(AP) –A boy who was bullied for stuttering received strong encouragement from someone else who once struggled with his speech — Tiger Woods.
“I also stuttered as a child … ” Tiger Woods wrote in the letter published Tuesday by Golf Digest. “I also took a class for two years to help me, and I finally learned to stop.”
“I know what it’s like to be different and to sometimes not fit in,” Woods wrote in the letter. “I also stuttered as a child and I would talk to my dog and he would sit there and listen until he fell asleep. I also took a class for two years to help me, and I finally learned to stop.”
The plight of the high school boy, identified only as Dillon, was publicized when his mother reached out to eight-time Solheim Cup player Sophie Gustafson of Sweden, who played her entire career on the LPGA and in Europe with a severe stuttering problem.
Gustafson shared the mother’s letter with Golf Digest, which published a story on its website April 30.
The mother said her son tried out for the football team only to quit because of the constant teasing about his stutter. She wrote that he was on the verge of leaping from his bedroom window on April 16 until his parents stopped him.
Read more at ESPN
