Tiger Woods Honors Special Forces Veterans While Remembering His Father's Service
May 13, 2012 - Ponte Vedra, Florida, USA - Tiger Woods during the final round of the Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass on May 13, 2012 in Ponte Vedra, Fla. ..ZUMA PRESS/ Scott A. Miller. Copyright: xScottxA.xMillerx
May 13, 2012 - Ponte Vedra, Florida, USA - Tiger Woods during the final round of the Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass on May 13, 2012 in Ponte Vedra, Fla. ..ZUMA PRESS/ Scott A. Miller. Copyright: xScottxA.xMillerx
Tiger Woods paused his recovery hiatus on Memorial Day to share a rare tribute to his father’s Special Forces service. The post marked his first public message since stepping away from golf in March.
The 50-year-old honored the fallen service members in a personal note shared on X, singling out his late father's military career. "My father was a Special Forces operator with two tours in Vietnam and 20 years of service," he wrote.
"To all those like my father, we all say thank you for your sacrifices. Without them, we wouldn't have the greatest country on Earth."
It was the first post Woods shared on X since March 31. His previous communication focused on his health. He said he was stepping away from golf to focus on a “lasting recovery.”
Woods has been staying in Switzerland, where reports say he is undergoing treatment at a rehabilitation facility. Earlier this month, he briefly returned to Florida before flying back to Switzerland over the weekend.
Earl Woods retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. He died in 2006 at the age of 74. He served two tours in Vietnam and spent 20 years in the military. The discipline he learned there later helped shape Tiger Woods’ career.
That same discipline became a big reason for Tiger’s success, including 82 PGA Tour wins and 15 major titles.
Before the Swing, Tiger Woods' Father Was a Soldier
Earl Woods was not only Tiger’s first golf coach. He was also a Green Beret soldier.
He used the mental strength he learned in the military to train Tiger. During practice, he would make noise or drop a bag while Tiger was swinging to teach him how to stay calm under pressure. The training worked.
Tiger later became famous for staying calm and finishing strong in big moments.
Earl saw something bigger than golf in Tiger from a young age. At a banquet in 1996, he said about his son, “He will transcend this game and bring to the world a humanitarianism which has never been known before.”
Earl did not live long enough to see everything Tiger achieved later. But on Memorial Day in 2026, Tiger made sure people still remembered his father.
Read more at Club Golf!
Written by
Sneha Abraham
Edited by
Pulkit Prabhav