Tiger Woods has paid an emotional tribute to legendary golf writer Steve DiMeglio after his death at the age of 63 – claiming the sport has lost ‘part of our family’.
DiMeglio, who was a regular at PGA Tour events for nearly two decades, passed away this week following a battle with rectal cancer that had spread to his liver.
After being diagnosed in 2022, the former USA Today reporter bravely documented his journey with the illness, which included dozens of rounds of chemotherapy, to his followers on social media.
‘I was always very close to Steve and we texted and talked about how he needed to keep fighting to get better so we could see each other in the Bahamas last month. And we did. I am so grateful for that.
This a very sad day for all of golf. We have truly lost a friend.’
The PGA Tour also mourned the loss of DiMeglio, who they described as being ‘beloved by players’ because of his ‘humor and love of the game’.
‘With a heavy heart, the PGA TOUR would like to remember our friend and golf journalist Steve DiMeglio,’ PGA TOUR wrote in the statement.
A regular visitor at TOUR events for nearly 20 years and a favorite of the players, he touched our lives with his outlook, sense of humor and love for the game right through his courageous struggle with cancer in recent years. “As my friend Steve said it, Onward
DiMeglio reported baseball for USA Today for couple of years before moving to golf in 2002.
His byline also started being featured under the Golfweek banner in 2019 and he remained an active writer for the publication to 2023.
DiMeglio was beloved of players, fans and his competitors such as Bob Harig from the Sports Illustrated who considered the youngster his good friend.
He must have been seen by everyone out here,’I hear people say. Andrade, who has won four times on PGA Tour, said this in March after being informed that DiMeglio would be teeing up in the final PGA Tour Champions’ Cologuard Classic in his honor: ‘He’s Mr. Golf, USA Today forever’.
‘He is one of the great guys of all time’.