PUNT VEDRA BEACH, FL – In what appeared like a formality from the primary time he performed in a PGA Tour occasion on the Milwaukee Grand Open in August 1996, or maybe even earlier than then, Tiger Woods was formally inducted into the World Golf Corridor of Fame on Wednesday .
Woods, 46, was elected to the Corridor of Fame in March 2020 and was because of be inducted subsequent 12 months, however the ceremony was delayed because of COVID-19. The occasion was held on the PGA Tour headquarters; The World Golf Corridor of Fame is positioned about 25 miles away in St. Augustine, Florida.
Woods was launched on the ceremony by his 14-year-old daughter Sam.
Throughout his introduction speech, Woods spoke of being denied entry to all-white nation membership golf equipment when he was younger and taking his dad and mom a second mortgage on their residence to pay for his journey bills.
Woods stated his late father, Earl, and mom, Coltida, “instilled in me this work ethic of combating for what I consider in, chasing my desires, and you may be given completely nothing, every thing will likely be earned.”
“If you happen to do not go on the market and do the work, you do not exit and make an effort, one, you are not going to get outcomes, however two, and most significantly, you’ll be able to’t earn it,” Woods stated.
Nobody has had a extra profound influence on golf than Woods, whose daring taking part in and management have attracted minorities to the game and made it nice for youthful generations to play. His recognition went past sports activities and made him one of many richest and most well-known individuals on the earth.
Woods achieved his first of 15 main tournaments in his second 12 months on the PGA Tour, when he received the 1997 Masters Championship by breaking the 12-shot file and set the file at 18-under. He received the 2000 US Open by 15 strokes and the 2000 US Open by eight. In 2001, Woods turned the one participant in historical past to win 4 consecutive majors – profitable the final three majors in 2000 after which the 2001 Masters – a feat that turned referred to as the “Tiger Slam”.
Woods has received the Masters 5 instances, the PGA Championship 4 instances, and the US Open and European Championships 3 times every. Ranked #1 within the official golf world rankings for 683 weeks, tied with a PGA Tour file of 82 wins and a file 142 consecutive cuts.
After a number of knee and again surgical procedures, Woods received the 2019 Masters, his first main in 11 years.
“I do know golf is a person sport,” Woods stated. “We regularly do issues ourselves for hours on finish, however in my case, I didn’t come right here by myself. I had fantastic dad and mom, mentors, and mates, who allowed and supported me by way of the hardest instances, the darkest instances, and celebrated the best instances.”
Woods might not have completed but. He has not participated in an official PGA Tour occasion for the reason that Masters in November 2020. He sustained critical accidents to his proper leg and proper foot in a automobile wreck outdoors Los Angeles on February 23, 2023. He underwent a number of surgical procedures and final stated a month that he plans to return to aggressive play, however he not know when.
When Woods and his household arrived on the PGA Tour headquarters just a few hours earlier than Wednesday evening’s live performance, he wasn’t carrying the large black sleeve he had on his proper leg at his final public look.
“Not too long ago, my dad has needed to prepare more durable than ever,” Sam Woods stated throughout her opening speech. “A couple of 12 months in the past, I used to be caught in a hospital mattress in one of many worst moments I’ve ever had and one of many scariest moments of my life and ours. We did not know when you have been going to come back residence with two toes or not. Now, no, you are nearly to be inducted into the Corridor of Fame. , however you might be standing right here in your two toes.
“That is why you deserve this, since you’re a fighter. You have defied the percentages each time, being the primary black and Asian golfer to win a serious, with the ability to win a Fifth Masters after a number of again surgical procedures, with the ability to stroll after just a few months of… your crash.”
A number of PGA Tour gamers, together with Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau and Bubba Watson, attended the induction ceremony.
“I feel the truth that he is an individual of coloration and what that brings to the desk when it comes to golf being a extra acceptable sport when you’re from a sure ethnic background, I feel that left such an enormous imprint on the sport,” Rory McIlroy stated this week. “I actually suppose the sport is extra various due to him. And simply his total play and the thrill he created about golf, he was, as I stated at his pomp within the early 2000s, he was in all probability essentially the most well-known man on the earth.”
To place Woods’ influence on the PGA Tour into perspective, take into account that when he first performed within the Gamers Championship in 1997, the entire purse was $3.5 million. The winner of this week’s event at TPC Sawgrass will obtain $3.6 million from a $20 million purse.
“We, as his colleagues and friends, have all benefited from that,” McIlroy stated. “He made golf, the sport {of professional} golf on the highest stage, very engaging to be concerned in. Tv paid extra. Sponsors paid extra. And instantly his friends, teammates, and different gamers received paid extra due to it.”
former LPGA star Susie Maxwell Burning, a three-time winner of the US Girls’s Open; former commissioner of PGA Excursions Tim Finchum; and Marion Hollins, 1921 American Novice Champion and first golf developer.
