Years After Being Released From Prison, Jack Nicklaus Endorsed Artist Breaks Silence on Golf’s Contribution in Him Being Freed

Golf is a beautiful sport that requires patience and skill to master it. To fall in love with the sport, one may have to play it. However, a talented artist, who was imprisoned for life, found hope in his life again through the golf courses. While Jack Nicklaus once referred to him as Nelson Mandela, let’s take a look at the inspiring story of Valentino Dixon.

Being imprisoned for a crime that one did not commit may perhaps be the biggest crime after all. Dixon fell prey to the poor judiciary in 1991 when he was sentenced to life. He was a promising art student before being wrongly convicted of murder.

Following his imprisonment, Valentino Dixon ended his dreams of being an artist. He didn’t draw anything for the first seven years of his internment. Nonetheless, life gave the talented drawer another chance when the warden asked him to draw a golf hole.

Why did Jack Nicklaus have high admiration for Valentino Dixon?

Finally, after years of ignoring his art, Nixon’s passion for drawing reignited. He began drawing every day for his enlightenment. The wrongly convicted prisoner revealed to the Guardian to have never played golf before since he grew up in a ‘tough, inner‑city neighborhood’, where football and basketball were largely emphasized.

Nonetheless, he was once even requested to draw the 12th hole of the Augusta National, a Par 3, which is arguably one of the most beautiful sights in the golf world. The iconic drawing was later purchased by Michelle Obama as a gift for her former POTUS husband Barack. “Golf? I don’t know anything about golf”, Dixon claimed to have been his first reaction when he was asked by the warden to draw a golf hole.

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However, his neighbor motivated him to draw more golf courses, and once he began drawing the holes, he couldn’t stop himself. As his love for the 18-hole sport grew, so did his bid for freedom. Fortunately for him, the person responsible for the shooting in 1991 came clean 27 years after the infamous murder. Richard Dixon was a free man in 2018 and was in attendance during Tiger Woods’ Masters win in 2019.

While meeting the 15-time Major winner, Dixon was surprised to know Tiger knew his inspirational story. He even earned the admiration of Tiger Woods who told his manager, ‘I like this (Dixon) guy’. While he won the heart of the golfing great, another Hall of Famer also had some wise words for the artist. Jack Nicklaus compared Valentino Dixon to Nelson Mandela, as both men had spent more than 20 years in prison.

However, it was the similarity of how much they achieved after being released from prison which may have made Nicklaus draw to the conclusion. Now, a free man, Valentino Dixon lives only five minutes away from the Augusta National Golf Course. “Without golf art, I’d still be sitting in jail right now”, said the artist.

He even received a medal from the Vatican. Though he admitted to never playing golf in the past, following his release, the artist is an avid golfer. Indeed, golf is a beautiful sport that at times can even bring justice to the wrongfully convicted.

What are your thoughts on Dixon’s inspiring story? Let us know in the comment section below.

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