Woods - contributed to the new book (Getty Images).
WOODS RECALLS RACIST ATTACK
Tiger Woods has agreed for a new book by basketball star Charles Barkley to
talk again about the racist attack he suffered as a youngster.
The book is entitled "Who's Afraid Of A Large Black Man?" and in it Barkley
interviews various figures from all walks of life, including former President
Bill Clinton and the actors Samuel L Jackson and Morgan Freeman.
Woods, this week trying for the second leg of a first Grand Slam of all four
major titles, says: "I became aware of my racial identity on my first day of
school, on my first day of kindergarten.
"A group of sixth graders tied me to a tree, spray-painted the word 'nigger'
on me and threw rocks at me. That was my first day of school. And the teacher
really didn't do much of anything.
"I used to live across the street from school and kind of down the way a
little bit. The teacher said 'okay, just go home'. So I had to outrun all these
kids going home, which I was able to do.
"It was certainly an eye-opening experience, you know, being five years
old."
There were other occasions when he was shouted at growing up and he also
recalls when he was 18.
"I was out practising, just hitting pitch shots and some guy just yelled over
the fence and used the 'N' word numerous times at me. That's in 1994."
Woods was asked today about the fact that nine years on from turning
professional he is still the only African-American on the US tour.
"I thought there would be more of us out here, but then again it's a matter
of getting enough players. You've got to have a base big enough.
"At the junior level there are some with some talent, but as you continue to
play throughout golf and continue to move up in levels the process of screening
kind of weeds them out.
"It's hard to make it out here. A lot of these kids don't have the
opportunity to practise and play and compete around the country in junior golf
events or individual amateur events.
"I've seen enough of them in college, so I'm excited about that, getting an
education, getting an opportunity to further themselves from that aspect.
"When you have more at the ground level just getting introduced to the game
hopefully that will facilitate more African-American players out here."
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