Tiger meets Stoneman Douglas High student
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Tiger Woods met with a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student while at the Honda Classic on Wednesday, one week after a mass shooting at the school left 17 dead.
According to WPEC, the CBS television affiliate based in West Palm Beach, Fla., Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, heard that one of the volunteers at the event, Kevin Shanahan, is a sophomore at the school. He relayed the message to Woods, who called Shanahan over to the driving range, shook his hand and autographed his hat.
“It was really a majority of me thanking him, because I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m getting this signed by Tiger Woods.’ But it really felt like he talked from the heart,” Shanahan told WPEC. “It didn’t feel scripted. It felt like it really came from him being sincere and saying, ‘I’m really sorry that you’re going through this,’ and it made me feel awesome.”
Woods told USA TODAY after com- pleting his first round Thursday that the meeting was moving for him.
“Meeting him brings you right back to reality, thinking about what he has to deal with and what he’s seen and things he has to deal with the rest of his life,” Woods said.
“It’s humbling that he wanted to meet me. But he was out here, wanting to get away from it, wanting to enjoy it, and it was nice to be able to help him enjoy being out here. When he leaves here, leaves the golf course, he has to go back to a pretty harsh reality.”
The CBS affiliate also reported that Shanahan, who has volunteered at the event for “several years now,” got a picture with Rickie Fowler.
The Honda Classic is being held at PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, which is about an hour north of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Woods finished at par 70, four strokes behind the first-round co-leaders Webb Simpson and Alex Noran.