Eldrick Tont Woods, better known as Tiger Woods was born on December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California. He is the son of Earl (1932-2006) and Kultida (Tida) Woods (born 1944). He is the only child of their marriage, but has two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957). He is an American professional golfer and to date, his achievements have ranked him as one of the most successful golfers of all time. Woods is currently the #1 ranked golfer in the World, and was the highest-paid professional athlete in 2008, as he earned an estimated $110 million from his winning and endorsements.

Tiger Woods has won14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player, and 71 PGA Tour events, where is ranked third of all time. Woods has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. Tiger Woods is also the only other golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to have achieved a career Grand Slam three times. Woods has won 16 World Golf Championships, and has won at least one of those events each of the 11 years they have been in existence.

Since childhood, Woods was raised Buddhist, and he continues to actively practice his faith. He grew up in Orange County, California and was introduced to the game of golf before the age of two, by his father Earl. He was considered a prodigy early on, and before turning the age of three, Tiger entered and won the Under-10 (years of age) section of the Drive, Pitch, and Putt competition, which was held at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, California.

At age three, he shot a 48 over nine holes over the Cypress Navy course, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC’s That’s Incredible. In 1984 at the age of eight, he won the 9–10 boys’ event, the youngest age group available, at the Junior World Golf Championships. He first broke 80 at age eight and went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991.

Tiger Woods’ father Earl had wrote that Tiger first beat him at golf when he as only 11 years old, as Earl claimed he was trying his best. Earl went on to say that he lost to his son Tiger every time from that point on. In 1989, Woods entered into his first major national junior tournament, when he was 13 years old. The events format placed a professional with each group of juniors who had qualified. Woods was paired with golf pro John Daly, who at that time was relatively unknown. In the final round Daly birdied three of the last four holes to beat Woods by only one stroke.

While attending Western High School in Anaheim, California, Woods at the age of 15, became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in 1991, and was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year in a row, while also winning Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the year. In 1992, Woods went on to defend his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, while becoming the first multiple winner. He went on to compete in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open, and was later named Golf Digest Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year, and Golfweek National Amateur of the Year.

The following year, Woods won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the youngest-ever and only multiple winner of this event. In 1994, he became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, a record that stood until 2008 when it was broken by Danny Lee. Woods won over the TPC at Sawgrass in Florida. He was a member of the American team at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships (winning), and the 1995 Walker Cup (losing).

Tiger Woods went on to graduate from Western High School in 1994 at the age of 18, and was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” among the graduating class. He was heavily recruited by college golf powerhouse programs, but chose Stanford University, the 1994 NCAA Division I champion. Woods received a golf scholarship and enrolled at Stanford in the fall of 1994, and went on to win his first collegiate event, the 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational in September.

In 1995, he defended his U.S. Amateur title, at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, and was later 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 programs). Woods participated in his first PGA Tour major, the 1995 Masters Tournament, and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. At age 20 in 1996, he became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles, winning at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Oregon, and won the NCAA individual golf championship. In winning the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship, he tied the record for an amateur aggregate score of 281. Woods left college after two years and turned professional, which since then has turned out to be a wise move for him.

In August of 1996, Tiger Woods became a professional golfer and signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike, Inc. and $20 million from Titleist. These endorsement contracts were the highest in golf history to that stage. Woods was named Sports Illustrated’s 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

The following April, Woods went on to win his first major, The Masters, in Augusta, Georgia, with a record score of 18 under par, by a record margin of 12 strokes. He became the youngest Masters winner and the first African American to do so. Woods set a total of 20 Masters records and tied 6 others. He went on to win another three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997, in only his 42nd week as a professional golfer, he rose to number one in the Official World Golf Rankings, the fastest-ever ascent to world No. 1. He was later named PGA Player of the Year, and was the first golfer to win the award the year following his rookie season.

Tiger Woods went on to dominate professional golf throughout the late nineties and early 2000s. During the 2003-2004, Woods continued to adjust his swing, got married, and ended up firing long time coach Butch Harmon and hired on Hank Haney. He did not win a major during that time and attributed all to a “slump”, while dropping to the rank of #2 in the world, next to Vijay Singh.

During the 2005-2007 seasons, Woods continued to dominate, and regained his #1 world ranking after winning The Masters again, the U.S. Open, and various other money events. Then, on May 3, 2006, Woods’ father Earl died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. He had been a long time motivator and inspiration to Woods, who ended up taking a nine-week hiatus from the PGA Tour to be with his family.

Tiger Woods went on to dominate the game of golf, had some minor slumps, while notably missing the cut upon his return to golf after his father’s death, and then missing some time from professional golf after his amazing U.S. Open win in 2008 at Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA, as he would be required to undergo reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery on his left knee and would miss the remainder of the 2008 golf season including the final two major championships: The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship.

According to Golf Digest, Woods made $769,440,709 during the years of 1996 to 2007, and the magazine predicted that by 2010, Tiger Woods would pass one billion dollars in earnings. Later in 2009, Forbes confirmed that Woods was the world’s first athlete to earn over a billion dollars in his career (before taxes) The same year, Forbes estimated his net worth to be about $600 million, which makes him the second richest “African American” next to Oprah Winfrey.

During Thanksgiving time in November 2009, Woods was noted to have suffered injuries in a one-car crash outside of his home in Florida, as allegations surfaced in the media about Woods’ many marital infidelities over the years with cheating on his wife with porn stars, to party girls, and pop singers. Following allegations surrounding his private life, Woods publicly announced a break from competitive golf at the end of 2009 and is due to return to competition for the 2010 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, starting on April 8, 2010.

Over the years, Woods has established several charitable and youth projects. Most notably, The Tiger Woods Foundation, which was established in 1996 by Tiger Woods and his father Earl, and focuses on projects for children. Initially these comprised golf clinics (aimed especially at disadvantaged children), and a grant program. Further activities added since then include university scholarships, an association with Target House at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee; the Start Something character development program, which reached one million participants by 2003; and the Tiger Woods Learning Center.

During the aftermath of the earthquake that struck the island country of Haiti, Tiger Woods donated $3,000,000 USD to the victims there.

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