LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Tiger Woods wrote a personal letter of support to a schoolboy who contemplated suicide because of a stutter, saying "I know what it's like to be different and not fit in".

In the letter, published by Golf Digest magazine on Tuesday, Woods revealed he too had suffered with a speech impediment and gave the boy encouragement to overcome bullying.

"I also stuttered as a child and I would talk to my dog and he would sit there and listen until he fell asleep. I also took a class for two years to help me, and I finally learnt to stop," Woods wrote.

The boy, identified only as Dillon, quit his high school football team after being teased and bullied. His mother wrote to LPGA tour player Sophie Gustafson of Sweden, who has had to cope with a stutter throughout her career, saying she had only just prevented him jumping to his death from his bedroom window last month.

Gustafson shared the letter, which also mentioned that Dillon was a fan of Woods, with Golf Digest who printed it last week.