Tiger Woods

Dear Diary,

This weekend was a very refreshing one for me.

I had the luxury of reading a scholastic biography of Eldrick Woods, more commonly known as Tiger Woods. His life story has been really inspirational to me. As I was reading his biography, I was reminded of my 2 friends, peer level friends, one living in Malaysia & one in the US that has had an inspiritional impact on my life. I appreciated and admired their charisma, personality and confidence in the way they carried themselves. What inspired me most was that ..they were young & accomplished. AND the plus point was we were good friends. I grew up with one of them. We were classmates. Ran track & field together. Hung around a lot together. Today, they are both accomplished personalites in their field of work. I would be happy if I found out someone thinks the same of me ... ACCOMPLISHED PERSONALITY .... but I really don't know. Although I have had comments that I am a role model & an accomplished personality in my own respects, I still don't know how to gauge that.

Tiger Woods is just 3 years younger than I am. He was born in 1975. He is young. He grew up in a middle class home in California. Tiger is a genuine example of the American melting pot in action. His mixed ethinicity; African-American, Chinese, Native American, Thai and Caucasion makes him a culturally diverse personality. I admire his father for having the desire in introducing Eldrick to golf at such a young age -10 or 11 months old. What's amazing was Eldrick had his own putter !!! That is simply awesome. What an encouragement to Eldrich. I am challenged, really challenged to be a source of encouragement to my 2 wonderful kids. I want to be their HERO.

Eldrich grew up watching his father play golf. By the time Eldrich was 2 years old, he could chip shots, tee off, and hit putts. At 6 years old, he scored his first hole in one. This was truly a stunning achivement for such a young player. Eldrich joined golf championships at amatuer level & won many times over.

He worked hard. Stayed focused. Never gave up. I am amazed... at such a young age he had so much determination, will power and discipline to succeed.

He moved on from amatuer golf to profesional golf. He became profesional at the age of 21.

At 21, I was still at Emile Woolf , barely surviving my profesional exams, the Chartered Accountancy exams, said to be one of the top few hardest exams in the world, by British standards.

Eldrick joined the PGA Tour, facing a whole new set of challenges. Failing a few times , and winning a few top level competitions. He kept learning from his mistakes. He practised hard. Had good coaches. He made the effort . He gave his ALL.

In 1997, Eldrick made it to The Masters Tournament. It is one of the most important profesional golf tournaments in the world. Baseball players dream about going to the World Series, tennis players fantasize about Wimbledon, track & field athletes dream of running at the Olympics. For a golf player, winning The Masters is a dream come true. The Masters always attracts the best players in the world.

In the first round, Eldrick shot a decent 70. This score left him 2 strokes under par, and in fourth place. In the second round, he put together everything he had ever learned and shot a 66, leaving him six under par for the tournament. This was such a powerful round that at the end of the day, he found himself alone in the first place with a 3 stroke lead.

Tiger was clearly on the roll.

In the third round, Eldrick scored a jaw-dropping 65 strokes. He was 9 strokes ahead. It would be almost impposible to catch him now.

In his final round, Eldrick flew through his final round, hitting towering drives and sinking perfect putts. The rest of the field had been left so far behind that they didnt evenseem to exist. When it was all over, Eldrick had won by a record breaking twelve strokes.

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He raced over to where his father and mother were waiting, and hugged them as hard as he could. It was impossible not to cry at such a moment, and all three of them did. I am stirred in my emotions, nearly tearing, to see such a synergy of love, care & sacrifice the parents bestowed on Eldrick. It was his parents that stood by him, encouraged him, supported him in every sense even when they were financially pressed. Tiger Woods is who he is because of the love Mr & Mrs Woods showed him.

I want to be that kind of father to my lovely kids. They are talented, brilliant, full of charisma, beautiful and the lists goes on ... what more can I ask for. I am passionate in being a role model to Schenker & Samantha. They will be ACCOMPLISHED personalities. This I know !!!

Love to my lovely wife and kids.

With Love,
Shanks