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Trout announces partnership with Tiger on new golf course
USA center fielder Mike Trout. Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Mike Trout announces partnership with Tiger Woods on new golf course

Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout announced his upcoming partnership with Tiger Woods on Monday morning to build a new golf course in New Jersey.

Trout hinted at the "very special project" on Twitter on Sunday, before revealing the news the following day.

The three-time AL MVP is an avid golfer, and the course will be built in his native Vineland, N.J. Trout grew up in nearby Millville, N.J. and still lives there.

Per Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, the 10-time All-Star Trout and 15-time major winner Woods plan to open the course for member play in 2025.

"It’s pretty incredible having a chance to own your own golf course," Trout said, according to Verducci. "Getting Tiger to design it is crazy. If you had told me before that this would happen one day, I would have said you are crazy. It’s more than I ever thought possible."

Verducci's report notes that Trout says he has a handicap of "seven or eight" and his average yardage on drives range from "330 to 360" when he's "not letting it go."

"It depends on the moment. I try to dial it down to keep it a little straighter," the career-long member of the Angels said. "For me, it’s like anything else I do. I want to be the best, whatever it takes. If it means going to the range or looking at video, I will. I’m not going crazy with it. Baseball always is my number one priority. I just enjoy golf. It’s a great mental getaway from the game."

Per Verducci, Trout said the thought of owning a golf course first came to him and his wife, Jessica (a fellow golfer and native of Millville) just before COVID-19 hit. The outfielder said they were "close" to a deal prior to the start of the pandemic, but "a year or two later" is when things came together again, after he saw some drone footage of someone trying to "build a couple of holes in Vineland while courses were shut down."

After asking his brother, Tyler, to "look into" the situation, it eventually led to Trout having a meeting with developer and president of Northeast Precast in Vineland John Ruga and his wife, Lorie.

While the 31-year-old former AL Rookie of the Year had never met Woods prior to this project, he said the 2019 Masters champion was "obviously" his favorite golfer growing up and he wanted to try and work with him on the venture.

The respect and admiration is mutual, as Woods said through a press release "I’ve always watched Mike on the diamond so when an opportunity arose to work with him on Trout National -- The Reserve, I couldn’t pass it up. It’s a great site for golf and our team’s looking forward to creating a special course for Mike, Jessica, John and Lorie."

According to Verducci, the press release further notes that the course is being built on a "sandy site that was once home to a silica sand mine" and is "surrounded by forest and farmland."

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