[PHOTO: Chris Condon]
Tiger Woods was 20, Ed Fiori was 43. Woods was playing in his third event as a professional. Fiori had made more than 500 starts on the PGA Tour.
With the galleries fully in support of Woods, who held a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the 1996 Quad Cities Classic, he stretched it to a three-shot lead standing on the fourth hole that Sunday at Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley, Illinois.
Fifteen minutes later, Woods found water twice, made quadruple-bogey 8 and was a shot behind Fiori. Three holes later, Woods would make double-bogey and was not able to rebound. Fiori made three birdies on the back nine, shooting 32, and signed for a 67 and a two-shot victory over Andrew Magee to earn $US216,000. Woods was four shots behind.
It was the last of Fiori’s four PGA Tour victories, the first coming in the 1979 Southern Open via a playoff over Tom Weiskopf. Fiori died on Sunday, according to the PGA Tour. He was 72.
“Ed Fiori was a true gentleman in our sport and is a player who would often be referred to as a pro’s pro,” said PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady. “In three of his four wins on the PGA Tour, he duelled down the stretch with future World Golf Hall of Fame members, most notably Tiger Woods in 1996. That grit and resolution in the face of immeasurable odds is incredibly admirable in every aspect of life, and I know he battled cancer with that same determination until the end. He will be missed by all of us at the tour.”
Ed Fiori holds the trophy for winning the 1996 Quad Cities Classic, overcoming a three-shot deficit to Tiger Woods. [Photo: Charles Bennett/AP]
Fiori was known as “The Grip” for his famously strong grip. He was surprised to find himself with a chance to win that 1996 event. He hadn’t won since the 1982 Bob Hope Desert Classic and was paired with the game’s newest hotshot for both days on the weekend.
“I’m 5-7, 200 [pounds],” Fiori said at the time. “I better be a little mean out here or they’d have run me out a long time ago. I knew the crowd was pulling for Tiger, but in a way, I was too. He hit one bad shot and never got over it.”
Putting into perspective just how poorly Fiori felts about his game, he said, “I never thought I’d be in this position again. I just sent in my application for Tour Qualifying School this week. I was thinking about giving it all up, but my wife said, ‘Send it in anyway.’”
“I’m pretty ticked off right now,” said Woods, who went on to win his next start for his first PGA Tour victory at the Las Vegas Invitational. That, however, was the first of only four times in his career when Woods failed to win after leading after 54 holes.
Fiori was born April 21, 1953, in Lynwood, California, and played college golf at Houston, a powerhouse in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s under coach Dave Williams. They won an NCAA title in 1977. He turned pro shortly thereafter and won his first PGA Tour event two years later.
In 1981, Fiori won the Western Open by four shots at Butler National. A year later he beat Tom Kite in a playoff to win the Bob Hope Desert Classic. Fourteen years later, Fiori captured his crowning achievement when he tracked down Woods.
After turning 50, Fiori played in 58 PGA Tour Champions events in three seasons. He won the 2004 MasterCard Classic in Mexico where he topped Australia’s Graham Marsh in a playoff for his lone senior title.
