Here’s a look at one of the most successful golfers in history, Tiger Woods.
Personal:
Birth date: December 30, 1975
Birth place: Cypress, California
Birth name: Eldrick Tont Woods
Father: Earl Woods
Mother: Kultilda (Punsawad) Woods
Marriage: Elin Nordegren (October 5, 2004-August 23, 2010, divorced)
Children: Charlie Axel and Sam Alexis
Education: Attended Stanford University, 1994-1996
Other Facts:
Won the Masters Tournament four times, theUS Open three times, the PGA Championship four times, and theBritish Open three times.
Woods leads the PGA in career victories among active players, and is the career money list leader.
His father, Earl, nicknamed him “Tiger” after a South Vietnamese soldier with whom he had fought alongside during the Vietnam War.
With 80 PGA Tour wins, Woods is ranked second for all-time career victories, behind Sam Snead who has 82 wins.
Timeline:
1978 – At the age of 2, wins a putting contest with Bob Hope. The match was staged for the “Mike Douglas Show.”
1980 – Appears on the TV show “That’s Incredible.”
1991 – Wins his first US Junior Amateur golf championship. At 15 years of age, Woods was the youngest champion in history until 14-year-old Jim Liu broke his record in 2010.
1992 – Wins his second US Junior Amateur golf championship.
February 27, 1992 – Competes in his first PGA tournament at the age of 16. He is given a sponsor’s exemption in order to play and is the youngest player ever to play in a PGA tournament at that time.
1993 – Wins his third US Junior Amateur golf championship.
1994-1996 – Wins three consecutive US Amateur golf championships.
August 27, 1996 – Turns professional.
August 1996 – Signs a five-year endorsement deal with Nike worth $40 million.
October 6, 1996 – Wins his first tournament as a professionalat the Las Vegas Invitational.
1996 – Forms the Tiger Woods Foundation for the promotion of minority participation in golf and other sports.In February 2018, the charity is renamed TGR Foundation to reflect its growth and scope.
1996 – Woods earns $790,594 on the tour the year he turns pro. He also signs a reported $43 million worth of endorsement contracts.
January 21, 1997 – Announces the formation of the Tiger Woods Foundation for the promotion of minority participation in golf and other sports.
April 13, 1997 – Wins his first Masters Tournament.
May 19, 1997 – Signs an endorsement deal with American Express worth between $13 and $30 million.
June 1997 – Becomes the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world after his 42nd week on the PGA Tour. At 21 years, 24 weeks, he is the youngest player ever to hold the No. 1 spot.
August 15, 1999 – Wins his first PGA championship.
June 18, 2000 – Wins his first US Open by 15 strokes, the largest margin in US Open history.
July 23, 2000 – Wins his first British Open.
September 14, 2000 – Signs a five-year endorsement contract with Nike. It is worth an estimated $85 million, making it the richest endorsement contract in sports history, at the time.
June 16, 2002 – Wins his second US Open.
December 8, 2003 – Named PGA Player of the Year for the fifth straight year.
2004 – Woods earns $86.3 million, $80 million of which comes from endorsement deals.
May 13, 2005 – Woods fails to make the cut at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. It is the first time since 1998 that Woods is eliminated from a tournament.
November 23, 2005 – Wins the PGA Grand Slam of Golf for a record-breaking sixth time.
February 10, 2006 – Opens the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, California.
May 3, 2006 – Woods’ father, Earl Woods, dies of prostate cancer.
July 23, 2006 – Wins his third British Open.
August 20, 2006 – Wins his third PGA Championship.
August 12, 2007 – Wins his fourth PGA Championship.
April 15, 2008 – Undergoes arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He had two prior surgeries on the same knee, first in 1994 to remove a benign tumor, and another arthroscopic surgery in December 2002.
June 16, 2008 – Wins the US Open in sudden death, defeating Rocco Mediate.
June 18, 2008 – Woods announces that he will undergo reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery on his left knee and will miss the remainder of the PGA tour season.
February 26, 2009 – After an eight-month hiatus from golf due to knee surgery, Woods plays the second round of the World Golf Championships Match Play and loses to Tim Clark.
November 15, 2009 – Wins the Australian Masters.
November 27, 2009 – Is taken to a hospital after being injured in a car accident in front of his home in Florida. He is released later the same day.
December 2009 – Is named Athlete of the Decade by the Associated Press.
December 2, 2009 – Woods apologizes for “transgressions” that let his family down — the same day a gossip magazine publishes a report alleging he had an affair. He does not admit to an affair and offers no details about the “transgressions” in his statement.
February 19, 2010 – Makes a televised statement apologizing for being unfaithful to his wife and letting down both fans and family. “I had affairs, I cheated. What I did was not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame,” he says. Responding to rumors, Woods says that his wife never hit him, as some media reported in connection with the car crash on November 27, 2009, and that there has “never been an episode of domestic violence” in his relationship with his wife. Woods also says that he entered a rehabilitation center for 45 days, from the end of December to early February, and that he will continue to receive treatment and therapy.
March 16, 2010 – Announces he will begin his 2010 season at the Masters Tournament in April.
October 31, 2010 – After 281 straight weeks, the longest in Official World Golf Ranking history, Woods loses his No. 1 ranking to Lee Westwood.
2010 – Loses about $20 million from estimated endorsements after sponsors including Gatorade, AT&T and Accenture end ties. Other sponsors including Nike, Upper Deck and EA Sports remain with Woods.
June 7, 2011 – Announces he will miss the US Open due to knee and Achilles tendon injuries.
July 19, 2011 – Woods announces that after a 12-year relationship, he and caddie Steve Williams will no longer be working together.
August 4, 2011 – Returns to golf at the Bridgestone Invitational, after a nearly three-month break.
August 11, 2011 – Plays one of his worst first rounds of golf in a major championship. He fails to make the cut at the PGA Championship for the first time in his career.
October 3, 2011 – For the first time in 15 years, Woods does not make it onto golf’s top 50 players list, according to the official World Golf Ranking.
October 5, 2011 – Signs a new endorsement deal with Swiss watch-maker Rolex.
December 4, 2011 – Wins the Chevron World Challenge, though not a PGA Tour event, his first win since November 2009.
March 25, 2012 – Earns his first PGA Tour win, in theArnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, since September 2009.
June 3, 2012 – Ties Jack Nicklaus on 73 PGA Tour victories at the Memorial Tournament.
July 2, 2012 – Beats Nicklaus’ PGA Tour record with the AT&T National win. Woods’ 74th PGA Tour win ranks him in second place on the all-time list.
September 3, 2012 – Becomes the first PGA tour participant to earn $100 million.
March 25, 2013 – Woods wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the eighth time, andregains the No. 1 spot.
October 28, 2013 – Video game company Electronic Arts announces the end of its 15-year relationship with Woods.
March 31, 2014 – Woods undergoes back surgery for a pinched nerve.
August 23, 2015 – Woods posts a top-10 finish at his debut at the Wyndham Championships but ends his season as the 257th ranked player in the world. His finish was four shots off eventual winner Davis Love III. Woods has now missed the cut for three majors in a row.
December 1, 2015 – Woods announces that he underwent his third microdiscectomy surgerylast month — a procedure to remove bone around a pinched nerve to allow space for it to heal — and admits he has no idea when he will be back on the course.
July 20, 2016 – It is announced that Woods will miss the PGA Championship due to his continued recovery from back surgery. This marks the first time in his career that he has missed all four major championships.
December 4, 2016 – Woods finishes 14 shots behind the winner in the Hero World Challenge, his first competitive event in more than a year.
May 29, 2017 – Woods is arrested on suspicion of DUI in Jupiter, Florida. He says in a statement that he had “an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications” and that alcohol was not involved.
June 19, 2017 – Woods announces that he is receiving professional help to manage medication for back pain and a sleep disorder.
July 3, 2017 – Announces that he has completed an intensive program for managing his medications.
October 27, 2017 – Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving. His 12-month probation is contingent on completing any recommended treatment including DUI school, 50 hours of community services and random drug and alcohol testing.
December 3, 2017 – Making his long-awaited return from a fourth back surgery— his first tournament for 301 days since pulling out of the Dubai Desert Classic in February — Woods finishes in a tie for ninth place in the Hero World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas.
June 5, 2018 – Is ranked number 16 on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest paid athletes.
September 23, 2018 – Wins the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, for his first PGA Tour victory since August 2013 and his 80th overall.
November 23, 2018 – Loses to Phil Mickelson on the fourth playoff hole in “Capital One’s The Match,” a $9 million head-to-head, winner-take-all event at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.
