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Eldrick "Tiger" Woods
was born on December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California. Tiger was the child
of an interracial marriage between his African American father, Earl Woods and
his Thai
mother, Kultida Punsawad. Earl is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the
U.S. Army and was the driving force and inspiration for Tiger's enthusiasm and
expertise in the sport of golf. Earl nicknamed Tiger after a Vietnamese army
friend who was also named Tiger.
Tiger was a naturally gifted
player and took up golfing when he was only 2 years old. Tiger appeared with
Bob Hope on the Mike Douglas show at age two and when he was
three, he shot a 48 through nine holes at the Cypress Navy Golf Course.
Tiger won the Optimist
International Junior Tournament
six times before he was 15 years old. In 1991 when Tiger was 15 years
old, he became the youngest winner ever of the U.S.
Junior Amateur Championship.
Tiger attended Western High
School in Anaheim, California and entered Stanford University in 1994. Tiger
won the collegiate title in 1996 and after claiming his third U.S.
Amateur Title, (1994, 1995 and
1996) he left college and turned professional on August 29, 1996. Tiger played
in 8
PGA events in 1996. He won 2 titles and was named the PGA Tour's
outstanding rookie.
As an amateur player, Tiger
Woods was the Golf Digest Player
of the Year in 1991 and 1992.
Tiger was the Golf World Player of
the Year in 1992 and 1993 and
the Golfweek National Amateur of
the Year in 1992. He was the Golf
World Man of the Year in 1994
and the Jack Nicklaus College
Player of the Year in
1996.
Tiger routinely hits drives of more than 300
yards. His overwhelming long game along with his superior putting and chipping
and his mental toughness make him an intimidating competitor and a very
popular player with the fans.
During the Masters
Tournament of 1997, Tiger shot a record 270 through 72 holes. He
finished 12 strokes ahead of the rest of the field in one of the most
dominating performances in the history of professional golf. In 1999 Tiger became the first golfer in over twenty years
to win 8 PGA tournaments in one year. His 6 consecutive victories in 1999-2000
are the second longest streak in PGA history. (Byron
Nelson holds the record at 11.)
Tiger Woods became the youngest
player in history to complete a career Grand Slam of the four Major PGA
championships when he won the British Open on July 23, 2000. Tiger was the
first African American to win the Masters.
(The four tournaments he won were the Masters,
the U.S.
Open, PGA
Championship, and the British
Open.)
On April 14, 2002, Tiger won
his third Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia with a four round 276. So far
this year Tiger has won the Bay
Hill Invitational, the Masters,
finished third in the Byron
Nelson Classic and won the Deutsche
Bank Tournament.
Tiger
has played in 130 tournaments as of May, 2002. He finished first in 43 of
those tournaments and finished in the top ten 94 times. As of May 2002, Tiger
is number one in career golf earnings, (not
including endorsements) with $29,203,127.
Tiger is number 4 on
the list of "Most major
Tournaments Won," (includes
amateur wins). Byron
Nelson is the only player
ahead of Tiger on the list of "Most
Consecutive PGA Tour Wins."
Only Byron Nelson and Ben
Hogan are ahead of Tiger on
the list of "Most PGA Wins
During Three Consecutive Years"
and Tiger leads the list of "Most
PGA Wins Before Reaching His 25th Birthday.
Tiger holds the
records for the lowest 72 hole scores in the following major tournaments: 1997
Masters
- 18 under, 2000 U.S. Open
- 12 under, 2000 British Open
- 19 under, and the 2000 PGA
Championship - 18 under.
In 2002, Tiger won the Bay Hill
Invitational, the Masters, the U.S. Open Championship, the Buick Open and the WGC
American Express Championship.
Tiger
began 2003 at a record pace after coming back from Knee surgery; winning 3
out of the 4 tournaments he entered and winning the Bay Hill
Invitational for a record setting fourth time in a row even though he was
suffering from food poisoning during the final round. He has
experienced a few loosing tournaments since then, however I'm sure he'll be
back.
Sources:
Tiger
Woods Chat Session - Age 24 - 2000
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia
Africana
Sports
Illustrated's Golf On-Line
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