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Tiger Woods is the only child of Earl Woods, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who fought in
Vietnam, and his wife Kutilda, a native of Thailand. The couple had met in Bangkok during the
Vietnam War and named their son Eldrick. He was nicknamed Tiger after his father’s friend, Vuong
Dang Phong, a Vietnamese soldier whom Earl had also called Tiger. Close to his parents, Woods had
a happy childhood growing up in Cypress, near Los Angeles, California. He remembers loving his
bicycle and skateboard but his intense interest in golf began very young. He was a mere six months
old when he would watch and mimic his father hitting golf balls into a net. At age two he was putting
with Bob Hope on the Mike Douglas Show and at age three he played a round of 48 for nine holes.
Golf Digest featured the five-year-old Woods and he appeared on ABC’s ‘That’s Incredible’. He was
eight when he won the 1984 Junior World Golf Championships, having to enter the 9-10 boys’ event
as it was the youngest group available. He went on to win the Optimist International Junior tournament
six times, at ages 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 15. To this day, he is the event’s youngest ever player and the
only multiple winner. Suffering with a bad stutter as a boy, his intense desire to win helped him
overcome it, largely by talking to the eternally patient family dog, but also trying extra hard at school.
He attended Western High School in Anaheim, California. At age 16, Woods entered his first
professional tournament, the 1992 Nissan Los Angeles Open and in 1993, he played in three PGA
Tour events. In 1994, he tied for 34th place in the Johnnie Walker Asian Classic in Thailand and
participated in three more PGA Tour events before starting at Stanford University in Palo Alto,
California. Also in 1994, he won the Western Amateur and represented the US in the World Amateur
Golf Team Championships in France, becoming the youngest person ever to win the event. He won
the 1995 Walker Cup Match in Wales. As an amateur golfer, Woods achieved an impressive amount,
winning six USGA national championships as well as the NCAA title. He was the 1991 and 1992 Golf
Digest Player of the Year, 1994 Golfweek National Amateur of the Year and chosen for the Fred
Haskins and Jack Nicklaus College Player of the Year awards in 1996. The final flourish in his amateur
career was to win his third consecutive US Amateur title, ending with a record 18 consecutive matchplay victories. No one before Woods had won the US Junior Amateur more than once and he was the
youngest ever to win it, at age 15 in 1991. He was also the youngest player ever to win the US
Amateur title, at age 18 in 1994. With all his golfing talent, Woods decided to leave college after being
there two years, in order to enter the sport professionally.
On 27 August 1996, he became a professional golfer at the age of 20, under the guidance of coach
Butch Harmon, and was soon to prove to the world that he was somewhat of a golfing prodigy. In
order for Woods to earn a player’s card for the PGA Tour, there were only seven events left in 1996 in
which he could prove himself. His first tournament as a professional golfer was the 1996 Greater
Milwaukee Open in which he tied for 60th place, winning $2,544, his first cheque as a professional
player. Woods remains justifiably proud of winning two of the remaining 1996 tournaments, as well as
being placed in the top 30 money winners qualifying for the Tour Championship and finishing overall in
25th place. He had more than earned his professional player’s card. Woods was selected as Sports
Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1996, an honour that he would again enjoy in 2000, making him
the first person to win it more than once. He was also named 1996 PGA Rookie of the Year. On 15
June 1997, at age 21 years, 24 weeks, he won the season-opening Mercedes Championships with a
birdie in a playoff with Tom Lehman, making him the youngest ever number one golfer, taking the title
from Bernhard Langer who was youngest in 1986 at age 29 years, 31 weeks. Winning The Masters by
a record margin of twelve strokes, he then became the youngest Masters winner at age 21 years,
three months and 14 days. To this day, it is the winning of The Masters that is his proudest moment.
He also became the first major championship winner of African or Asian heritage. Woods went on to
win four PGA Tour events in 1997, as well as one overseas. He gained the 1997 Arnold Palmer Award
when he became the leading money winner, with a then-record £2,066,833 and a worldwide earning of
£2,440,831 over 25 events. In 1997, Woods achieved the most rapid progression ever to number one
position on the Official World Golf Rankings and he later remained in Rankings top position for a
record 264 consecutive weeks, from 15 August 1999 to 29 August 2004. The Associated Press named

Woods Male Athlete of the Year in 1997 and again in 1999 and 2000, making him the only athlete
besides Michael Jordan to win the award three times. He was 1997 ESPY Male Athlete of the Year, in
a tie with Ken Griffey Jr., and again in 1999 and 2000. He was selected Player of the Year in 1997,
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 by the PGA Tour, winning the Jack Nicklaus Award, the PGA of
America and the Golf Writers Association of America.
Woods beat South African Ernie Els in the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand in a dramatic
playoff. He had been eleven strokes behind Els after two rounds and clinched his victory with a birdie
on the second playoff hole. 1999 was his third full season as a professional, and Woods was showing
everyone just how talented he was. He had eight wins on the PGA Tour, including the PGA
Championship, and earned £6,616,585, which was a full £2,974,679 more than second place David
Duval. In fact, he won 52 percent of the possible prize money, which was nearly 82 percent more than
the runner-up. Woods achieved another record by being the first player since Johnny Miller in 1974 to
have eight PGA Tour victories in one year. Ending 1999 with a flourish, he won four consecutive PGA
Tour events and then had two more, making a total of six successive wins. In 1999 and 2000, he was
named World Sportsman of the Year, as voted by the founding members of the World Sports
Academy for the Laureus Sports Awards. In 2000, he was chosen as the World Champion of
Champions by L’Equipe in France and Reuters selected him as Sportsman of the Year. Whilst the
accolades were rolling in, Woods continued to concentrate on improving his game and it showed. His
adjusted scoring average for 2000 was 67.79 strokes, which was the lowest ever achieved and which
broke his own record of 68.43 in 1999. For this performance, Woods won the Bryon Nelson Award on
the PGA Tour as well as the Vardon Trophy from the PGA of America. His actual scoring average in
2000 was 68.17 strokes, which broke Nelson’s 1945 record of 68.33 strokes. Winning his first British
Open Championships in 2000, he became the youngest to complete the career Grand Slam of
professional major championships and the fifth ever to do so. The previous four golfers were Ben
Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. With his second Masters victory in 2001,
Woods became the first ever to hold all four professional major championships at the same time, a
feat dubbed the “Tiger Slam”. He went on to win The Masters Tournaments in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
He won the 1999, 2000 and 2006 PGA Championships and the 2000 and 2002 US Open
Championships. He became the first since Denny Shute in 1936-7 to win the PGA championship in
consecutive years. Woods also won the 2005 and 2006 British Open Championships.
In 2000, he won no less than eleven tournaments (nine on PGA Tour, one on PGA European Tour and
the PGA Grand Slam) as well as winning the World Cup team title for the United States, with David
Duval. His nine PGA Tour victories were the fifth highest total ever and were the most since Sam
Snead’s eleven wins in 1950. In 2001, he had five wins on the PGA Tour and eight wins worldwide. In
2002, five wins on the PGA Tour and seven wins worldwide made him the PGA Tour’s leading money
winner for the fourth consecutive year with £6,912,625 and £8,417,188 worldwide. He holds the record
for the lowest score in relation to par, in each of the four major championships. His records are 270
(18 under par) in the Masters, 272 (12 under par) in the US Open, 269 (19 under par) in the British
Open, and 270 (18 under par) in the 2000 PGA Championship, a record he shares with Bob May. With
everything going brilliantly in his career, the 28-year-old golf superstar’s personal life was also taking
an upturn. In November 2003, Woods and his Swedish model girlfriend, Elin Nordegren, were
engaged. They were married on 5 October 2004 and took a honeymoon cruise on their boat to Puerto
Rico. In March 2004, Woods began being coached by Hank Haney and that year, was named the
highest earning US sportsman, with a total of $89.4 million in winnings and endorsements.
Since his 21st birthday, Woods has signed several endorsement deals, including American Express,
General Motors, General Mills, Accenture and Nike. His five-year, £100 million contract with Nike was,
at the time, the largest endorsement deal ever signed by an athlete. He also endorses the ‘Tiger
Woods PGA Tour’ video game series and collaborated with Tag Heuer in developing the world’s first
professional golf watch, released in April 2005. In early January 2006, in celebration of his 30th
birthday (30 December 2005), Woods bought a luxury estate on Jupiter Island, Florida. Once again

breaking records, the $40 million he paid was the highest sale price for property in what has been
dubbed the ‘Most Expensive ZIP Code’. Sadly, the high that Woods was experiencing would soon all
come crashing down. He was devastated when Earl Woods, his 74-year-old father, died on 3 May
2006 after his long battle against prostate cancer. Woods had lost one of his most important mentors
and a father he had always dearly loved. He took nine weeks out from golfing in order to be with his
family. When he returned for the 2006 US Open, it was evident that his heart wasn’t entirely in his
game and for the first time in his professional career, he failed to qualify for the weekend at a major.
With his steely core of determination and perhaps remembering his father’s words to him as a young
man, “I promise you one thing: you’ll never meet another person as tough as you”, Woods bounced
back with an improved game. He won the British Open with 18 under par and was quite emotional
when he dedicated his victory to the memory of his father. A few weeks later, he won the PGA
Championship with another 18 below par and with only three bogeys, he tied for fewest bogeys in a
major.
Feeling strongly about the parental support he had enjoyed, Woods wanted to share that with the
community. In February 2006, he opened the first ‘Tiger Woods Learning Center’ in Anaheim,
California, not far from where he grew up. He put in over $5 million for the foundation that aims to
provide children aged 10 to 18 with mentoring and guidance. After consultation with the children of the
community to find out what they wanted to see on the curriculum, the foundation offers courses such
as computers, creative writing and rocketry. Also planned are summer programmes, weekend and
community outreach programmes. The extensive multi-media facilities will allow the opportunity for
online learning and the centre has an outdoor area for teaching golf. Claiming this project was closer
to his heart than golf, Woods plans to open more centres of this kind around the world. Woods
arranges an annual fund raising concert called ‘Tiger Jam’ and donates his winnings from the annual
off-season charity golf tournament, the Target World Challenge, to his foundation. His Tiger Woods
Foundation National Junior Golf Team has eighteen members and competes in the annual Junior
World Golf Championships. The Tavistock Group, which includes Woods and Ernie Els, recently
bought an estate in New Providence in the Bahamas, with plans to develop an exclusive residential
community there. Prior to the modernisation of the secluded Albany House, it was used as the location
for the filming of several scenes in the Bond movie ‘Casino Royale’. The film was the first Ian Fleming
James Bond novel and hit cinemas in November 2006 with Daniel Craig as Bond.
Believing it necessary to support children, especially those disadvantaged in any way, Woods has
been involved in youth projects and charities since he and his father, Earl, established The Tiger
Woods Foundation in 1996. The projects include golf clinics that culminate in a community festival, a
grant programme, university scholarships and the ‘Start Something’ character development
programme, which by 2003 had more than a million participants. Somewhat of a child prodigy, his
drive, skill and determination to pursue his dream, along with the unfailing support he received from
his parents, have made Woods the phenomenal sportsman and thoroughly likeable man he is today.
In the words of his late father, Earl Woods, “He doesn’t need a challenge, I think that is the worst
misconception going: That the number-one golfer needs a number-two golfer to push him. Tiger is
pushed by history and by records and by his own goals. He doesn’t need anybody pushing him.” By
2010, Woods had won 14 professional major golf championships, placing him second to Jack Nicklaus
who leads with 18, and bagged 71 PGA Tour trophies, placing him third of all time. Figures from
Sports Illustrated’s SI.com also revealed that Woods was the highest-paid professional athlete in the
world, having earned an estimated $90.5 million from winnings and endorsements in 2010.