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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.[1] In 2006, at the age of 30, he won his eleventh and twelfth professional major golf championships[2] 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 (2nd) or career PGA Tour wins (5th). Among his achievements, Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Tour Player of the Year for a record eight times, and he has led the money list seven times (one behind Jack Nicklaus' record). He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year four times, a record he shares with Lance Armstrong.
Background and familyWoods' father, Earl Woods, was a Vietnam War veteran and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, and was 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 (nee Punsawad), 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.[4] He affably refers to his ethnic make-up as Cablinasian (a portmanteau of Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian), a term he coined himself. 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.[5] 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),[6] Woods' niece, is also a golfer and had received some coaching from Earl Sr.
Tiger's life was profiled in the 1998 Showtime original movie, The Tiger Woods Story, which featured highlights of his upbringing over the background story of his 1997 Masters win. Tiger was played by Khalil Kain. The movie was directed by LeVar Burton. MarriageIn 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.[8] Woods' Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson. Tiger and Elin are expecting their first child in the summer of 2007.[9][10][11] In late January 2007, Woods admitted that he would miss The Open Championship at Carnoustie if it coincides with the birth.[12] CareerEarly life and amateur careerImage:Tiger woods on Mike Douglas show.jpg Woods (age 2) on The Mike Douglas Show (October 6, 1978). From left to right; Tiger Woods, Mike Douglas, Earl Woods, Bob Hope. Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he putted against comedian Bob Hope 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.[13] 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).[14] 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 careerImage:Tiger Woods 2004.jpg Tiger Woods giving a driving demonstration aboard the USS George Washington. With the announcement, "Hello World,"[15] 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 qualify 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.[16] 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,[17] 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,[18] 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 Associated Press 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 culminating 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. With this victory, he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam, at the age of 24. 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. Three weeks later, Woods won his third straight start on Tour at the Bell Canadian Open, becoming only the second man (Lee Trevino in 1971) to win the three national "Opens" (U.S., British, and Canadian) in one year. Of the twenty events he entered in 2000, he finished in the top three an impressive 14 times. 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 following season, Woods continued dominating: his 2001 Masters win marked the only time — within the era of the modern "grand slam" — that any player has been the holder of all four major championship titles at the same time. This feat has become known as the "Tiger Slam". Woods was surprisingly not a factor in the three remaining majors of the year, but still finished with the most PGA Tour wins in the season, with five. In 2002, Woods started off strong once again, joining Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Jack Nicklaus (1965-66) as the only men to have won The Masters in back-to-back seasons. Two months later, Woods was the only player under par at the U.S. Open, and resurrected buzz about the calendar Grand Slam, which had eluded him in 2000. All eyes were on Woods at the Open Championship, but his third round score of 81 ended all hope. At the PGA, Woods nearly repeated his 2000 feat of winning three majors in one year, but bogeys at the 13th and 14th holes in the final round cost him the championship by one stroke. Nonetheless, he took home the money title, Vardon Trophy, and Player of the Year honors for the fourth year in a row. 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.[19][20] 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. He won the Buick Invitational on January 23, 2005 and 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. Image:Woods on the Green.jpg Woods on the green at The Masters in 2006. 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. However, a tie for second at the Western Open just three weeks later went a long way toward silencing doubts about his game, 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. Four 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 résumé, equaling the to-par record in the PGA that he shares with Bob May. Woods 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 in the PGA Championship.) In August 2006 he won his 50th professional tournament at the Buick Open, and at 30 years and 7 months old, became the youngest to the 50-win mark. He ended the year by winning his last six PGA Tour events, and won the 3 most prestigious awards given by the PGA Tour (Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Byron Nelson Awards) in the same year for a record seventh time. Woods stormed into 2007 with a two-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational for his third straight win at the event and his seventh consecutive win on the PGA Tour. The victory marked the fifth time he has won his first tournament of the season. With this win, he became the third man (after Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead) to win at least five times in three different events on the PGA Tour (his two other events are the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and WGC-CA Championship). Woods earned his second victory of the year at the WGC-CA Championship for his third consecutive win at the event and 13th official World Golf Championships event. He also became the first player to three-peat in five different events. As of March 2007, Woods has won 56 official money events on the PGA Tour. At the close of his first eleven seasons, Tiger's 54 wins and 12 major wins 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 20 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. His victory in the Buick Invitational on January 28, 2007 placed him 2nd for the longest PGA Tour win streak at 7 straight. Only Byron Nelson's streak of 11 wins in 1945 is longer. He has successfully defended a title 18 times on the PGA Tour, has finished runner-up 20 times, and has won 27% (56 out of 204) of his professional starts on the PGA Tour. He has a 27-6 record when leading after 36 holes in Tour events, and a 39–3 record when leading after 54 holes. He owns the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history. He has been the PGA Tour Money Winner seven times, trailing Jack Nicklaus by one, the PGA Player of the Year a record eight times, the Vardon Trophy winner a record six times, and the Byron Nelson Award winner a record seven times. 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 2005 Open Championship, he became only 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.[21] Many[22][23][24][25] 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)[26][27][28] and given that during the streak, the next longest streak by any other player was usually only in the 10s or 20s. When Woods turned pro, Mike "Fluff" Cowan was his caddie until March 8, 1999.[29] 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.[30]. Playing styleWhen 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,[31] 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. While 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 (15–21 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." Major championshipsWins (12)
1 Defeated Bob May in three-hole playoff by 1 stroke: Woods (3-4-5=12), May (4-4-5=13) Records and triviaWoods always wears a red (or, more recently, red-pink) shirt on the final round (usually on Sundays) of every tournament in which he plays, as he believes the color red symbolizes aggression and assertiveness. [32] 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 Triple Crown of Golf (U.S., British, and Canadian Opens in one year.) 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 above performances have also given him the record for victory margin in two 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 [33], when the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur were both considered majors.[34] 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).[35][36] 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,[37] 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 U.S. Junior Amateur wins and three consecutive U.S. 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
LA = Low Amateur
World Golf ChampionshipsWins (13)WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (2)
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (5)
WGC-CA Championship (6)
Performance summary
Records and trivia
Bridgestone Invitational
Note: All Bridgestone Invitational records were set in 2000, when the tournament was known as the NEC Invitational CA Championship
Note: All CA Championship records were set in 2006, when the tournament was known as the American Express Championship[38][39] Awards
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