An interview between a British reporter and 14 year old Tiger Woods has recently come to light. It makes for uneasy reading but gives a big insight into his feelings and motivation.

Interviewer: Do you ever feel under any kind of prejudice? Golf is often see as an upper class white game. Do you ever feel that?

Tiger: Every time I go to a major country club I always feel it, you can always sense it. People are always staring at you – what are you doing here, you shouldn’t be here. When I go to Texas or Florida you always feel it because they are saying why are you here? You shouldn’t ne here. That’s probably because that’s where all the slavery was. (shrugs).

Interviewer: Do you think that you could be the one to change all that?

Tiger: Yes

Interviewer: If you became the next Jack Nicklaus figure or Tom Watson that could re-educate people?

Tiger: Since I’m black I might be even bigger than Jack Nicklaus. I might be even bigger than him, sort of like a Michael Jordan in basketball.

Interviewer: If there was one tournament you could win what would it be? What captures your imagination?

Tiger: The Masters

Interviewer: Why’s that?

Tiger: The way that blacks have been treated there. If I win that tournament it would be really big for us.

And he went on to win The Masters five times.

And making the cut this year, and completing his 100th round there, in spite of being in noticeable pain showed how strong that motivation was.