Thursday, May 4, 2006

Woods Pays Tribute To Late Father


Tiger Woods has described his father Earl, who has died aged 74 of cancer, as his "greatest role model".

Earl Woods was the architect and driving force behind the world number one's incredible career.

He died on Wednesday morning after a long battle with prostate cancer, with which he was diagnosed in 1998.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply. I wouldn't be where I am today without him," Tiger Woods said.

"I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life.

"He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I'm honoured to continue his legacy of sharing and caring."

Woods has recently taken time out from his career to be with his father, who looked to have beaten the disease in 2004 after six years of treatment, only for it to return.

Last month, Earl Woods was for the first time too frail to travel to the Masters, his favourite major.

Tiger, who was the reigning champion, finished tied for third.

Tiger, who was introduced to golf as a young child by Earl, has often attributed his mental toughness in tournaments to his former Green Beret father.

Earl nicknamed his son "Tiger" after a Vietnamese soldier who became a good friend when he served with the US military in Vietnam.

Earl, a former catcher with Kansas State who became the first black to play baseball in the Big Eight Conference, is also survived by three children from his first marriage.

Jack Nicklaus, who was also 30 when his father died, said he had long "admired and related to the close bond" shared by Tiger and Earl.

"My father was my best friend, my mentor and perhaps my greatest support system. Earl was all of that to Tiger," said Nicklaus, whose record of 18 major victories Tiger - who currently has 10 - is aiming to break. [ BBC]

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a huge Tiger fan and this is big. May Earl rest in peace and I'm sorry for his loss. His dad pushed him to be the great golfer and person Tiger is today.

Anonymous said...

Great site lots of usefull infomation here.
»

Anonymous said...

I say briefly: Best! Useful information. Good job guys.
»

Anonymous said...

Greets to the webmaster of this wonderful site. Keep working. Thank you.
»

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
»

Anonymous said...

Super color scheme, I like it! Good job. Go on.
»

Anonymous said...

I love your website. It has a lot of great pictures and is very informative.
»

Anonymous said...

What a great site, how do you build such a cool site, its excellent.
»

Anonymous said...

Greets to the webmaster of this wonderful site. Keep working. Thank you.
»

Anonymous said...

Your website has a useful information for beginners like me.
»

Anonymous said...

I love your website. It has a lot of great pictures and is very informative.
»