Golf legend credits Tiger Woods for altering the sport in one huge way

Tiger Woods is arguably the greatest golfer ever. He has the most PGA Tour wins of all time with 82, and he’s second in terms of Major championships with 15. He’s been credited with opening the doorway for other minority golfers to eventually walk through to stardom. Now, a fellow legend and former competitor is giving Woods credit for an unheralded change he brought about to completely revolutionize golf.

Phil Mickelson lauds Tiger Woods for making preparation a bigger part of golf

Tiger Woods was dedicated to his craft in a way that so few others were. He took it to another level, preparing like no one was in golf. That’s something that caught the attention of Phil Mickelson, who had been a pro golfer for a few years before Woods arrived. Mickelson debuted in 1992, and Woods followed in his footsteps in 1996. They both went on to dominate golf during their tenures.

Mickelson said via Newsweek, “I do wish I had dove in and learned more about nutrition. When I started playing golf though fitness wasn’t even an issue. It wasn’t until Tiger [Woods] came along— he was years behind me—that it really got to be accepted and then got to grow.”

Mickelson didn’t care as much about preparing and taking care of his body until after Woods got into the sport, and that’s true for so many others. The LIV Golf star added that Woods deserves credit for the eventual creation of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), which provides golf-centric training and injury prevention to professional golfers all around the world now.

“When I started working out with my trainer in 2003, 21 years ago, we went into it with the idea of elongating my career rather than trying to perform great for a short period of time,” Mickelson said. “I wish I had dived in a little bit more on nutrition—I didn’t. I don’t think it would have led to my winning more or anything, but it sure would have been nice to be accountable for my health at a younger age.”