Tiger Woods Credits One Man for Making Him Get Into Golf and It’s Not His Dad

Tiger Woods had gained the title ‘greatest golfer of all time’ because of his talent and hard work. However, it is not a secret to the golf world that his father had a huge impact in making his career. Nevertheless, the GOAT had revealed that it is not his father but someone else who is the sole reason for his existence in the sport. 

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Charlie and the other pioneers who fought to play,” said Woods. “I may not be playing golf.” The golfer shared this information with Associated Press through an email. “My pop likely wouldn’t have picked up the sport,” Woods added. “I wouldn’t have either.”

Charlie Sifford was the first-ever black golfer to get a membership on the PGA Tour. He joined the PGA in 1961 and had won two events during his career. His fight against the ‘Caucasian only‘ rule in the sport had helped people of all races to play in an official tournament.

He was also the first black golfer to get inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. He had also received the 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Barack Obama for changing the outlook of the sport. 

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As part of the black community, Woods, too, would have faced difficulties to achieve his dreams if not for Sifford. Woods has always been appreciative of Sifford for this and had kept a close relationship with him until his death in 2015. 

Tiger Woods considered Charlie Sifford as his grandfather!

Woods wrote this above tweet a day later after Charlie Sifford passed away. “I’ve always called him my grandpa, the grandpa I never really had,” the GOAT had said about Sifford. Even Sifford had shared the same feelings as he used to refer to Woods as ‘my grandson.’ Woods has even named his son Charlie Axel Woods after Sifford.  

Woods has won more than eighty PGA Tour events, thanks to Sifford’s effort to make golf accessible for everyone despite their race. If not for Sifford, the golf world might have never gotten to experience the class game of Woods.

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