Eldrick Woods

32

United States of America

Sports

Golf

Eldrick “Tiger” Woods was born on December 30, 1975 to Earl and Katilda Woods in Cypress, California. When we talk about early starters, Tiger Woods tops the list. He took to golf at a very young age and by the age of 5, he had already risen to prominence after having appeared in the Golf Digest. At the age of 8, he won the 9-10 boys’ event at the World Junior Golf Championships. At the age of 15 he became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion. In 1994, he became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championships. Just incase you thought he did nothing but play golf, well, he graduated from Stanford University with a major in Economics.

With such a prolific record as a Junior in the Amateur circuit, very few were surprised when Tiger signed endorsement deals worth tens of millions with majors like Nike and Titleist when he turned professional. Woods carried his form from the Amateur circuit to the Professional circuit winning 2 events in 3 months to qualify for the Tour Championship. At this stage he was already famous, but his popularity skyrocketed once he won the 1997 US Masters with a record score of 270. At the age of 21, he was the youngest person to do so and also the first African American to win this. This was just the first of plenty more accomplishments of this legend of professional golf.

Later in the same year, he equaled the course record of 64 in the British Open. Within the next five years, Woods had won 2 U.S. PGA titles and he also had a couple of U.S. Opens under his belt. He also won the Open Championship in 2000 and the U.S. Masters in 2001 and 2002.

Woods had a lukewarm season in 2004 when he lost his dominating edge with only one PGA tour win but he came right back the next season winning 6 championships and was voted the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the seventh time.

Woods started the 2006 season in the same dominating fashion both he and the world were accustomed to and he lost his way allowing Phil Michelson to claim the green jacket. Shortly thereafter, he lost his father Earl, who was also his mentor and inspiration. He took more than a couple of months to recover from this loss and when he returned, the rust was evident as he missed the cut in the U.S. Open at the Winged Foot.

Spurred by the birth of his daughter, Tiger was back to his winning ways in the year 2007 with successful showings in the World Golf Championship and U.S. PGA Championship in August 2007. His winning ways continued and he was voted The Player of the Year yet again.

When Tiger Woods came on to the golfing scene, his long drives created quite a stir in the world of golf. He presently has an all-around game with his iron play as good as anyone. He is brilliant at recovery play and his putting is simply the best.

His focused approach on the golf course might make him appear as a man who means business. But the people around him say that he is quite a funny and genuine guy.

Like all great champions, Tiger Woods is a great competitor who hates to loose; “I love to compete. That's the essence of who I am.”

• Won his fourth PGA Championship.

• Named the ‘Best Male Athlete’ in the Annual Sealand Awards.

• Named the Player of the Year.

• Won his eighth Arnold Palmer Award for being the lead money earner on the tour.