Preloading

Tiger Woods Tears Up Upon Hearing His Father's Letter

Aired on 05/05/1998 | CC
Many boys have been raised to believe that crying is a sign of weakness, a societal belief that can be even more forced upon athletes, who are thought to be too tough to cry.

Tiger Woods' father, Earl, gave his son a profoundly different perspective. In a letter written to Tiger—who was already taking professional golf by storm—and published in Earl's book Playing Through, Earl wrote that crying isn't a sign of weakness but a sign of strength, and that when he dies, he knows he'll have left his boy with the tools to make good decisions.

Here, in this moment from Earl and Tiger's 1998 Oprah Show appearance, Tiger hears the letter for the first time, which elicits tears from both father and son.