BACKGROUND AND WOODS CHILDHOOD
Eldrick Tont Woods, popularly known as Tiger Woods was born in Cyprus, California, on
December 30, 1975.He is the only child of an African-American Army officer father Earl Woods
and a Thai mother Kultida Punsawad Woods.He however, he does have two half-brothers, Earl
Jr. and Kevin and a half-sister, Royce from the first marriage of Earl Woods and Barbara Woods
Gray. Woods' first name, Eldrick, is believed to have been generated by his mother because it
began with "E" (for Earl) and ended with "K" (for Kultida). His middle name Tont is a
traditional Thai name.
In many ways Tiger Woods grew up as a typical middle-class American boy. Like many kids his
age he developed a taste for junk food and affection for playing video games. As he grew his
father began calling him "Tiger" in honor of a fellow soldier and friend who went by the same
alias. According to his mother he was playful kid always happy and would spent a fair share of
his time trying to make comic videos in front of his father's video camera. Kultida Woods,
Tiger's mother made sure that her son's rare talent and his budding golf career did not interfere
with his childhood or his general happiness.
According to his parents Tiger Woods talent began was recognized at an early age, they said that
he began playing with a putter even before he could walk. As a young boy Tiger was gifted with
exceptional playing abilities and also possessed a passion for the sport. Tiger Woods gained
national attention for the first time at only three years old on a talk show when he beat a then
famed comedian and also avid golfer Bob Hope in 1903 in a putting contest. Following this he
was quickly hailed as child with exceptional talent. Two years later at five years, Woods was
featured on the popular television show That's Incredible!
AMATEUR GOLFING
As for playing golf, there is no question that this sport was the focus of Tigers childhood. Tiger's
father devoted his energies to developing his son's talent and to furthering the boy's career as a
golfer not only as his trainer but also his mentor. During practice sessions, Tiger taught himself
how to maintain his composure and to hold his concentration while his father persistently made
extremely loud noises and created other distractions. He could spend a lot of hours practicing his
swing and playing in youth tournaments around California.
Before turning seven, Tiger won the Under Age 10 section of the Drive, Pitch, and Putt
competition, held at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, California. At eight years old Tiger
Woods had become extremely proficient at the game, even showing off his skills on television
shows such as Good Morning America. He went ahead to win his first formal competition in
golfing. From that point he became virtually unstoppable, he kept winning trophies and breaking
amateur records everywhere he participated in golfing competition.
HIGHSCHOOL AND COLLEGE GOLFING
Tiger attended Western High School in Anaheim and at the age of 15, Woods became the
youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur champion (this record stood unbeaten until it was broken by
Jim Liu in 2010). He was later named 1991's Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for
a second consecutive year and also the Player of the Year of Golf Digest Junior Amateur. In
1992, he defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, becoming the first multiple
winner; competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Open, bearing in mind he only missed the 36-
hole cut and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year,
and Golf week National Amateur of the Year.
The following year (1994), Woods won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur
Championship up to now he remains the event's only three-time winner. In 1994, at the TPC at
Saw grass in Florida, he made it to become the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur
Championship, a record he proudly held until 2008 when it was broken by Danny Lee .
Woods later in 1994 graduated from Western High School at the age 18, he was voted by the
school “Most Likely to Succeed" among the graduating class having starred for the high school's
golf team under his coach Don Crosby. Media accounts of the Woods exceptional talent had
reached nearly legendary proportions by this year. He then joined Stanford University as a
freshman on a full golf scholarship and declared a major in economics.
During Woods's first year of college, he successfully defended his U.S. Amateur title at the
Newport Country Club in Rhode Island and was voted following his performance Pac-10 Player
of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford's Male Freshman of the Year.
Woods participated in his first PGA Tour major, the 1995 Masters Tournament after he won the
U.S Amateur title and qualified to play in the Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia, in the
spring of 1995.He was ranked for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. This tournament
however Tiger Woods played as an amateur (not for prize money). By 1996, Woods had won
already won himself three U.S. Amateur titles, in quick succession and also won the NCAA
individual golf championship an incredible accomplishment in itself bearing in mind that he was
only twenty years old by then. Later in August of 1996, he decided to quit college in order to
play professional golf.
PROFFESIONAL CAREER AS A GOLFER
After winning the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship, he set the record
for an amateur aggregate score of 281. Four months later in December, Woods celebrated his
twenty-first birthday. He marked the occasion with a legal name change, from Eldrick to Tiger.
Woods had been called Tiger by his father even as a youngster. The nickname stuck, and Woods
has since always been known to his friends, and the press, as Tiger. It became evident that at his
young age he was destined for success.
After he quit college Woods decided to become a professional golfer. In August 1996 signed
deals with Nike, Inc. and Titleist.This two were ranked as the most lucrative endorsement
contracts in golf history at that time. Woods was named later that year by Sports Illustrated's
1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
In April of 1997, only eight months into Woods's professional career, he played in the
prestigious Masters tournament that was held at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club. The
Masters title is perhaps known to be the greatest honor in the world of golf. In addition to hefty
prize money, first-place winners are usually awarded a green blazer to symbolize their
membership among the top golfers in the world. He won this award as his first major, the
Masters, becoming the tournament's youngest-ever winner. This feat was enhanced by the fact
that Woods was the first ever African-American ever to win the title. He accepted all of the
honors given with grace and humility, and gave tribute to the African American golfers who had
come before him and helped pave the way. He also honored his mother by reminding the world
of his diverse ethnic background .
Two months later, Woods won the Western Open, another major golf tournament.He set the
record as the fastest to rise to No. 1 in the Official rankings of World Golf . After dormant
1998, Woods finished the 1999 season having won eight times, including the PGA
Championship.This could have as well been the greatest moment in his career after winning the
PGA Championship by one shot. Although he had been in the lead for most of the tournament,
he lost his lead on the last day thus making his one stroke victory over Sergio Garcia made the
win even more memorable for the crowd watching. Woods continued his success in November
1999 when he shot the best total ever in the World Cup, helping to lead the United States to
victory in the tournament.This made him to be named the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the
second time on November 30, 1999.
In 2000, Woods managed to gather six consecutive wins, this being the longest winning streak
ever witnessed since 1948. One of the wins was the 2000 U.S. Open, where he broke or tied nine
tournament records thus Sports Illustrated calling it "the greatest performance in golf history," h
Woods won the tournament by a 15-stroke margin. Among the six wins also lay the Mercedes
Championship which he won on January 9, 2000. It was his fifth consecutive victory.
The Year 2000 was good for woods; He went on to win the Bay Hill Invitational on March 19,
2000. On June 18, 2000, he won the U.S. Open, this being his third major championship. The
next month, on July 23, he won the British Open. At age 24, following his performances and
achievements he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam.
By the end of 2000, Woods had won nine of the total twenty PGA Tour events he had entered
and had yet again broken the record for lowest scoring average in tour history. He was named the
Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, making him the only athlete to be honored for a second
time. Golf Digest magazine ranked him as the twelfth-best golfer of all time
Woods impressive form continued in 2001 and on April 8, 2001, Woods won the sixty-fifth
Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club. This win made him to be the only golfer
in history to ever hold the four major championship titles at the same time. Woods won the sixty-
sixth Masters Tournament on April 14, 2002.However, Woods’ career hit a "slump in 2003, He
did not win a major in either 2003 or 2004. In September 2004, Vijay Singh overtook Woods in
the Official World Golf Rankings, thus ending Woods' record streak of 264 weeks at number
one.
Woods however, made a comeback in 2005, winning six official PGA Tour money events and
reclaiming the top spot in July from Singh. Woods began Year 2006 dominantly; he won his first
two PGA tournaments. In April though, he failed to capture his fifth Masters championship.
Following the death of his father in May 2006, Woods took a nine-week break from the tour and
as expected was not as good upon his return at the U.S. Open, making him miss the cut at
Winged Foot. However, his form quickly returned as he ended the year by winning six
consecutive tour events. At the season's close, he had 54 wins 12 of which were majors wins,
Woods had broken the tour records for both total wins and total majors wins over eleven seasons.
Woods form continued in 2007 and the first part of 2008. In April 2008, however there was a
hitch where he underwent knee surgery making him to miss out for two months on the tour.
Woods returned for the 2008 U.S. Open, where he struggled on the first day but ultimately
claimed a dramatic victory over Rocco Mediate. Mediate later on a press conference said, "This
guy does things that are just not normal by any stretch of the imagination," referring to the win
by Woods .However Woods missed the remainder of the season due to further knee surgery.
During the remainder of that season in Woods' absence, TV ratings of the season suffered a huge
decline for the first time from 2007.
Woods returned in 2009 and as many anticipated he performed as good as before, He put in a
spectacular performance at the 2009 Presidents Cup, though he did not win a major. This was the
first year he had failed to win a major since 2004.
His marital infidelities came to light at the end of 2009 and received massive media coverage
many diminishing his name, this caused Woods announcement in December that he would be
taking an indefinite break from any competitive golf event. In February 2010, he delivered a an
apology that was televised for his behavior. This period saw several companies end their
endorsement deals with Woods throwing him steps back.
April 2010 Woods returned to competitive golf again at the 2010 Masters Tournament, where he
did not perform as many expected finishing in a tie for fourth place. He followed the Masters
Tournament with even more poor performances at the Quail Hollow Championship and the
Players Championship, which he did not complete due to an injury.
These poor showings were later followed by resignation of Hank Haney, Woods' coach since
2003; he was later replaced in August by Sean Foley. The remainder of the season was badly
performed for Woods; he failed to win even a single event for the first time since he turned
professional. He however maintained his position in Official rankings finishing the season
ranked No. 2 in the world.
Woods' performances did not show any improvement as they continued to suffer in 2011, this
time taking its toll on his ranking. He fell down the ranks to number 7 in March. He however had
a chance to redeem himself at the Masters Tournament; he rebounded to No. 5 with a strong
showing at the 2011 Masters Tournament, after he tied for fourth place. Masters tournament
however left him with leg injuries incurred while playing, thus he missed several summer events.
He returned to tournament play in August, His performances were no better as Woods continued
to falter, making his ranking to gradually fall to a low of number 58.
He managed to rise to No. 50 in mid-November after he finished the Emirates Australian Open at
third-place. This seemed to motivate him thus December saw him breaking his winless streak
with a victory at December's Chevron World Challenge.
Woods began his 2012 season with two tournaments (the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) where he started off well, but struggled on the
final rounds. Following the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he was knocked
out in the second round having missed a 5-foot putt, Woods had to revise his putting technique,
this did him a little good as he tied for second at the Honda Classic, with the lowest final round
score in his PGA Tour career.
After another leg injury off, Woods finally won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first win on
the PGA Tour since the BMW Championship held in September 2009. This was followed by
several poor performances before Woods notched his 73rd PGA Tour win at the Memorial
Tournament in June, tying Jack Nicklaus' record for most PGA Tour victories a record that he
broke a month later,
2013 was a good year as Woods form improved. He won the Farmers Insurance Open early in
the Year by four shots to earn his 75th PGA Tour win. This amounted to seven times of winning
the prestigious event. March saw him win the WGC-Cadillac Championship, also for the seventh
time, giving him his 17th WGC title, Two weeks down the line; he also won the Arnold Palmer
Invitational, for his 8th time. This win moved him back to the top of the world rankings. To pay
their respects to that achievement, Nike launched an advert with the tagline "winning takes care
of everything".
On April 13, 2013, Woods was to be disqualified from the 2013 Masters Tournament however.
After further review, Woods was assessed a two-stroke penalty and was thus not disqualified. He
finished Tied in position four in the event. Woods went ahead to win The Players Championship
in May 2013,this being his second career win at the event and his fourth win of the 2013 season.
This accounted for the quickest he had ever got to four wins in any season in his professional
career.
2013 U.S Open was however not good enough as Woods had a poor performance as a result of
an elbow injury sustained during The Players Championship. He finished at position13,thus
recording his worst score ever since he went professional and finished whole 12 strokes behind
winner Justin Rose. Woods took prolonged break because of the injury,that saw him miss the
Greenbrier Classic and his own AT&T National.
He returned at the Open Championship at Muirfield. Despite being in contention for the better
part of the opening week and beginning the final round two stokes behind Lee Westwood, he
struggled with the speed of the competitors and only managed a 3-over-par 74 which left him
tied for 6th place. Two weeks later, Woods returned to form at the WGC-Bridgestone
Invitational, recording his 5th win of the season and 8th win at the event in its 15 year history.
Woods started low in 2014, he went ahead and injured himself during the Honda Classic and
could not be able to finish, having to be withdrawn after only 13 holes of the final round citing
serious back pain. He later participated in the WGC-Cadillac Championship but was in pain
during much of the last round. He was therefore forced to skip the Arnold Palmer Invitational at
the end of March 2014 and, on April 1, Woods announced that he was set to miss the Masters
Tournament for the first time since college after undergoing a microdiscectomy (back surgery)
and has been out of competitions since.
PERSONAL LIFE
Like any other athlete Woods had his separate life when not playing golf which included his
family of his own. Late in 2003, Woods was engaged to Elin Nordegren, his Swedish girlfriend
who was a former model and also the daughter to a former minister of migration Barbro
Holmberg and radio journalist Thomas Nordegren.The two had met at The Open Championship
in 2001 and were introduced by Jesper Parnevik, a Golfer who had employed her as his au pair.
Their wedding happened on October 5, 2004, at the Sandy Lane resort this was in Barbados.The
two then moved to Isleworth where they established their home.they lived there happily and with
time in 2007 they had their first child a daughter who they named Sam Alexis Woods following
Woods father habit of oftenly calling Tiger Sam.Alex Woods brother Charlie Axel Woods was
born in 2009.Woods however had to move out of the house in August 2010 following a divorce
following his infidelity.He later moved to an estate in Jupiter Island, Florida, that he had began
constructing in 2006 a massive 10,000-square-foot home;
SCANDALS
Late in 2009 just few months after the birth of his son, The National Enquirer published a story
that claimed TigerWoodshad been involved in an extramarital affair.The post went on to finger
point that the lady he was involved with was a New York City nightclub manager Rachel
Uchitel.Following this Rachel faced by media denied this claim. This however seemed to cause
friction in his family because two days later after the claim was published he left home in his
Cadillac Escalade SUV and on his way he knocked down a fire hydrant, a tree, and several
hedges. He was admitted and treated for minor facial lacerations and also was issued a ticket for
careless driving.
The media however were out for his blood coming up with different types of speculations that
had lead to the accident. This thus forced Woods to release a statement on his website to clarify
the whole matter. Here he took sole responsibility for the accident, naming it a "private matter"
and credited his wife for helping him from the car after the crash.
Woods later announced that he would bail thus not make an appearance at his own charity golf
tournament, the Challenge, He also said that he won’t attend any other tournaments in 2009; all
this he said was due to his injuries from the car crash.
Things got worse for Woods in December after US Weekly posted a voicemail message allegedly
that Tiger had for his mistress. This time Woods released a statement in which he admitted to
the claim and apologized to "all of those who have supported [him] over the years", while on it
he reiterated his and his family's right to privacy.Following this press release, more women
claimed in various media outlets of having an affair with Woods. On December 11, surprisingly
he released another statement and admitted to infidelity and apologizing again, He also
announced that he would be taking "an indefinite break from professional golf.
The months following Woods' admission of infidelity were not good for his career, several
companies re-evaluated their relationships with him with Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade and
General Motors completely ending their sponsorship deals with him, Gillette on the other hand
suspended advertising featuring Woods. TAG Heuer also dropped Woods from advertising in
December 2009 and thereby officially ended their deal when his contract expired in August
2011. In contrast, some companies did not give up on him; Nike continued to support Woods, as
did Electronic Arts, which was working with Woods on the game Tiger Woods PGA Tour
Online.
Woods however went in for a therapy program since the end of December. He showed up on
television mid February and again apologized for his actions to his fans. "I thought I could get
away with whatever I wanted to," he said. "I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and
deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame,
I didn't have to go far to find them. I was wrong. I was foolish." He however said he did not
know when he would be returning to golf. The marriage Woods and Nordegren broke down and
the two finally divorced in August 2010.On March 18, 2013, Woods finally broke the
announcement that he and skier Lindsey Vonn were dating.