"I wanted us to be colour blind": When Tiger Woods called out racism in golf

Tiger Woods is a legendary name in the game of golf. He is also the most renowned and successful Black golfer. However, Woods faced a lot of racial discrimination in the early days of his career.

Woods turned professional in 1996. In the book "The 1997 Masters: My Story" co-authored by him and Lorne Rubenstein, Woods shared several instances of him calling out the racism in golf. Woods' first major win came at the 1997 Masters. In an excerpt shared by The Guardian from the book released in 2017, he wrote:

"I knew none of this meant, necessarily, things would change dramatically for minorities in golf. I hoped my win would encourage them to play, or to chase their dreams whatever they were."

In the book, Woods wrote that it would be naive of him to think that his win would mean the end of "the look" people from minorities got when they walked into some golf clubs, especially the game's private clubs. However, he hoped that his win would make a dent in the way people perceived Black people.

"I hoped my win would open some doors for minorities. My biggest hope, though, was we could one day see one another as people and people alone. I wanted us to be colour blind. Twenty years later, that has yet to happen."

At the 1997 Masters tournament, Fuzzy Zoeller made a racist remark about Woods. Talking about Woods, he said (via CBS Sports):

"You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it. Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."

Zoeller later apologized for his racist remarks. Woods accepted the apology.

In the book, Tiger Woods also wrote that he might have been underwhelmed despite the win in the 1997 Masters because the Augusta National Golf Club had excluded Black golfers from playing for long. Further, his father Earl had told him that a win at the Masters didn't hold the same significance for a Black golfer due to its history.

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A look at Tiger Woods' record at the Masters

Tiger Woods has a sensational record at the Masters. In 26 starts at the tournament, he has made 24 cuts, 14 top-10 finishes and 18 top-25 finishes. Of his 15 major wins, five of them came at the Masters tournament. He won the tournament in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2019.

In 1997, Tiger Woods won by a huge margin of 12 strokes over Tom Kite. He won the 2001 tournament by one shot over David Duval and in 2002 by three strokes over Retief Goosen. In 2005, he won in playoffs against Chris DiMarco. In his last Masters win in 2019, he won by one stroke over Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Xander Schauffele.

Let's take a look at Tiger Woods' record at the Masters tournament since 1995:

• 1995: T41 (293, 72-72-77-72)
• 1996: Missed cut (150, 75-75)
• 1997: 1st (270, 70-66-65-69)
• 1998: T8 (285, 71-72-72-70)
• 1999: T18 (289, 72-72-70-75)
• 2000: 5th (284, 75-72-68-69)
• 2001: 1st (272, 70-66-68-68)
• 2002: 1st (276, 70-69-66-71)
• 2003: T15 (290, 76-73-66-75)
• 2004: T22 (290, 75-69-75-71)
• 2005: 1st (276, 74-66-65-71)
• 2006: T3 (284, 72-71-71-70)
• 2007: T2 (291, 73-74-72-72)
• 2008: 2nd (283, 72-71-68-72)
• 2009: T6 (280, 70-72-70-68)
• 2010: T4 (277, 68-70-70-69)
• 2011: T4 (278, 71-66-74-67)
• 2012: T40 (293, 72-75-72-74)
• 2013: T4 (283, 70-73-70-70)
• 2015: T17 (283, 73-69-68-73)
• 2018: T32 (289, 73-75-72-69)
• 2019: 1st (275, 70-68-67-70)
• 2020: T38 (287, 68-71-72-76)
• 2022: 47th (301, 71-74-78-78)
• 2023: WD (147, 74-73)
• 2024: 60 (304, 73-72-82-77)