Tiger Woods tees up partnership to build 80-acre recreational facility in Carson

Golf superstar Tiger Woods has found a new space to perfect his swing.

The pro athlete has signed on to help build a new 80-acre sports and education facility in Carson, a largely industrial city that has been plagued by its past as a landfill, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Dubbed the Carol Kimmelman Athletic and Academic Campus, the massive center will include 52 tennis courts, eight soccer fields and a 25,000-square-foot academic center. It will be geared towards underserved children in the community.

TGR Foundation, led by Woods, will lead the academic center, which will focus on science, technology, engineering and math.

Doug Kimmelman, founder of private equity firm Energy Capital Partners, is spearheading the project, created as an homage to his late wife, Carol Kimmelman, who died of ovarian cancer in 2017. The endeavor is expected to cost $60 to $100 million, according to Kimmelman.

Woods, a California native, said he was drawn to the philanthropic project because his own father died of cancer.

In November 2017, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors signed an agreement that would allow Kimmelman to develop and operate on a portion of the Victoria Park Golf Course, which is owned by the county. The project is now going through an environmental review, and will head to a final vote this summer.

It could break ground by 2020.

If approved, the project would bring sorely needed parks and recreational spaces to Carson. The city, located just south of Compton, was once used as a dumping ground for the aerospace and oil industries in the South Bay, causing mass amounts of irreversible environmental damage to the area. [LAT] — Natalie Hoberman