American golfer with a controversial private life, he tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men’s major championships, and holds numerous golf records. Woods is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time and one of the most famous athletes of all time. He has been elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
On 13 April 1997 he catapulted to fame when he gave a record-setting performance the likes of which golf had never seen. With a record-setting score of 270, he became the youngest winner and the first person of mixed race in the 61-year history of the Masters to achieve such glory. He followed his victory with several more. In 1999, he won the World Cup for both individual and team performance. With his eight-stroke victory at the British Open, Woods became the youngest player to complete a Grand Slam on 24 July 2000, winning all four major championships: the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA. In his unprecedented career, he is the first player since 1937 to repeat a win in the PGA Championships. With his victory in Augusta, Georgia on 8 April 2001 Tiger Woods swept modern golf’s four major championships. No one has succeeded in this sport more quickly or decisively than Woods.
Before his 1996 professional debut, he was the youngest player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur title at the age of 15 and the first to win three of them. He left his amateur status and moved on to the pro circuit on 28 August 1996. In December 1996 and in 2000, he was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, becoming the first athlete to ever be accorded that honor twice. In 1997 he signed endorsements with both Nike and Titleist that were worth $60 million over five years. His coach since 1992 is Butch Harmon (born 28 August 1943 in Detroit, Michigan).
Woods was raised with love, rules, respect, confidence, and pride in his heritage that includes one-eighth Black, one-eighth American Indian, one-fourth White, one-fourth Chinese and one-fourth Thai. His parents raised their only child to take a productive place in society. His father Earl Woods, a retired military man, gave him his first golf club at the age of three and taught him concentration. When Tiger practiced as a kid, his dad would shout, wave things, run around and do whatever he could to distract him, from which the young Woods learned to focus. Now as a professional on the green, he will smile and wave at people, but when he turns his attention to his game, he moves into a zone that is focused. Earl Woods wrote a book about his famous son aptly named “Training a Tiger,” published in June 1997.
A Buddhist, Woods confirms that he meditates, but not as much as he used to. Though his world has become a glittering succession of private jets, chauffeured limos and room service, friends say that he is still his own easy-going, video-game-loving young self. Before his 25th birthday, Tiger broke up with former girlfriend Joanna Jogoda and his dad remarked that he’d probably not marry before 30. Young Woods had other things on his mind that year, including his game. In October his book, “How I Play Golf,” was published. Showing that he enjoys a good time, he dyed his hair blond on a short-lived whim while he was partying at a resort with his pal Michael Jordan over New Year’s.
On 14 April 2002, at Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club, the golfing great captured his third Masters crown — joining Jack Nicklaus (who won in 1965 and ’66) and Nick Faldo (’89 and ’90) as the only men to win back-to-back Masters tournaments. With a final round 71, Woods shot 12-under-par 276 for the tournament and collected $1,008,000. Later that year, in July, Tiger met his new girlfriend, Elin Nordegren, 22, a gorgeous blond model and nanny. On 25 November 2003, they became engaged at a game reserve in South Africa, and they married on 5 October 2004 at Sandy Lane Beach resort in Saint James Parish, Barbados. The couple said “I do” at 5:40 PM local time according to a Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation reporter quoted on CNN.
In 2004, Woods lost his #1 world ranking to Vijay Singh, but he continued to astound. By late 2004, Woods had accumulated over $53,000,000 in prize money alone. He won his first ever championship match in Japan on 21 November 2004, bringing to 10 the number of countries in which he won a title. Still a young man, he had many more matches to win and records to break.
His beloved father and mentor, Earl Woods, died on 3 May 2006 at age 74 of prostate cancer in Cypress, California.
On 6 August 2006, Woods won another PGA Tour championship, adding another “youngest player ever …” to his name. This win confers upon him “the youngest player ever to win 50 titles.”
On 20 August 2006 he captured his 12th major title when he won the 88th PGA Championship in Illinois. Woods took another PGA championship on 12 August 2007.
Woods and his wife welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sam Alexis Woods, born “early Monday morning” on 18 June 2007 according to Woods on his website. Their second child, a son named Charlie Axel, was born on 8 February 2009.
At about 2:30 AM on 27 November 2009, Woods left his Florida home in his SUV and crashed into a nearby tree and fire hydrant. He sustained lacerations and other injuries and reports of extra-marital affairs took hold of the news almost immediately afterward. Divorce proceedings ensued and the legal end of his marriage was pronounced on 23 August 2010.
On 18 March 2013, Woods announced that he and skier Lindsey Vonn were dating. They split up in May 2015.
On 29 May 2017, Woods was arrested near his Jupiter Island, Florida, home by the Jupiter Police Department at about 3:00 am. EDT for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was asleep in his car, which was stationary in a traffic lane with its engine running.
On 23 February 2021, at 7:12 AM, Woods was involved in a “serious” rollover car accident in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, as the sole occupant of the vehicle. The front of the Genesis GV80 SUV was totally destroyed. He was taken to the Harbor–UCLA Medical Center by ambulance. Woods’s agent later said that he sustained multiple leg injuries and had undergone surgery for non-life threatening injuries. It was reported that the leg injuries include “compound fractures”.
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