Tiger Woods honors military at Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am tourney

By Air Force Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo
BETHESDA, Md.– Golfing great Tiger Woods spent the week leading up to our nation’s birthday honoring those men and women serving in the military during the Earl Woods Memorial Pro-Am golf tournament at the Congressional Country Club. During the tournament, named after Woods’ father, a former special forces lieutenant colonel during the Vietnam era, 26 active duty service members, representing each service, were given the opportunity to caddie for the professional golfers. “It felt great! I should buy a lottery ticket, because the way my luck is going, I might just hit the jackpot,” said Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Michael Barrett, who caddied for Woods and last year’s tournament winner, Anthony Kim. At the end of the 174-yard, par 3 hole, Woods passed the putter to Barrett for the final putt.  Although he missed that putt, along with a second putt to end the hole for Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo, Barrett still says it was a memorable moment. “I know I’m gonna’ get it from my boys back home, because I missed both putts, but it was still a great experience.”  Barrett is a 16-year Marine Corps veteran, with two tours in Iraq, who was injured during an IED explosion. Two Army wounded warriors, Staff Sgt. Ramon Padilla and Maj. Ken Dwyer, were a part of the ceremonial first shot with Woods to begin the tournament.  “The fact that Tiger wanted to include us service members in something he feels very emotional about means a lot to me,” said Dwyer, assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C. In addition to tournament ticket discounts and complimentary tickets for military members, the United Service Organization (USO) set up a care package tent for deployed troops. During the opening ceremony the Navy’s Ceremonial Guard Drill Team, and singer Jessica Simpson, performed the national anthem to kick off the tournament.  A precision parachute demonstration team from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from Fort Campbell, Ky., descended over the first hole in a four-man formation to present the golf balls used during the ceremonial “tee off” to begin the competition. Woods summed up the military’s special role during a press conference to open ceremonies, when he said, “To see what they deal with on a daily basis and what they have to go through by putting their lives on the line for us…Everyone in this room should thank these service members…for what they do.”