The World Golf Hall of Fame inducted four new members into the 2022 class with Tiger Woods as the highlight. The other inductees are three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Susie Maxwell Berning, former PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, and the late Marian Hollins, a U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and the first woman to develop golf courses.
The Induction ceremony took place at the PGA headquarters at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where Woods’s 14-year-old daughter, Sam, introduced him, emphasizing that Woods often preaches the motto of his father, Earl Woods, from his time as an Army special forces green beret: “Practice hard, fight easy.”
Sam recounted the day of her birth, when Woods missed a putt to get into a playoff, and then rushed to the hospital. “You may have lost that day,” she said, “but you won the greatest gift of all.”
Woods joins some of the greatest names in golf history, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, and Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus won 18 majors and Woods won 15 to top the list.
Woods was ranked as the World #1 ranked player for 683 weeks, with 82 total wins, and made 142 straight made cuts from 1998–2005.
It is undeniable that Woods has had an enormous impact on the popularity and growth of the PGA and golf itself.
“His impact on the game is probably the most profound of anybody ever,” said world #4 Patrick Cantlay.
“He inspired a whole generation, besides entertaining all of us for 20 years and doing unbelievable things,” said world #1 Jon Rahm. “That’s why the level of the game is as high as it is right now.”
“Tiger made it a cool sport to play,” said former #1 Dustin Johnson.
Woods gulped tears as he thanked his mother for her “sacrifices,” and his father instilling “his work ethic.”
Woods said that his father taught him to “fight for what I believe in. Chase after my dreams. Nothing’s ever gonna be given to you. Everything’s gonna be earned.”
“If you don’t go out there and put in the work, put in the effort, you’re not going to get the results,” added Woods. “More importantly, you don’t deserve it, you didn’t earn it. So that defined my upbringing that defined my career.”
Woods also stated in his acceptance speech that when he was 14 1/2 years old, his parents “took out a second mortgage” in order for him to compete in the newly developed American Junior Golf Association; the competitions were a recruiting tool for collegiate golf, and Woods ultimately received a scholarship to Stanford.
So when he received endorsement deals with Titleist and Nike at 20 years old, Woods said that “the first thing I was able to do was to pay off that second mortgage.”
“I didn’t get here alone,” added Woods. “I had unbelievable parents, mentors, friends who supported me in the toughest times, darkest of times, and celebrated the highest of times.”
Woods revealed that he was not allowed to enter some of the clubhouses of tournaments that he competed in, stating, “I'd put my shoes on in the parking lot and ask two questions: Where’s the first tee? And what’s the course record?”
Woods thanked his family, saying, “Thank you to my mom, Sam, (girlfriend) Erica, Charlie, everyone here ... all my friends.”
Wood finished by saying that while it’s technically an individual award, “it’s actually a team award. All of you allowed me to get here, and I say thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.”
