- Doc Rivers said one year while coaching the Boston Celtics, he wanted to watch Tiger Woods compete at The Masters.
- Celtics president Danny Ainge told Rivers to intentionally get ejected so he could go watch the tournament.
- When Woods hollered at a referee over a call, hoping to get ejected, the referee only said he wanted to watch The Masters, too.
Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers can relate to the feeling of wanting to get out of personal and professional obligations to watch a sporting event.
Rivers recently told reporters a great story about wanting to watch Tiger Woods play in The Masters while coaching the Boston Celtics.
Rivers didn’t say the year, but said the Celtics had already locked up their playoff seed and were playing out the final string of games. At halftime of a game, Celtics president Danny Ainge told Rivers to get ejected so he could watch Woods make a run at The Masters.
“Danny Ainge tells me Tiger’s making a run,” River said. “He said, ‘Get thrown out.’ He’s like, ‘Get thrown and come back and watch with me.’ So, I go out, and it’s like the first play in the third quarter, I go for it.”
Rivers said he screamed at the referee over a call. However, the referee just stared at him blankly. Rivers said during the ensuing free throw, the ref called him over to tell him something.
“‘I wanna watch it, too,'” Rivers said the referee told him.
Rivers said he could see Ainge from the tunnel yelling at him to get ejected to come watch the tournament.
Rivers coached the Celtics from 2004 to 2013. Woods played in The Masters in each of those years, finishing, starting in 2004: 1st, T3, T2, 2, T6, T4, T4, T40, T4.
Watch the video of Rivers’ story below: