Earlier this month, Tiger Woods was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Woods is tied with Sam Snead for most PGA Tour victories (82) and second in major championships (15) only behind Jack Nicklaus (18). Woods has been ranked #1 in the world for a total of 683 weeks in his career, first becoming #1 on June 15, 1997. Woods is widely considered to be the greatest golfer of his generation and the only golfer who challenges Nicklaus for the title of GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). Woods was a true prodigy of the game, already appearing on The Mike Douglas Show before turning three. From the time he could walk, he had a golf club in his hand and truly was destined for greatness.
Before becoming a dominant force on the PGA Tour, Woods was a dominant force in the Pac-10 for Stanford. He enrolled in the fall of 1994 before leaving after his sophomore year in the spring of 1996. He won 11 of the 26 tournaments he entered, was named Pac-10 Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996, was named a First Team All-American in 1995 and 1996, was the Pac-10 individual champion in 1996, the National Player of the Year in 1996, and also the individual NCAA champion in 1996. Woods’ 11 titles tie the school record and he did it in just two years.
While Woods is undoubtedly the greatest golfer to ever play for Stanford, he’s arguably the greatest athlete to ever come through Stanford as well. Stanford has had a lot of amazing athletes over the years, but very few have a resume that stacks up to what Woods has accomplished. In my humble opinion, he’s the biggest rival to Michael Jordan in terms of all-time athletic dominance. Just because of how hard it is to dominate golf and the manner at which he dominated.
Even though he still hasn’t completed his degree from Stanford, Woods has remained connected and involved with the school over the years. He’s given speeches to the football team and just in general seems happy to come back to campus and be an ambassador for the university. If you watch footage of Nick Robinson hitting “The Shot” to beat Arizona and keep Stanford #1 in the country, you’ll see Woods among the crowd cheering as loudly as anybody. He certainly seems to have had a very positive experience at Stanford.
As far as his Hall of Fame speech is concerned, two things stood out to me the most. The first is the gratitude that he has towards his parents for the sacrifices they made to make his golf dreams come true. Most notably their decision to take out a second mortgage when he was around 14 years old so that they could fund his golfing. He spoke about how proud he was to later be able to pay off that mortgage.
The second thing that stood out was Woods opening up about the challenges he faced being a person of color in a white dominated sport. Growing up he often wouldn’t be allowed into the club houses of country clubs that he competed at because of the color of his skin.
“I was not allowed in the club houses where all the other juniors were,” Woods recalled. “The color of my skin dictated that. As I got older, that drove me even more. So as I was denied access into the club houses, that’s fine. I put my shoes on here in the parking lot, I asked two questions only. That was it: ‘Where was the first tee?’ and ‘What was the course record?’ Not complicated.”
At 46 years of age, Tiger Woods is a father with two kids who are entering their formative years, he still has his mother, and he’s also just in general trying to rebound from some difficult personal issues. All while still hoping to win more major titles. It’ll be interesting to see what this next chapter of his life will bring and also how he’ll impact Stanford in the future.
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