Congratulations, Tiger

Tiger Woods's victory at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., is first of all an individual triumph. In a game where the slightest twitch or tightening can mean errant shots and ballooning scores, Mr. Woods proved himself a paragon of calm self-discipline.

A potentially pressured four-foot putt on the last hole to break the scoring record held by Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd? No trouble.

This was history for the game, and for the country. As he acknowledged, Woods walked in the footsteps of black golf pros like Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder (the first African-American to play at Augusta in 1975). He also added to the groundbreaking records of tennis great Arthur Ashe and baseball's Jackie Robinson. And contributed a new note as a black-Asian-American.

Furthermore, Woods, barely out of his teens, has just begun to record his piece of sports, and social, history.

Ability - not just in sports but in every field - knows no boundaries of race. It's good to have yet another shining reminder of that - and of the power of strong family life, hard work, and commitment to a goal.

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