(Originally printed in The Golf, Spring 2023)
By George Petro
Tiger’s Cards: In 2001 Tiger signed a contract with Upper Deck making his 2001 UD cards, in several variations, amongst his accepted rookies. They are the first mainstream golf cards since “Tour Pro Set” made their last in 1992. UD produced two prominent boxes of sealed packs, one being the 2001 “Premier Edition” (above left) consisting of 24 packs of five cards ($100 on eBay) which tends to produce one “everymans” Tiger #1 rookie card per box. These Tiger rookies were produced in massive quantities with PSA alone having graded 35,000 Tiger rookie cards of which 12,000 were PSA 10’s.
High demand explains how one of those cards in Lot #175 (above right) brought $1,049 (while a 9 typically does about $110 and a good raw card about $30). Another such rookie card in Lot #15 was submitted to Becketts where it gained a Black label 10, with only 90 in their database/ catalog, hence it did $5,718. And in Lot #8, his rookie card graded a PSA 8 but that was also signed by Tiger some time after it was busted from its pack and being one of only two signed in the PSA database, it did $25,331. Clearly Tiger doesn’t sign many cards, though Golden Age estimates that Tiger has signed over 10,000 flags!
But there is another way to potentially get a Tiger-signed card and that’s within the 2001 Upper Deck box called the “SP Authentic Series” (above left) which contains 24 packs of four cards ($1,500 on eBay) with the guarantee that each box will have at least two “special editions” often signed cards associated with “a” player, but rarely is that player Tiger.
If so, they include cards signed by Tiger before being randomly inserted into packs: one run of 900 cards as seen in Lot #2 (above center) in PSA10 did $48,178 (though another PSA10 brought $105,780 in 2021), and a similar card with a run of only 100 signed and numbered cards like that in Lot #7 in PSA7 brought $24,724 (for reference a PSA grade 10 did $369,000 in 2021 but that’s about as good as it can get); other possibilities include finding a “Sign of the Times” Autographed series, the “Players Ink” autographed cards, and the unsigned Tiger “Tour Swatch” which contains a small section of a PGA Tour worn red shirt (about $2K in PSA10).
Other limited edition Tiger rookies include the UD 2001 “Promo” series and “Tour Threads” series and the rare Employee only “Slam” run of only 325 cards. A few later produced UD non-rookies featuring Tiger can also be very valuable, such as the card in Lot#16 (above right), a 2013 UD “Precious Metal Gems” “Purple” with only 125 unsigned cards that was available only to UD employes, which did $8,372 in PSA8, and the UD “Exquisite” card in 2014 having images signed by Arnie, Jack and Tiger on one card and a “Sign of the Times” card signed by both Tiger and Rory.
The December 1996 Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine contains what many consider the actual Tiger Rookie with very few in a high grade because Tiger’s card is the center card of a sheet of nine other sports people and the perforations along its margins make for very few having a high grade (above left).
Lot#6 (above center) in BGS10 with a POP of only 12 examples did $18,575 (There are 23 10’s in the PSA’s database. In February 2022 a BGS10 did $55k and in April 2022 a PSA10 did $41k). GAA Lot #83, a BGS 9.5 with a POP of 106 did $3,349: Lot #130 in PSA6 did $412 and Lot #223 in PSA4 did $276, so it’s a gamble if you bought the whole SI magazine (above right) in Lot#50 for $1,466 unless you want this cool item intact. Little appreciated is that there was also a 1999 SI for Kids containing a non-rookie Tiger card.
Also accepted in the rookie arena for Tiger are the “1998 Champions of Golf Masters Collection” in a box released by Grand Slam Ventures (above left) that includes all Masters winners though 1997 so you are sure to get a Tiger rookie. They came in a printed “gold ink” version and a rarer applied “gold foil” version. There was also a large uncut sheet of all the cards which was produced through 1999, with many removed and submitted, sometimes referred to as 1997-99 cards. Lot #229 is a sealed box of all “gold ink” cards for $716 but few of Tiger’s cards in the set grade high because of their black borders and Tiger’s card is at the bottom of the shrink-wrapped bundle and is often damaged. There are only two 10’s in over 8,000 submissions and no known 10’s in the gold foil variation. (In 2019 an ink 10 did $64k and a foil $120k. PSA 9’s do about $1k and 7’s about $125). Lot #21 (above center) is non-graded but slabbed with an authenticated Tiger signature and is the only signed one known, selling now for $8,372. (In January, Lot #69 at The Golf Auction was a very scarce Tiger card put out by Nike in 96 or 97 (above right), which, ungraded, did $2,176, possibly a real sleeper?)
Jack Nicklaus’ most popular rookie card is the 1981 Donruss Card #13. Of the 3,700 such cards graded by PSA, 173 are 10’s (prices average $6k for 10’s and $500 for 9’s) but Lot #12 (above) is another special circumstance as a BGC “Black Label” 10 with only two in their database, thus doing a whopping $27,196. Nicklaus has a second card in the set for his being the Stats Leader in iron play that year, a PSA9 in Lot #155 bringing $79 and an un-slabbed stats leader in Lot #243 signed by Jack doing $208. That set also contains the rookie cards for Tom Watson and Lee Trevino (expect about $200 and $40 respectively in PSA10).
Lot#128 was a boxed 36-pack (180 random sealed cards) (above left) which might produce a Nicklaus rookie, doing $1,718, a price not likely to be approached any time soon. The 1982 Donruss set card #16 is not Jack’s rookie, but because of lower production it did $208 in a PSA9 in Lot#156. (Of the 546 PSA graded, 34 are 10’s which average $2k). The 1971 Barratt & Co. “Famous Sportsmen” card #6 is Nicklaus’ earlier and possibly “true” rookie as seen in Lot #35 in PSA8 (above right) bringing $1,466 (44 of the 379 cards graded by PSA are 9’s with no 10’s so expect $12k in 9). Another highly collectable Nicklaus card is the 1973 Panini Campioni Dello Sport card #375 (with 4 of 111 cards being PSA10; expect $4K) and in Lot #93 a 1979 Venorlandis Nicklaus card in PSA10 did $257.
Arnold Palmer’s rookie is the 1965 Bancroft Tiddlers “Giants of Sport” (1926) hand Cut Card #26 which in Lot #24 in PSA8 did $2,198 (above left). Bobby Jones’ rookie is the Lambert & Butler Who’s Who in Sport (1926) card #2 which sold in Lot #88 (above center) in PSA4 for $547 (of 330 such cards graded by PSA there are 56 4’s but only one 10; expect $40K for PSA9, $7k for 8, $3K for 7 and $2k for 6). Outside of golf, the 1932 Caramel set of 32 cards of various sportsmen are very highly collected so the Jones Card #3, while not his rookie does $100K in PSA9 with none higher, $20K in 8, and $8K in 7. The other golfer in that set, Gene Sarazen, while not his rookie either, does $30k in 9. Lot #87 is the 1925-31 W590 hand-cut Walter Hagen rookie card (only 36 have been graded by PSA, BGS and SGC combined with the highest a 4) with this card evaluated “Authentic” by SGC brought $411 (above right).
Since not all of those cards were produced in 1925, the attractive 1926 Spalding Champions cards of Hagen with similar rarity do $4k in 9. There is also card #39 in the 1926 W512 group. Ben Hogan’s rookie is the 1951 Berk Ross set Card #16 (above left) with Lot #221 in PSA6 bringing $276 (of the 101 cards graded by PSA the highest is an 8 with POP 11, expect $3k). The famous 1900 Copes set of 50 cards includes the rookie cards of Old Tom Morris (above right) in Lot #45 in PSA4 doing $5,064 and Young Tom in Lot #46 also in PSA4 for $1,774. The remaining 48 slabbed cards sold in Lot #44 for $8,972. While those lessor cards individually might not justify that price, the full set makes quite an impression and can garner the owner a named spot on PSA’s prestigious “Set Registry” listed in order by quality.
Regarding modern cards, a “base” rookie card for Dustin Johnson is the 2012 SP Authentic Extended “Retail” with Lot #271 in PSA10 doing $66. But Lot #107, his “Red” edition (above), with only 10 numbered cards produced, did $498 in PSA10 (POP4), which seems quite the deal.