Tiger Woods to appear at Lincoln Memorial

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods, the first black golf superstar, has announced he will take part in an inaugural event Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Woods, who has dominated professional golf since winning The Masters in 1997, has avoided political involvement, The New York Times reports.

"We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial" is to be broadcast on HBO and features an array of musical talent from Beyonce to Pete Seeger to Renee Fleming and Hollywood celebrities. Martin Luther King III is to preside over the event at the place where his father delivered his most famous speech in 1963.

"I am honored that I was invited to this historic event and look forward to participating in Sunday's festivities," Woods said.

Woods, like Michael Jordan -- who famously explained his reluctance to take political sides by saying "Republicans buy sneakers too" -- has focused on his game, his family and business interests. Like President-elect Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan and a white American, Woods is of mixed race, with a black American father and Thai mother.