In January of 1997, just after Tiger's father Earl had declared his son to be the "Chosen One," then WWTN-FM (Nashville, Tennessee) talk show host and scratch golfer John Ziegler decided that he wanted to find some way to both honor Tiger's greatness as a golfer (of which he was completely convinced) and bring to light the possibility that Tiger's dad was right (of which he was not completely convinced).

Ziegler decided that the best way to do this was to hold a prayer service on his evening radio show on the Monday after every tournament in which Tiger played. With what he called "monk music" playing in the background, Ziegler would recite a prayer that was based on the events of that weekend.

"...Tiger Woods, Sports' next Messiah" - GQ Magazine

When Tiger was on the cover of GQ with the headline "The coming of Tiger Woods, Sports' next Messiah," Ziegler held a prayer service just before conducting a live interview with author of the controversial article in which it was revealed that Tiger occasionally uses profanity and tells off-color jokes. As Ziegler went directly from the prayer service to introducing Charles P. Pierce, a startled Mr. Pierce could only respond, "That's the darnedest thing I've ever heard."

Considering that his station was in the "Belt Buckle" of the "Bible Belt," it was somewhat surprising that not only was Ziegler not physically harmed for creating what he called "The First Church of Tiger Woods," but that some people actually seemed to want to become members of the church. The church reached the height of its "popularity" when, after calling for "holy days of obligation" on the Thursday and Friday of the tournament, Tiger Woods went on to win the 1997 Masters by 12 shots.

A few months later Ziegler was suddenly fired from WWTN-FM, ironically for having a discussion on the air that was born directly from the topic he spoke about after Tiger's Masters victory (why white people love Tiger).

Interestingly enough Tiger won the 1997 Western Open just before Ziegler was fired and then did not win again on the PGA tour until after Ziegler was hired in 1998 by WLAC-AM in Nashville. In fact, going into the 1998 Masters, Sports Illustrated (April 13, 1998) cited this "coincidence" involving the "First Church" and stated that if Tiger won again after Ziegler was rehired that it might be evidence of his divinity. Tiger didn't win that week, but even God has to make swing changes every once in a while.

The First Church of Tiger Woods took a hiatus as both Tiger and Ziegler struggled (Ziegler much more so than Tiger) to make it through 1998. In 1999 Ziegler moved home to Philadelphia to do a talk show at WWDB-FM. Ziegler was let go in August of 1999 and has been only doing freelance work since then. It took Tiger over six months to "lose" a PGA tour event after Ziegler was fired from WWDB. Now, with plenty of time on his hands, Ziegler, the self-proclaimed pastor of the flock, has fathered a rebirth of the "First Church of Tiger Woods" through this website.

Will the world ever be quite the same again?