Philadelphia holds a special place in Tiger Woods\u2019 heart, he said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why <\/b>the golf superstar stood shoulder to shoulder with city teenagers on Monday, formally opening the learning lab that his foundation chose to locate at the Cobbs Creek Golf Course.<\/p>\n
Woods chose Philly because of Charlie Sifford, his mentor, the first Black golfer on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n
\u00bb READ MORE: In West Philly, new after-school opportunities are available for Philly kids \u2014 thanks to Tiger Woods<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Sifford considered Cobbs Creek, the first course where Black and women golfers were welcome, his home course. And so Woods wanted to honor both the city and Sifford\u2019s legacy by creating a high-tech space with cutting-edge programs<\/a>, free for any city student.<\/p>\n Woods, speaking at a podium on the Cobbs Creek putting green, said that with the Learning Lab, he envisioned \u201ca home, a safe place, a place that all children should be able to access, but they don\u2019t, and now they do.\u201d<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t start his foundation \u201cto produce golfers who hit golf balls,\u201d Woods said. \u201cI started the foundation to produce the greatest humans possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Job done, said Fatima Choudhry, 17, a 12th grader at the Pennsylvania Virtual Academy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis place has been nothing short of life-changing,\u201d said Choudhry, who is working as an intern for the TGR Learning Lab. In the six months since the lab began offering classes, Choudhry has taken psychology classes, had college and career prep, and tinkered with robots, 3D printers, and more.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had opportunities that I never would have had access to,\u201d Choudhry said.<\/p>\n The Learning Lab is part of a $180 million revamp of the historic Cobbs Creek Golf Course, at 74th and Lansdowne Avenue, for decades among the premier municipal golf courses in the country.<\/p>\n After a period of disinvestment, Cobbs Creek fell into disrepair<\/a> and closed in 2020<\/a>. The nonprofit Cobbs Creek Foundation formed to raise millions and a new complex \u2015 the learning lab, but also a driving range, museum, community space, short course, and nine-hole and 18-hole courses.<\/p>\n The course renovations are not yet finished, but Monday\u2019s ceremony was a celebration of the years of work complete, and what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n