The Green Beret who made the Tiger king of the fairways

Earl Woods' mission was to raise a good person, but he got a great golfer as well. By James Corrigan

Earl Woods' death was being mourned in the world of golf last night as not merely that of the father of the greatest player to have ever picked up a club, but more so as that of the man who discovered and nurtured one of sport's most rounded talents.

Quite simply, Earl made Tiger. And what made him all the more popular was the fact that this was an epitaph he never once sought. In fact, Woods Snr would have blanched at the first mention of it.

For while certain other adults have shamelessly and vicariously lived their own unachieved ambitions through their precocious sporting offspring, making themselves superstars by association in the process, the former Green Beret always desisted from doing so. It had always been his mission, he claimed, to raise a good person and not a great golfer. "One was a delight," he once said. "The other was a bonus."

The most overwhelming proof that here was a "parent from heaven" rather than a "parent from hell" was provided in the words of his son after the 74-year-old had lost his long battle with prostate cancer at the family home in Cypress, California, yesterday.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply," said Tiger. "I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honoured to continue his legacy of sharing and caring." The selfish side of golf would have instantly deduced from the last part of the statement on his website that the world No 1 would be returning to the game sooner rather than later after his "mini-break" from competition, but it is still likely he will not be seen on a fairway again until the US Open in six weeks' time.

At Winged Foot, the scenes are sure to be highly emotional, just as they will be highly charged. Because Tiger likes winning things for his dad. He dedicated his comeback win at the Masters last year to his absent "Pops" - who was back fighting the cancer he thought he had beaten but which returned with a vengeance in 2004 - and he would have dedicated many more. If his inspiration would have let him.

To Earl, though, the very thought of sharing his son's limelight, to be a "stage father", was anathema. "People who know me know that I'm not remotely like that," he told Golf Digest. "It's an insult to my intelligence." Not that he was all perfect as he admitted whenever quizzed about the progenies from his first marriage. Woods was a military man with two tours of duty in Vietnam and was unable to donate the time with his first three children that he was with Eldrick, who was born when Earl was 43 and retired. With his new wife, Tida, a Thai whom he met in Vietnam, they coined their son "Tiger" after a South Vietnamese Army colonel who was a close friend during the war. The nickname was to stick just as were the lessons of his military background.

"I tried everything to break Tiger," admitted Earl as some of the unorthodox tactics he employed in forging his son's unique competitive instincts began to emerge. But if his habit of rattling his keys whenever Tiger was over a short putt seemed cruel, then his insistence that his boy accept his responsibilities was the making of the man.

For starters, Tiger was in charge of his clubs, that was his responsibility, and when Earl once saw him forgetting to pack them before a long trip to a junior competition, he drove all the way there before opening the boot and telling his crying son it was time to go home. A lesson of respect for his equipment had been learned and Woods has confessed many times that he always remembered it.

Just as he always remembered that he was the one whose job it was to book the hotels when the pair trawled around the US. Earl was preparing him for the time when he would not be there to do things for him. "I don't have to be there for Tiger to know I'm with him," he said. "I taught him to play golf, with or without me. He knows I'm always there."