Tiger Woods has selected his daughter, Sam, to introduce him when he is inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Wednesday evening; Watch the ceremony live from 11pm on Sky Sports' dedicated Players Championship channel
Wednesday 9 March 2022 18:58, UK
Dustin Johnson has said Tiger Woods made golf "cool" and believes the 15-time major champion is a worthy entry into the sport's Golf World Hall of Fame.
Woods will attend a ceremony at the PGA Tour's headquarters in Florida on Wednesday night, where the 46-year old will be inducted alongside former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, four-time major winner Susie Maxwell and renowned course architect Marion Hollins.
The former world No 1 has won 82 times on the PGA Tour in his career to date, with victory at the 2019 Zozo Championship pulling him level with Sam Snead in the all-time rankings, while Johnson has hailed the impact that Woods has had on the sport.
"I think he [Tiger] obviously was huge for the game of golf and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame," Johnson said in his pre-tournament press conference ahead of The Players, live this week on Sky Sports' dedicated Players Championship channel.
"For me growing up as a kid, even when I was in high school, golf was still kind of not really considered a cool sport to play. Maybe not that many people played it, and especially in high school you kind of were a dork if you played golf.
"But Tiger made it actually a cool sport to play. For me it was huge. Obviously at that time it was when he was in his prime, so watching him, everybody wanted to be like Tiger for sure. He was a huge part of me playing golf and wanting to get out on Tour and play against him."
Johnson insisted he made the right decision to focus his golfing future on the PGA Tour after the "distraction" of speculation around the proposed Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.
The former world No 1 released a statement at the Genesis Invitational last month to distance himself from the Saudi Golf League, referring himself as "fully-committed" to the PGA Tour and describing the organisation as the "premier Tour".
"Any time you have something that's not what you're doing, it's going to distract you," Johnson added. "But for me I don't think it was too much of a distraction. Maybe it was, I don't know. I can't really answer that.
"I haven't been playing that well, don't know if it had anything to do with that. But just wanted to have my complete focus on golf and playing on the PGA Tour. That was the main reason for the statement.
"Obviously it was something that you had to have a little bit of interest in, in my position, but like I said, talking with my family and my friends and my team, I think we made the best decision for me."
The former world No 1 has registered just one top-10 in his previous 12 appearances at TPC Sawgrass, finishing tied-fifth when Rory McIlroy claimed victory in 2019, with Johnson unsure why he has previously struggled at the PGA Tour's flagship event.
"Honestly I don't know, because I like the golf course and I feel like it sets up well for me," Johnson admitted. "I would say if anything, that's held me back, it's probably just putting around here.
"I feel like moving to March, I feel like I can read the greens a little bit better. The last few days I feel like I'm rolling the ball really well on the greens, but I would say that would probably be the number one thing. Just playing in May, I don't know why I always struggled on the greens.
"I feel really comfortable out here, and I've had a little more success the last few years since we moved it and hopefully can continue that."
Watch The Players throughout the week live on Sky Sports' dedicated Players Championship channel. Live coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday from 11.30am on Sky Sports The Players.
