Watch: Tiger Woods surprises college golfers during a shoot with his sponsors
It's not every day that you have access to Tiger Woods' knowledge about golf. Those who have the opportunity to receive his advice consider themselves truly fortunate, because if anyone has a thing or two to teach about golf, that's Woods.
This came true for a group of high school and college students who were having a practice round at the Cape Club in Palm City, Florida. Woods approached them out of the blue and advised them on different playing actions.
A video released by the PGA Tour on its social media profiles shows Tiger Woods' encounter with the young players. On X (formerly Twitter) alone, the video has had more than 200,000 views in one hour.
In the post, Woods can be seen chatting with all the players who were practicing on the range. He gave them tips on the different types of swings and on the use of different clubs.
Tiger Woods also took the opportunity to give them a message about the need to work hard to achieve great results. The legend said that when he is preparing for a tournament, he makes sure he has at least 1,000 contacts a day with his clubs.
"That doesn't mean hitting a thousand balls on a range," Woods told the students. "That means, possibly, maybe hitting 100 balls on a range, 300 chip shots and 600 putts. You break it up to whatever you want to break it up to. That develops feel and sensation that never goes away."
Tiger Woods, Bridgestone and the College Development Program
The young players Tiger Woods visited on the range are part of the Bridgestone Collegiate Development Program. The event took place a few days ago as they were shooting a promotional video for the program.
Tiger Woods and Bridgestone Tires have had a sponsorship relationship since 2016. The company is very involved in golf, and even has an entire branch dedicated to the production and selling of golf apparel.
Bridgestone is also the name sponsor of the PGA Tour's Collegiate Development Program. It is an initiative that seeks to provide students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with better and greater opportunities for access to golf.
The Collegiate Development Program is part of a larger effort, Pathway to Progression, which pursues the same goals on a larger scale and integrates other initiatives.
Bridgestone became a name sponsor of the program in September 2023. One of the first actions was to convene the Bridgestone HBCU Invitational, which was played from November 1-2.
The tournament included 15 HBCU teams, 10 men's and five women's teams. Arkansas Pine Bluff won among the men and Alabama State among the women. Both teams won a two-day development camp at the legendary TPC Saugrass, home of The PLAYERS Championship.
For the Arkansas Pine Bluff team, there was an additional prize, an invitation to the Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational to be played in March 2024. The winner of that tournament will receive an invitation to play in a Korn Ferry Tour tournament during 2024.