“It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Charlie [Sifford] and the other pioneers who fought to play,” said Woods. “I may not be playing golf. My pop likely wouldn’t have picked up the sport,” Woods added. “I wouldn’t have either.”
Charlie Sifford was the first-ever black golfer to get a membership on the PGA Tour. He joined the PGA in 1961 and had won two events during his career. His fight against the ‘Caucasian only‘ rule in the sport had helped people of all races to play in an official tournament.
Woods wrote this above tweet a day later after Charlie Sifford passed away. “I’ve always called him my grandpa, the grandpa I never really had,” the GOAT had said about Sifford.
Charlie was also the first black golfer to get inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. He had also received the 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Barack Obama for changing the outlook of the sport.