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A golf ball reportedly used by Tiger Woods in his 1997 Masters victory has sold for more than $64,000 at auction.

Golden Age Auctions had started the bidding for the Titleist ball, which has ‘Tiger’ stamped on the side, at $500 when the auction opened at March 27.

By the time it closed on Sunday, there had been 53 bids, with the winner shelling out $64,124,40 for the prized item.

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According to the auctioneers, Woods handed the ball to nine-year-old Julian Nexsen following a bogey at the fifth during his final round. Nexsen was attending the tournament with his father and some family friends.

Woods, of course, went on to win the tournament – the first of his 15 major titles – by 12 shots. To date, that remains the largest winning margin in the tournament’s history, whilst his winning scpre of 270 was, until Dustin Johnson broke it in 2020, also a Masters record.

“Unless Tiger himself or his caddie Fluff intentionally saved a ball from this historic final round, which we doubt, this may be the only confirmed golf ball from the final round of Tiger Woods’ first major championship victory,” said a Golden Age Auctions spokesperson.

Nexsen has reportedly signed a legal declaration in which he has certified, under penalties of perjury, the authenticity of the ball and the story of his interaction with Woods that day.

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Woods was forced to withdraw from this year’s Masters Tournament ahead of the weather-delayed third round’s resumption. The 47-year-old later explained that he experienced a flare-up of the plantar fasciitis that has dogged him in recent months.

He did, however, successfully make the cut, continuing his record of making it beyond halfway in every edition of the Masters he has played as a professional.

That’s now 23 in a row, which ties Gary Player and Fred Couples’ record for most consecutive Masters cuts made.