Mislabeled Tiger Woods autograph nets collector $3,000

Sometimes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And others, one man’s trash is a reminder to take a closer look at your trash.

On Monday, Golf Twitter found itself at the center of an all-time sports memorabilia slip-up when one savvy collector turned a mislabeled golf auction item into a quick $3,000.

The situation surrounded an autographed golf ball that had been attributed to Tom Watson — a white Titleist with a distinctive “T” and “W” next to some additional scribble. Upon further review, however, the signature on the ball hadn’t belonged to Watson, but rather, to Tiger Woods.

The account “The Collectibles Guru,” run by Eric Whiteback, first spotted the slip-up, which was sold originally to one eagle-eyed collector for $43. Later, the same golf ball on the popular golf memorabilia site Golden Age Auctions sold for $3,037, netting the collector a cool $2,997.

Apparently, part of the reason for the original mixup surrounding the golf ball was its manufacturer. Woods, who played Nike golf balls for the overwhelming majority of his professional career, was known not to sign balls made by other manufacturers. Watson, a longtime Titleist user, was a far more likely candidate to have signed the ball.

This isn’t the first time a piece of Woods iconography has emerged out of the woodwork. Backup versions of Tiger’s longtime Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS putter — the so-called “elder wand” that has been used for 14 of his 15 major championships — have emerged out of obscurity and into the golf memorabilia spotlight in recent years. Last summer, an authentic backup to Tiger’s putter sold for $393,300, believed (at the time) to be the highest-ever sale price for a golf club. That number was shattered less than a year later when a set of Titleist 681 T forged irons said to be used by Woods during his famed “Tiger Slam” season sold for some $5.165 million.

The skyrocketing price of Woods-related memorabilia certainly has something to do with the mislabeled golf ball’s $3,037 price tag. But the lesson in our savvy collector’s payday is much simpler than that: always, ALWAYS, look before you buy (and sell!).