You would think that Earl Woods was focused on only one golfer in the family. 

But actually that’s wrong. The Vietnam War veteran was the architect behind not one but two golfers’ careers in the family. The first one, about his son, Tiger Woods, is well-known. But the second, of Cheyenne Woods, is relatively unknown. Yet, her career wouldn’t have started save for the faith Earl showed in her.

Earl Woods used to work as a scout for IMG, recruiting talented junior golfers. Which included Cheyenne, Tiger Woods’s niece, as well. In a chat with Trish Alyn, she said, “He wrote an official report about me, and he submitted it officially to IMG.” That was sometime around 1993, when she was a kid of three or four. 

But she got to know about it six years later. While making breakfast for her, Earl Woods told Cheyenne about the letter. Naturally, she was curious to know what her granddad wrote. Only he wouldn’t tell. Rather, Earl Woods kept it as a surprise: IMG would come to recruit her when she graduated. 

Cut to a decade or so, Cheyenne Woods graduated from Wake Forest, and IMG came knocking on her door. “I graduated, I wanted to turn pro, IMG came and brought the letter. And I got to read it for the first time,” said Woods, leaving the host in awe. 

“It was always in the back of my mind. When they did bring it, it was like a full circle moment; it felt like a full circle moment.” More so because Earl Woods passed away in 2006, succumbing to cancer.   Cheyenne was still in high school at that time, so she couldn’t really thank her granddad in person. But she is still filled with gratitude. In fact, that letter now hangs on her wall like a painting.

Cheyenne Woods reveals the true impact Earl Woods left on her career.

Surely, Cheyenne Woods never forgot about the letter. In fact, in 2015, during her rookie year, she talked about her granddad’s influence as well. “I always think about that because that’s the one thing that’s really pushed me over the years. My grandfather passed away when I was, I think, 14, but I know how much he believed in me,” she said during the 2015 JTBC Founders Cup.

Cheyenne, like Tiger Woods, picked Excel Sports Management instead of IMG as her representative. But she is forever grateful for Earl’s efforts. It’s not because he tried to offer her a safe road to walk on when she was just a kid. But because he showed Cheyenne her true potential.

Nine years later, her appreciation for Earl Woods hasn’t dimmed. “Those are the types of things that I tell people make a difference. When you have someone in your corner who believes in you and then you start to believe it too, that is what always propelled me in my career, in my life, in golf… said the 34-year-old in the podcast.