Tiger Woods was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame


Although he was all but guaranteed his place a long time ago, Tiger Woods finally took his place among the best golfers in the sport when the 46-year-old American was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame as part of the 2022 class on Wednesday night.

Woods was the headliner in the class that included retired PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, three-time US Women’s Open champion Susie Maxwell Berning and the late Marion Hollins, a visionary who became the first woman to develop prominent golf courses.

Tiger Woods, who was welcomed by his daughter Sam, shared a life story of passion for the game and work ethic. The golfer was not referring to any of his 82 victories on the PGA Tour or his 15 majors, or the eight surgeries he suffered along the way, but rather the guidance of his parents and the accompaniment of his friends, caddies and sponsors.

He talked about his parents taking out a second mortgage that allowed him to play the junior tour in California, and he got a lump in his throat when he mentioned his late father, who told him he would have to earn whatever he wanted.

“If you don’t go out and work, you don’t go out and work hard, one, you won’t get the results; but two, and more importantly, you don’t deserve it. You need to earn it. So that defined my education. That defined my career,” Woods said.

The golfer, in addition to influencing multiple players on the circuit and other sports in general, also had a huge impact on the sport by attracting new fans, increasing television audience ratings and prize money. The AP said the prize pool this week at the Players Championship is $20 million, while the total prize pool in 1997, when Woods made his debut, was $3.5 million, even less than this week’s winner will receive. , 3.6 million dollars.

The athlete is not only distinguished by his victories, but also by how he achieved them. He won the US Open by 15 strokes in 2000, marking his fifth major championship at the time and third that season alone. Eight years later he won the same event with a broken leg. His first big win came at the 1997 Masters, which he won by 12 strokes when he was just 21 years old; Furthermore, Woods donned his fifth Augusta Masters green jacket in 2019 after multiple back surgeries.

Woods, the first player of black and Asian descent to win a major at the 1997 Masters when he was 21, also spoke of the discrimination he felt as a youngster. He told a story about going to a club to play a tournament that he was not allowed to enter due to the color of his skin.

The golfer hasn’t played since his car accident in Southern California last year, which nearly cost him his right leg. He competed in the PNC Championships with his son, Charlie, late last year, but Woods has said several times in recent months that he just can’t go back to playing on tour full-time. He still has a hard time walking and doing it on a golf course for a whole week is too hard for him.



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