now Woods is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr, son of sitting US President Donald Trump.
And Henninger says he’s surprised by the romance but can see how it unfolded.
He said: “I was surprised to see Tiger dating Vanessa Trump. Even though in today’s world, nothing surprises me anymore.
“But he lives in Florida, so I’m sure he’s interacting with Donald Trump, who owns a few golf courses down there and stuff.
“Nothing surprises me with Tiger. I just kind of wish I knew. I like the drama, share it with us!”
Henninger believes Scottie Scheffler is currently the best golfer in the world. He sees traits in the American he also saw among the greats he played with.
In June, Nicklaus candidly told Scheffler not to get carried away with his recent success.
He said: “If he is thinking about being the best and starts believing he’s the best, pretty soon he starts scratching his ears out here like this, and that’s death. Once you start to get a big head and believe you’re too good, then you will get beat.”
But Henninger could understand the comments.
He branded Scheffler and Nicklaus as “narcissistic”, but hailed the trait as something vital for their success.
Henninger added: “Scheffler is different. I almost feel like he’s playing for a different purpose, and he seems really balanced with his family, which is really important to him.
“He’s made so much money in recent years yet he seems to be doing it for this focus on the process and the competition, not for the money, even though that’s the byproduct of playing really well.
“They threw him in jail in the middle of a tournament last year, then he came out and shot 65, who does that?
“So he’s got the resilience it takes to be number one in the world and takes responsibility for it.
“It takes a narcissistic person and Nicklaus is that person too, by the way, I’ve spent a little bit of time around him. These guys have big egos.”
Another golfer who had a big ego was Faldo, Henninger says, who now works as a commentator in golf.
Henninger says Faldo was arrogant and recalled a time he demanded changes to his parking space.
He said: “Faldo is one of them, he’s from over there (arrogant). He’s intense, a lot of us are pretty uptight.
“To be honest with you, Greg Norman was super uptight, to the extent you don’t really want to be around those people.
“He’s one of the greatest players that ever lived. He’s a big guy, he was very mechanical, so he had a really pretty swing. It was very methodical. But an example of Faldo’s arrogance was when we were playing in the senior players’ championship in Philadelphia five or six years ago.
“Because he’s close to my last name, like F and H are close, he’s parked right next to me and when I pull up early in the week, it says Sir Nick Faldo on his little sign by his car.
“It only took about 24 hours and it said, Sir Nick Faldo. That tells you the whole story.”
