Twenty-one years ago, Tiger Woods beat his father Earl for the first time on a golf course and celebrated with the exuberant fist pump which has become his trademark.
Woods launches online contest to help kids identify and share their greatest achievementsANAHEIM: Twenty-one years ago, Tiger Woods beat his father Earl for the first time on a golf course and celebrated with the exuberant fist pump which has become his trademark.
Prompted by that experience, Woods has announced the launch of his Fist Pump Challenge, an online contest designed to help youngsters identify and share their greatest achievements.
“It’s important for young people to celebrate their accomplishments,” the American world number one told reporters at the Tiger Woods Learning Center on Monday, shortly before he unveiled a statue of his late father.
“The Fist Pump Challenge allows kids to highlight the moments in their lives that brought them closer to reaching their goals. I believe that small steps can lead to big changes. It’s going to inspire kids and I think that’s where this programme is going to be so influential,” Woods added.
Shortly after turning professional in 1996, Woods created the Foundation with his father Earl, paving the way for the first Tiger Woods Learning Center where children can develop life skills. Around 16,000 students have gone through the center since it opened in Anaheim, California, in February 2006 and Woods plans to open a second one in
the Washington DC area within the next five years.
Father’s legacy
“Building on my father’s legacy, I am challenging children to make a difference in the world and to reach higher and farther than they ever imagined,” Woods, 32, said.
Those words will forever live on at the Tiger Woods Learning Center as they are etched beneath an eight-foot bronze statue of Woods and his father, unveiled on Monday in the lobby of the educational establishment.
Woods will never forget his own ‘Fist Pump Moment’ as an 11-year-old playing at a navy golf course in Long Beach.
“At the time, my Dad was a one-handicapper, a pretty good player, and we were playing from the back tees. I birdied 16 to go even par for the day and my Dad was already at even par.
We both parred 17 and 18 in a par-five. I hit a sand wedge up there to about 15 feet. My Dad at the time was a little bit shorter than me and he hit a little longer club in there to about 20 feet. He missed and I made. I shot 71 and I went crazy,” the world number one said with a broad grin.
“I punched the air, uppercutting the air and ran off the green. It was the greatest thing I had ever done in my life, beating my Dad.”
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