Born on December 30, 1975, Eldrick Tiger Woods
is the world’s #1 golfer from America. He was born
to Earl and Kultida Woods. He is of Cablinasian
ethnicity because of his multiracial background as
his ancestors belong to Thailand, China and Dutch.
He is a follower of Buddhism. Woods was very smart
from his childhood. He started to play golf from the
age of two. Other than that, he anchored with
Comedian Bob Hope on a television show “The Mike
Douglas Show”. When he was five, he appeared on
ABC’s “That’s Incredible” and also on “Golf Digest”.
When he was nine, he won the Junior World Golf
Championships for the first time in the youngest
category and following that, he won the title nine
more times consecutively from 1988-1991. At fifteen,
he was the youngest to win US Junior Amateur
Champion. He won the same title for the second time
the following year along with the Golf Digest
Amateur Player of the Year.
His first encounter with PGA Tour major was in 1995.
He won a silver medal in The Open Championship. He
became the youngest to win The Masters, in April
1997. Tiger won twenty Masters in total. On June 15,
1997, he was honored with number 1 rank in the
official World Golf Ranking. His victory in the
Memorial Tournament in June 1999, proved Tiger as
one of the greatest golf personalities in the
history. For the second time he was named the PGA
Tour Player of the Year. In 2000 US Open, with
fifteen shot win, Woods broke the record by winning
nine US Open records. After Lee Trevino, he was the
second man to win Triple Crown of Golf in a single
year.
His career graph declined a bit in 2003-04. He fell
to second position in the PGA Tour money list and
nor did he win a major. He was the number one golfer
for two hundred consecutive weeks, which ended in
September 2005. Some said that misunderstanding with
his coach Butch Harmon was the reason to his slump
and others blamed the stress on his left knee which
received a surgery. In 2005, he returned to his old
form by winning the Buick Invitational and Ford
Championship. He was once again given the top rank
in Official World Golf Rankings. Tiger’s father’s
death due to longtime illness affected him a lot. He
took a break for nine weeks and made a comeback in
the 2006 US Open. He got a two stroke victory at the
Buick Invitational in 2007.
Woods was known for wearing his signature red
t-shirt in the final match of his tournaments. His
thinking was that it brought assertiveness and
aggression. His individual achievements include
official money PGA Tour for fifty seven times, World
Golf Championships for thirteen times and Major
Championship for twelve times. Looking back, he
turned into a professional golfer in August 1996.
The same year he earned $60 million from
endorsements of products like Nike and Titleist. The
next year he was named Sportsman of the Year by
Sports Illustrated and PGA Rookie of the Year.
Tiger won his eleventh and twelfth professional golf
championship at the age of thirty. Among the list of
top 10 in career PGA Tour wins and career major
wins, he is the only player who is active. He
received the PGA Tour Player of the year award eight
times and was on the money list for seven times.
Four times he was named the Associated Press Male
Athlete of the Year. He was only one golfer who held
the world number 1 title for the longest time period
and for most number of weeks. In 2006, Woods was the
highest paid athlete with an income of $ 100 million
from matches and advertisements.
Tiger Woods married Elin Nordegren who is a Swedish
model, on October 5, 2004. They bought a $ 39
million property in Jupiter Island, Florida. The
have a daughter named Sam Alexis Woods.
