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Tiger Woods welcomes Yao Ming (Photo)

By Will Osgood

Apr 12, 2015; Augusta, GA, USA; Tiger Woods hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the final round of The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 12, 2015; Augusta, GA, USA; Tiger Woods hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the final round of The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tiger Woods hosted Yao Ming at an event at the Nike campus in Shanghai, China. 

When you think of tall people, there’s at least a chance Yao Ming is one of the men you think about, especially if you’ve been an American sports fan in the past decade-plus. Even on a basketball court where most NBA players are over 6’0″ (and most stand 6’5″ or above), the 7’6″ former No. 1 overall draft pick of the Houston Rockets towered over opponents and teammates.

So it’s no surprise that a regular-sized man, Tiger Woods, would be absolutely dwarfed by the most notable basketball player to ever hail from the Republic of China. And really, the term “dwarfed” is a bit of an understatement.

Woods is listed at 6’1″ and 185 pounds, so it’s not like he’s a tiny human being. Throughout his heyday as the world’s best golfer he was known as the most in-shape player on the PGA Tour–even causing a few rumblings about what kind of supplements he may have been putting into his body.

That Woods is actually a well-proportioned world-class athlete probably makes this photo all the more astounding. Imagine what the average American man would look like next to Yao. In truth it wouldn’t be tremendously different, as Woods stands just a few inches taller than the average man.

But one can safely extrapolate that information to make a comparison against Yao and the average Chinese male, who stands 5’5 6/8″–or close to 5’6″. Even as Woods is literally looking up–though he’s obviously bending his body back for dramatic effect in the photo–he is a mere mortal next to Ming.

Of course Woods was in Shanghai putting on an event at the Nike headquarters in one of the world’s largest cities. Ming has moved back to his native land after spending over a decade in the United States as monumentally popular and effective NBA center.

His popularity in The U.S., though, could never compare to the god-like status he enjoys in China.

Woods once had that kind of popularity in the United States, but his off-the-course activities, and relative human play on it, have put a bit of a damper on his reputation and popularity as a big-time sports figure.

But he is still a key figure for Nike in their marketing, and his story is probably not well known in China.

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