“I know if I had to pick one thing that my parents — I was very lucky to have two great parents — I was never afraid to go fail, because I knew that I would always come home to a home of love,” Woods said early last week. “My parents loved me unconditionally, no matter what. If I went out there and I gave it my best and I screwed up, it didn’t matter.

“My parents always told me they loved me every night, every time we said goodbye,” he added. “That was just something that I was never afraid to go out there and push myself to the limit. And if I failed, so what? I always had them to pick me up. I think that’s something that not all people have, but I was lucky to have that my entire life.”

Dave Anderson, “Woods Chases Nicklaus as Father,” New York Times, June 21,2007.