Tiger paid a heartfelt tribute to his mother, Kultida, after he received the Bob Jones Award on Tuesday ahead of the 124th US Open.
It is the USGA’s highest honor and is reserved for those who demonstrate the kind of commitment and respect for the game that Jones did.
Woods is set to make his 32nd start in a USGA event when he tees it up at Pinehurst No. 2 this week,
a remarkable feat in itself. More remarkable, his nine victories in USGA championships is a record he shares with Jones.
Woods, now 48, competed in his first US Junior Amateur when he was 14 and went on to claim three in a row from 1991.
But none if it would have been possible without the support of his mother. A mother who never sought the spotlight but who was a constant rock in the early life of a future megastar.
“I look back on those times, those memories, Mom knows this as well as anyone, that I built my whole calendar year around one golf tournament, right, around winning the U.S. Junior,” Woods said.
At 18, Woods then won the first of three US Amateur titles in 1994. He would then defend in 1995 and then again in 1996, becoming the only player in history to do the three-peat.
“Once I had moved past the U.S. Junior days, it was the U.S. Amateur. All I wanted to do was win that one big event,” Woods added.
“I would experiment, try different things throughout the year, and Mom knew when I was hitting wiffle balls and rolled-up toilet paper against the mirror and chipping golf balls over furniture, then she always threatened to break something more than the furniture.
“These are things that I had aspired to be. I had aspired to be a USGA champion because of what that meant, and through the years I’ve been able to win a few more U.S. Opens and to be able to tie the great Bobby Jones in that number, being nine.”
His maiden US Open arrived in peerless fashion as he dominated Pebble Beach and his competitors to win by 15 shots. A second followed in 2002 and six years later he displayed all the grit and determination instilled in him by his mother to defy a broken leg to win at Torrey Pines.
It’s been a remarkable 34 years (and counting) of USGA tournament golf. And while a lot has changed in Woods’ life during that time, the one constant throughout has been his mother.
“I look back at the stopwatch that started back in 1990, and especially in ’96, because there’s no other time that I had ever felt so much pressure to win one event as the last U.S. Amateur that I was ever going to play in, and the reason is Mom never came to any of my Juniors,” he continued.
“Mom never came to one of my Amateurs. She was wearing her Stanford shirt there at Pumpkin Ridge, and she was there for the first time.
“Now imagine if I had lost the damn thing, right? But when I made that winning putt, who was the first person that I hugged. Right, Mommy? It was you. My mom doesn’t get enough credit.
“Everyone thought that it was my dad when I went on the road, which it was, but Mom was at home. If you don’t know, Mom has been there my entire life. She’s always been there through thick and thin.
“This award, I accept it in humbleness and just unbelievable regard for the past recipients, but I also accept it for my mommy, too. She allowed me to get here.
“She allowed me to do these things, chase my dreams, and the support and love — I didn’t do this alone. I had the greatest rock that any child could possibly have, my mom. Thank you, Mommy.”
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
