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Tiger writes letter to bullied teen

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  • Golf Channel Digital,
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  • Golf Channel Digital
  
Published May 11, 2015 03:09 PM
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Updated May 12, 6:07 p.m. ET

Here is the letter from Tiger Woods, via Golf Digest’s Ron Sirak:

Sirak also shared an email from Dillion, which read, in part:

“On Saturday, I got a letter from Tiger! He told me that he used to stutter too. We are going to frame the letter. We have never seen a golf tournament in person, only on TV. I told my mom that when my leg gets better (he fractured his leg in his suicide attempt) I think that would be a fun thing to do.” “I hope that maybe one other person out there that is also having struggles, will hear my story and realize suicide is not the answer and maybe it can help them. I just acted on impulse and now wish that I hadn’t. I was just tired of feeling small and like I didn’t matter. I know that I do matter with the help of my family and friends like you to support me. So thank you and please thank Ron. You are a really great person.”

Original story:

Despite his hardened, intense persona on the golf course, we’ve recently seen evidence of Tiger Woods’ softer side when it comes to interactions with fans.

Take, for example, when Woods spent time with young Tommy Morrissey, who was born with one arm but loves golf and counts Woods as his favorite player.

This story comes from Golf Digest’s Ron Sirak with the help of his friend and former LPGA touring pro Sophie Gustafson, who has long battled a severe stutter and works to mentor those with a similar issue.

Gustafson has recently been mentoring a high school boy, Dillon, who has been bullied at school and who nearly attempted suicide just weeks ago. Sirak writes:

Sophie shared with me the email she received from the boy’s mother.

“Wanted to give you update,” the Mom wrote. “Things had been going well for awhile. He played football for the first time this year, however, he was teased about his stuttering and quit the team. He has really been struggling lately, feeling lonely due to the really does not have any close friends.”

She continued:

“On the week of April 16th, he had a bad week, he had been teased about his stuttering. That evening, he attempted suicide. He yelled downstairs ‘Good bye, I love you.’ Me and my husband immediately ran upstairs, his bedroom door was locked, we busted down the door and he was sitting on the window and was getting ready to jump. We were able to grab him and keep him from going head first onto the concrete below.”

In a separate letter, Dillon’s mother informed Gustafson that her son “continues to love to watch golf and is still a fan of Tiger,” asking if there was any way Tiger could be made aware of her son’s story.

Sirak promised he would make Tiger aware that Dillon was a fan, and it turns out Tiger has reached out, according to these tweets, via Kyle Porter at CBS Sports.