Eldrick "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, Woods was the highest paid professional athlete in 2005, having earned an estimated $87 million.The world's best-paid athletes Forbes.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-04 In 2006, at the age of 30, he won his eleventh and twelfth professional major golf championships His most recent placed him second on the list of victories in professional majors, behind Jack Nicklaus. However because both the professional and amateur versions of the US Open and The Open Championship were considered majors in the era of Bobby Jones (who won six total amateur titles in addition to his seven professional major victories) while the amateurs are not generally considered majors in the modern era [1], because most of the best players in Jones' day were amateurs [2] and that the Masters was not in existence before Jones' retirement in 1930 (Jones co-founded the Masters in 1934) [3], it is generally recognized that Bobby Jones won 13 majors [4], that Nicklaus won 18 majors [5], and that Woods has won 12 majors. See Golfers with most wins in men's major championships for the various historical rankings. and has more wins on the PGA Tour than any other active golfer. He is the only active golfer currently in the top 10 in either career major wins or career PGA Tour wins.

Woods, who is multiracial, is credited with prompting a major surge of interest in the game of golf among minorities and young people in the United States.Michelle Hiskey. Tiger's dad leaves brilliant legacy. statesman.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-27.

Background and family

Woods' father, Earl Woods, was a Vietnam veteran and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, of mixed African American (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. He was the chairman of his son's charitable foundation (the Tiger Woods Foundation) before his death at age 74 on May 3, 2006, following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer (see section charity and youth projects below). Woods' mother, Kultida Woods, is originally from Thailand, and is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch."Earning his stripes", Asian Week, 1996-10-11. He affably refers to his ethnic make-up as Cablinasian (a portmanteau of Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian), a term he made up himself. However, he is considered and referred to by many Americans (of all races) as simply a black person or golfer due to the one-drop theory of race in which anyone with traceable black African ancestry is considered as black regardless of other ancestry.

Born Eldrick Woods in Cypress, California, he was nicknamed “Tiger” after Vuong Dang Phong, a Vietnamese friend of his father’s, who served with him in Vietnam. Woods became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf was simply known as "Tiger Woods." He grew up in the Los Angeles area, attending high school at Western High in Anaheim.Official Website for Tiger Woods. tigerwoods.com. ETW. Retrieved on 2006-07-26. He also served for a semester as a United States House of Representatives Page.Official Website for Tiger Woods. tigerwoods.com. ETW. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.

Woods was the only child of Earl and Kultida's marriage, but he does have two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (b. 1955) and Kevin (b. 1957), and one half-sister, Royce (b. 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl Junior's daughter Cheyenne Woods (b. 1991),Tiger's Niece�: Cheyenne Woods. golfdigest.com. about.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-26. Woods' niece, is also a golfer and had received some coaching from Earl Sr.

Marriage

In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. They were introduced by Swedish golf star Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as a nanny, during The Open Championship in 2001. They married on October 5, 2004 and live at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden. In January 2006, Woods and his wife purchased a US$39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, which they intend to make their primary residence.http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/54m-tiger-den/2006/01/07/1136609984028.html Woods' Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson.

Career

Early life and amateur career

Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he demonstrated his golf skills in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, Woods shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible.http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tigertime1.html In 1984, he won the 9–10 boys' event at the Junior World Golf Championships. He was only eight years old at the time, but 9–10 was the youngest age group available. Woods went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. Also in 1991, at the age of 15, he became the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in golf history. He was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year. In 1992, he successfully defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open. The following year, he won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the event's youngest-ever and only multiple winner. In 1994, Woods became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship. He was a member of the American team at the 1994 World Amateur Golf Team Championships. Later that year, he enrolled at Stanford University, and won his first collegiate event, the William Tucker Invitational. In 1995, Woods defended his U.S. Amateur title, and was voted Pac-10 Player of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford's Male Freshman of the Year (an award that encompasses all sports). He participated in his first PGA Tour major, The Masters, and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. At age 20 in 1996, Woods became the first golfer in history to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. That year he won the NCAA individual golf championship, and tied the British Open record for an amateur with an aggregate score of 281. He left college after two years to become a professional golfer.

Professional career

With the announcement, "Hello World,"Ron Sirak. Golf's first Billion-Dollar Man. Golf Digest. Condé Nast. Retrieved on 2006-07-27. Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and immediately signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike and $20 million from Titleist. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open. He tied for 60th place in his pro debut, but would go on to win two events in the next three months, and qualified for the Tour Championship. Woods was named 1996's "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated for the impact he had on the game of golf, and PGA Rookie of the Year by the PGA Tour. He is the only golfer to win the PGA Player of the Year award in the year following his rookie season.http://www.avoo.com/PGA_Tour#Player_and_rookie_of_the_year_awards. The following April, Woods won his first golf major, The Masters, by a record margin of 12 strokes, became the youngest Masters winner, and the first winner of African or Asian descent. He set a total of 20 Masters records and tied 6 others, and has been the highest-profile golfer in the world ever since. He would go on to win an additional three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997,"Woods scoops world rankings award", BBC, 2006-03-15. Woods rose to the number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. He achieved this in only his 42nd week as a professional -- the fastest ever ascent to the No. 1 ranking.

While expectations for Woods were high, Woods' form began to fade in the second half of 1997, and in 1998 he only won one PGA Tour event. Woods answered the critics of his "slump" and what seemed to be his wavering form by maintaining that he was undergoing extensive swing changes with his coach, Butch Harmon,Jaime Diaz. The Truth about Tiger. GolfDigest. Condé Nast. Retrieved on 2006-10-09. and was hoping to do better in the future.

In June 1999, Woods won the Memorial Tournament, a victory that marked the beginning of perhaps one of the greatest sustained periods of dominance in the history of men's golf. He would go on to win seventeen PGA Tour events in the two calendar years that followed, and 32 in the next five, achievements that had not been rivaled in several decades. He completed his 1999 campaign by winning his last four starts, and finishing the season with eight wins — a feat that had not been achieved in the past 25 years. He was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year and AP Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years. Also in late 1999, Woods embarked on a record-setting streak of 264 consecutive weeks atop the Official World Golf Rankings. He has been number one in the rankings more weeks than anyone. During the run, Woods won seven out of the eleven major championships, starting with the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club and finishing with the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. Woods broke Old Tom Morris's record for the largest victory margin ever in a major championship, which had stood since 1862, with his 15-shot win in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Woods rang in the new millennium with his fifth consecutive victory and began what would be a record-setting season, where he would win three consecutive majors, 9 PGA Tour events, and set or tie 27 TOUR records. He went on to capture his sixth consecutive victory at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with a comeback for the ages. Trailing by seven strokes with seven holes to play, Woods finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for a 64 and a two-stroke victory. His six consecutive wins were the most since Hogan in 1948 and only five behind Byron Nelson’s record of 11 in a row. In the 2000 U.S. Open, Woods broke or tied a total of nine U.S. Open records, and became the Tour's all-time career money leader. In the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews, which he won by eight strokes, Woods set the record for lowest score to par (−19) in any major tournament, and he holds at least a share of that record in all four major championships. His major championship streak was seriously threatened at the 2000 PGA Championship, however, when Bob May went head-to-head with Woods on Sunday at Valhalla in Louisville, matching Woods stroke-for-stroke. Woods only escaped with a victory after winning a three-hole playoff, with a heart-pumping birdie on the first hole and pars on the next two. He joined Ben Hogan (1953) as the only other player to win three professional majors in one season. The next season, Woods went back to dominating: his 2001 Masters win marked the only time — within the era of the modern "grand slam" — that any player was the holder of all four major championship titles at the same time. This feat has become known as the "Tiger Slam". His adjusted scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 was the lowest in PGA Tour history, lower than his 68.43 average in 1999. His actual scoring average of 68.17 in 2000 was the lowest in PGA Tour history, besting Byron Nelson's 68.33 average in 1945.

The next phase of Woods' career saw him remain among the top competitors on the tour, but lose his dominating edge. He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004, falling to second in the PGA Tour money list in 2003 and fourth in 2004. In September 2004, Woods' record streak as the world's top-ranked golfer came to an end at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts, when Vijay Singh won the tournament and overtook Woods in the rankings. Even though no one has held the number one ranking for more total weeks than Woods, many commentators were puzzled by Woods' "slump," offering explanations that ranged from Woods' rift with swing coach Butch Harmon to his recent marriage to Elin Nordegren. At the same time, Woods let it be known that he was once again working on changes to his swing — this time in hopes of reducing the wear and tear on his surgically-repaired left knee, which was subjected to severe stress in the 1998–2003 version of his swing.Jaime Diaz (January 2005). The truth about Tiger. Golf Digest.Dave Shedloski (2006-07-27). Woods is starting to own his swing. PGATOUR.com. Again, Woods anticipated that once the adjustments were complete, he would return to his previous form.

In the 2005 PGA Tour season, Woods quickly returned to his winning ways. On March 6, 2005 he outplayed Phil Mickelson to win the Ford Championship at Doral, and returned to the Official World Golf Rankings' number one position in the process (though Singh displaced him once again two weeks later). On April 10, 2005, Woods finally broke his "drought" in the majors by winning the 2005 Masters in a tie-breaking playoff (after holing a historic chip-in on the 16th hole), which also assured him the number one spot in the World Rankings again. Singh and Woods swapped the number 1 position several times over the next couple of months, but by early July, Woods had established a substantial advantage, propelled further by a victory in the Open Championship, a win that also gave him his 10th major. Woods went on to win six official money events on the PGA Tour in 2005, topping the money list for the sixth time in his career. Woods' 2005 wins also included two at the World Golf Championships.

For Woods, the year 2006 was markedly different from 2005. While he began just as dominantly (winning the first two tournaments he entered on the year) and was in the hunt for his fifth Masters championship in April, Woods surprisingly never mounted a Sunday charge to defend his title at Augusta, allowing Phil Mickelson to claim the green jacket. Shortly thereafter (May 3, 2006), Woods' father/mentor/inspiration, Earl, died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. The loss was devastating to Woods, who took a nine-week-long hiatus from the PGA Tour to be with his family in the wake of Earl's death. When he finally returned for the 2006 U.S. Open, the rust was evident — he would eventually miss the cut at Winged Foot, the first time he had failed to qualify for the weekend at a major in his professional career, and thereby ending his record-tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at major championships. A tie for second at the Western Open just three weeks later went a long way toward silencing doubts about his game, though, and Woods seemed poised to defend his Open crown at Hoylake despite his grief. At The Open Championship, Woods would stage a tour de force in successful course management, putting, and accuracy with irons. Using almost exclusively long irons off the tee (he hit driver only one time the entire week — the 16th hole of the first round), Woods missed just four fairways all week (hitting the fairway 86 percent of the time), and his score of −18 to par (three eagles, 19 birdies, 43 pars, and only seven bogeys) was just one off of his major championship record −19, set at St Andrews in 2000. The victory was an emotional one for Woods, who dedicated his play to his father's memory. Several weeks later, at the PGA Championship, Woods once again won in dominating fashion. He finished the tournament at −18 to par and added more records to his already-impressive resume, equaling the to-par record in the PGA that he shares with Bob May. Woods now holds at least a share of the scoring record in relation to par in all four majors, and also holds the margin of victory record in two majors, The Masters and the U.S. Open. (Old Tom Morris holds this record in the The Open Championship, and Nicklaus holds this record in the PGA Championship.)

As of November 2006, Woods has won 54 official money events on the PGA Tour and at 30 years and 7 months old is the youngest to the 50-win mark. At the close of his first eleven seasons, Tiger had eclipsed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record of 52 (set by Byron Nelson) and total majors record of 11 (set by Jack Nicklaus). He also has 19 other individual professional titles, and two team titles in the two-man WGC-World Cup. With his victory at the 2006 WGC-American Express Championship, he became the first player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons. It also placed him tied for 2nd for the longest PGA Tour win streak at 6 straight, tied with himself (99–00) and Ben Hogan (1948). Only Byron Nelson's streak of 11 wins in 1945 is longer. He has successfully defended a title 16 times on the PGA Tour, has finished runner-up 20 times, and has won 27% (54 out of 200) of his professional starts on the PGA Tour. He has a 38–3 winning record when leading after 54 holes in TOUR events, and owns the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history. Woods is one of five players (along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player) to have won all four professional major championships in his career, known as the "Career Grand Slam", and was the youngest to do so. Bobby Jones won all four of what were in his era considered major championships. With Woods's win in The Open Championship of 2005, he became the second golfer (after Nicklaus) to have won all four majors more than once. At the 2003 TOUR Championship, it was widely reported in the print media that he set "an all-time record for most consecutive cuts", starting in 1998, with 114 (passing Byron Nelson's previous record of 113) and that he extended this mark to 142 before it ended on May 13, 2005 at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.Woods' TOUR-leading cut streak ends. PGA Tour. Retrieved on 2006-07-27. Manyhttp://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20050515/ai_n14631892http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/05/15/stories/2005051504331800.htmhttp://www.golfdigest.com/newsandtour/index.ssf?/newsandtour/insider/20050513insider.htmlhttp://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/news/headlines/0,,news-tsn_20050513_180515,00.html consider this to be one of the most remarkable golf accomplishments of all time, given the margin by which he broke the old record (and against stronger fields in terms of depth than those in Nelson's day)http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2006/10/04/sport/nelson-target-in-sight-for-title-hungry-tiger.html&template;=/sport/feeds/story_template.htmlhttp://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2006/10/04/sport/nelson-target-in-sight-for-title-hungry-tiger.html&template;=/sport/feeds/story_template.html?page=2http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2603730 and given that during the streak, the next longest streak by any other player was usually only in the 10s or 20s.

Woods won the "World Sportsman of the Year" award at the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000 and 2001. He is the only individual two-time winner of Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award (1996, 2000).

When Woods turned pro, Mike "Fluff" Cowan was his caddie until March 8, 1999.Woods dismisses his caddie Cowan. The New York Times (1999-03-09). He was replaced by Steve Williams, who has become a close friend of Woods and is often credited with helping Woods with key shots and putts.Doug Ferguson (2006-08-08). Tiger's caddie reflects on "defining" moment at Medinah. The Associated Press.

Playing style

When Woods burst onto the professional golf scene in 1996, one of the things that made the biggest impact with fans was his long driving. However, when he did not upgrade his equipment in the following years (insisting upon the use of True Temper Dynamic Gold steel-shafted clubs and smaller steel clubheads that promoted accuracy over distance), many opponents caught up to him, a trend that became all too obvious during the 2002–2003 PGA Tour seasons — Phil Mickelson would even make a joke in 2003 about Woods using "inferior equipment", which did not sit well with either Nike or Woods. During 2004, Woods finally upgraded his driver technology to a larger clubhead and graphite shaft, which coupled with his prodigious clubhead speed to make him one of the Tour's lengthier players off the tee once again.

Despite his power advantage, Woods has always focused on developing an excellent all-around game. Although in recent years he has typically been near the bottom of the Tour rankings in driving accuracy,Tiger Woods - 2005 Stats. pgatour.com. PGA. Retrieved on 2006-07-28. his iron play is generally as accurate as any player ever to play (including Jack Nicklaus), his recovery and bunker play is often brilliant (for example, his miraculous 30-foot chip-in at Augusta's 16th during the 2005 Masters), and his putting (especially under pressure) is possibly his greatest asset. He is largely responsible for a shift to higher standards of athleticism amongst professional golfers, and is known for putting in more hours of practice than most.^{[citation�needed]}

Early in his professional career, Woods worked almost exclusively with leading swing coach Butch Harmon, but since March 2004, he has been coached by Hank Haney. In June 2004, Woods was involved in a media spat with Harmon, who also works as a golf broadcaster, when Harmon suggested that he was in "denial" about the problems in his game, but they publicly patched up their differences.

Although he is considered one of the most charismatic figures in golf's history, Woods' approach is, at its core, cautious. He aims for consistency. Although he is better than any other Tour player when he is in top form, his dominance comes not from regularly posting extremely low rounds, but instead from avoiding bad rounds. To illustrate, the standard deviations of Woods' 18-hole scores are typically lower than those of most Tour players.^{[citation�needed]} Woods plays fewer tournaments than most professionals (18–21 per year, compared to the typical 25–30), and focuses his efforts on preparing for (and peaking at) the Majors and the most prestigious of the other tournaments. Woods' manner off of the course is cautious as well, as he carries himself in interviews and public appearances with a carefully controlled demeanor reminiscent of the corporate athlete persona developed between Nike and Michael Jordan. One of the few breaches of Woods' fan-friendly image occurred during the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, on the 18th tee in the second round. Using a driver, Woods snap-hooked his tee shot into the Pacific Ocean, then let loose with a stream of expletives that NBC's microphones broadcast live. The USGA received several calls from offended viewers, and Woods quickly apologized.

Though he is known to be extremely focused and almost machine-like during tournaments, many golfers have mentioned how Woods is easy to get along with and has a good sense of humor. John Daly mentioned in his autobiography that "Tiger Woods is one of my favorite golfers to play with. The kid is an absolute riot and is just hysterical. Everyone who thinks he is just robotic during tournaments needs to walk 18 holes with him to realize how funny and genuine of a guy he really is."

Woods almost always wears a shirt in a red shade during the final round (usually on Sundays) of every tournament in which he plays. He believes the color red symbolizes aggression and assertiveness.Gregg Steinberg. Mental Rule: Wear the Red Shirt. Golf Today. Retrieved on 2006-07-28.

Major Championships

Wins (12)

¹ Defeated Bob May in three-hole playoff by 1 stroke - Woods (3-4-5=12), May (4-4-5=13)
² Defeated Chris DiMarco with birdie on first extra hole

Records and trivia

In all of his major victories, he has had the outright lead or a share of the lead after the third round.

Woods also won the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship in 1996 before he turned professional.

After his victory in the 2000 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods became only the second player in professional golfing history to hold three majors in the same year at the same time. This matched Ben Hogan's feat in 1953.

With his victory in The Masters in 2001, Woods became the only player ever to hold all four professional majors at once (although this did not occur in a calendar year, and is therefore not considered a true Grand Slam). The achievement has been nicknamed "The Tiger Slam".

Tiger Woods and Lee Trevino have been the only two players to have captured the three national opens (U.S., British, and Canadian) in one year: Trevino in 1971 and Woods in 2000.

In the 2006 PGA Championship, Woods made only three bogeys, tying the record for fewest bogeys in a major.

Woods holds at least a share of the record for lowest 72-hole score in relation to par in all four majors, and at least a share of the low-72 holes record in two of them. Note that the "to par" and "low 72-holes" records are not always the same because, while most championship golf courses have a par of 72, or 288 for four rounds, some have a par of 71 or 70:

• The Masters: −18 (270), 1997 (outright to-par and low 72 holes record)
• US Open: −12 (272), 2000 (outright to par record)
  • Woods shares the low 72-holes record with Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen, and Jim Furyk.
• The Open Championship: −19 (269), 2000 (outright to-par record)
  • Greg Norman holds the low 72-holes record at 267.
• PGA Championship: −18 (270), 2000; −18 (270), 2006 (to-par record shared with Bob May)
  • David Toms holds the low 72-holes record at 265.

The above performances have also given him the record for victory margin in two majors:

• The Masters: 12 strokes, 1997
• U.S. Open: 15 strokes, 2000 (record for all majors)

Woods is the only player to have won multiple professional majors in consecutive years, 2005 and 2006. Bobby Jones won multiple majors in consecutive years in 1926 and 1927 http://www.avoo.com/Bobby_Jones_%28golf%29, when the US Amateur and the British Amateur were both considered majors.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/10/AR2005081001723.html. See footnote 2 for a detailed explanation as to why the amateur titles were regarded as majors in Bobby Jones's era and are not in the modern era.

Woods has won two or more majors in a year four times. He trails only Nicklaus, who won two majors in a season five times (1963, '66, '72, '75 and '80).http://www.golfweb.com/tournaments/pgachampionship/story/9611037http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/tours/pgachamp/article/0,17742,1254863,00.html

Woods is one of the few players to have finished in the Top 5 in all four majors in a year. He has done this twice, first in 2000 and then in 2005.

Woods and Bobby Jones are the only golfers to have won 10 majors before the age of 30. Jones achieved 13 major victories in 21 attempts,http://www.bobbyjones.com/record.html making his winning percentage 62 percent, while Woods achieved 10 wins in 44 attempts for a winning ratio of 23 percent. When Woods' three consecutive US Junior Amateur wins and three consecutive US Amateur wins are included, Woods can be said to have won 16 'majors' before age 30 in 50 attempts for a winning ratio of 32 percent.

Results timeline