Nate Bargatze Creeped Out Tiger Woods With the Name of His New Special
Star athletes put up with a lot of strangeness from their fans, but not many sports heroes know the uniquely uncomfortable feeling that Tiger Woods no doubt felt when Nate Bargatze approached the golf legend to tell him that he chose the name of his new special as a tribute to Woods.
Bargatze’s Hello World recently premiered on Amazon video, and the 43-year-old Tennessee native talked about his love for the sport your dad watches to fall asleep on Sunday afternoons during the special. When the special was released on January 31st, Bargatze had already hit the links as part of the prestigious Pebble Beach Pro-Am, an annual tradition shared by top golfers and celebrity amateurs as they compete in a friendly tournament. But before Bargatze had the chance to rub elbows with the elite of the golf world at Pebble Beach, he made a very forward admission to one of the sport’s biggest stars.
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On the podcast GOLF’s Subpar, Bargatze revealed that he named his special in honor of an iconic ad campaign by Woods, but when he had the chance to meet the 15-time major champion, he made Woods slightly uncomfortable by blurting out, “I named my comedy special after you.” Apparently, when a kid names their lizard after their favorite quarterback, it’s cute, but when a man in his 40s names a major career project after another adult’s shoe commercial, it’s creepy. Who knew?
“I was trying to find something to be a nice greeting, a welcoming greeting,” Bargatze told his hosts on GOLF’s Subpar. “I thought of (Hello World). And I know Tiger said that, and so it was kind of a perfect world. … It can be a nod to him.” Woods famously spoke the phrase during the first press conference of his professional golf career while decked out in Nike gear, and it became an iconic moment in sports advertising as the company blasted the clip of one of their biggest stars across the country.
Shortly after Bargatze thought of the name, he performed a private show for the PGA where he got to meet the icon to whom he hoped to pay homage. “I got to tell him,” Bargatze began. “I walk up to him and I’m nervous, and within two seconds, I’m like, ‘I’m naming my special after you.’”
According to Bargatze, Woods was awkwardly gracious in his response. “He was cool with it, I guess, as much as he could be,” Bargatze explained. “It’s a lot for him to take in, you know, he’s like, ‘Oh, that’s cool man…’”
Bargatze then had to have another awkward conversation with the higher-ups at Amazon with whom he had yet to clear the title of the special. “I told Amazon, ‘We’re calling it Hello World because I just told (Tiger) that I named it after him,” the comedian laughed.
Next time, Nate, just get an autograph.
