GOLF helped Valentino Dixon, who was wrongly convicted of murder, to get out of prison and his art has him rubbing shoulders with greats like Tiger Woods.

New York native Dixon was arrested in 1991 for a shooting he was not responsible for and later received a life sentence

But justice arrived only after Dixon’s mesmerising golf art drew widespread publicity.

He walked free in 2018 after a confession of a man two days later from the shooting was accepted.

Dixon has since rubbed shoulders with Woods and Jack Nicklaus, as well as former First Lady Michelle Obama, who has bought some of his artwork.

The artist told The Guardian: “I had never set foot on a golf course before I went to prison.

“I have played about 20 times now.

“Golf meant absolutely nothing to me. I grew up in a tough, inner‑city neighbourhood where it was just football and basketball.

“Golf was for white privileged people; at least I thought it was.

“It had nothing to do with a poor black kid, growing up in a drug-infested neighbourhood.

“I was never in a gang or anything like that but a lot of my friends got killed when I was younger.”

Dixon – now lives a mere five-minute stroll from Augusta National – met Woods in 2019 and says the golf icon was familiar with his story.

In fact, Dixon met Woods shortly before he would win his 15th major, the Masters.

Dixon said: “He knew my story.

“We chatted for five minutes. I told him he would win the Masters.

“He said: ‘I’ll try.’ I said: ‘No, you are going to win the Masters.’

“He looked at his manager and said: ‘I like this guy.’”

Dixon says his passion for art was refuelled in prison by an uncle who delivered him supplies seven years into his internment.

The once promising art student said: “He told me if I could reclaim my talent, I could reclaim my life.

“I started to draw again. My uncle said I may have to draw myself out of prison.

“That made me say to myself: ‘If I become one of the greatest artists who has ever lived, that has to get me some attention and has to get me my freedom.’

“I was drawing for up to 10 hours every day for the next 20 years.

“Had I not been drawing every day, a warden would never have known me or asked me to draw the golf hole.”