Tiger Woods teared up as he was inducted into the golf hall of fame Wednesday, and rightfully so. Indeed, Woods has had many ups and downs in his storied career, but his accomplishments are legendary.
Woods was included in the Hall of Fame for what is undoubtedly one of the most amazing and consequential careers in all of golf as he nearly single-handedly brought golf to millions who may otherwise never have taken an interest in the sport.
The 46-year-old golf phenomenon choked up when thanking his mother and father for all they did to allow him to pursue his dream of becoming a pro golfer.
“Without the sacrifices of Mom who took me to all those junior golf tournaments, and Dad, who’s not here, but who instilled in me this work ethic to fight for what I believe in, chase after my dreams, nothing’s ever going to be given to you, everything’s going to be earned,” he said from the podium. “If you don’t go out there and put in the work, you don’t go out and put in the effort, one, you’re not going to get the results, but two, and more importantly, you don’t deserve it. You need to earn it.
“So that defined my upbringing. That defined my career,” he added.
Woods was inducted to his rightful place in the gallery of greats by his daughter, Sam, who noted that only a year ago, Tiger was nearly killed.
“About a year ago, you were stuck in a hospital bed at one of your ultimate lows and one of the scariest moments of your life and ours,” Sam said about the Feb. 2021 car accident. “We didn’t know if you’d come home with two legs or not. Now not only are you about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but you’re standing here on your own two feet. This is why you deserve this; because you’re a fighter.”
Woods’ accomplishments are legendary, and many of the records he set will be extremely hard to break.
The record of just some of his accomplishments, as published by USA Today, is amazing:
After winning three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur titles and three consecutive U.S. Amateur championships, Woods, 46, turned pro in 1996. He promptly won three times on the PGA Tour in his first 10 starts.
Then he won the 1997 Masters by 12 shots, a historic victory as Woods became the first man of color to win at Augusta National Golf Club.
…
The list of his feats stretches out as long as one of his drives from his heyday. The record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles, the 15 major championships. A record 142 consecutive cuts made, a record 683 weeks – 13 years – atop the official world rankings. A record 11 PGA Tour Player of the Year Awards.
He’s the youngest player to complete the career Grand Slam, doing so at age 24 when he won the 2000 British Open at the Home of Golf, the Old Course at St. Andrews. En route to becoming the only player to win four consecutive professional major championships – known as the “Tiger Slam” – he won the 2000 U.S. Open by 15, the 2000 Open by 8, the 2000 PGA in a playoff, and the 2001 Masters by two. And he won on a broken leg at the 2008 U.S. Open and captured his fifth Masters in 2019 following spinal fusion surgery (his fifth back surgery, to go along with five surgeries on his left knee).
“I had this burning desire to be able to express myself in this game of golf,” Woods said during his speech. “One of the things that Dad had instilled in me is that he grew up in the same era as Charlie Sifford (the first black member of the PGA Tour) and why my son is named after Charlie, is that you had to be twice as good to be given half a chance. So that understanding and that drive, as Sam said, train hard, fight easy.”
“I made practicing so difficult, hurt so much, because I wanted to make sure that I was ready come game time. I hit thousands of balls, hands bleeding, aching, just so that I could play in a tournament,” he added.
“I know that golf is an individual sport. We do things on our own a lot for hours on end, but in my case, I didn’t get here alone. I had unbelievable parents, mentors, friends, who allowed me and supported me in the toughest times, the darkest of times, and celebrated the highest of times,” Woods said.
Tributes poured in from celebrities and athletes, including Serena Williams, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Brady, and others.
Also inducted this year was former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Susie Maxwell Berning, and golfer Marion Hollins, who was inducted posthumously.
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