Tiger remembers vividly how his mother would drive him to his junior events in her Plymouth Duster. She was not the parent chatting up the other parents, ever. Tida Woods and Mary Mickelson, another Southern California golf mom, started crossing paths in the early 1990s, first at Tour events, later at Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups. It wasn’t until the 2012 Ryder Cup that the two mothers actually met, and that visit was brief. Tida’s purpose was Tiger.
When talk turns to Tiger’s life and times, there’s a lot of Earl this and Earl that. Lt. Col. Earl Woods, Green Beret soldier, mid-70s golfer. But Earl was a softie, he really was. Tiger will tell you that. Tida was the one who took no prisoners. He’ll tell you that, too. When Tiger won his first Tour event in 1996, in a playoff over Davis Love, Tida said, “He take his heart.”
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