Eldrick “Tiger” Woods was born on December 30, 1975, in Cypress, California to parents Earl and Kultida Woods. As a young child, Tiger was introduced to the game of golf by his father Earl who had taken up the sport as a hobby. Earl began teaching his son how to swing a club in the garage of their home when Tiger was just a year old. Recognizing his son's early talent and dedication, the elder Woods became Tiger’s full-time coach as a toddler.
Tiger played in his first junior tournament at age 3 and won the 10-and-under junior championship just a few years later at age 8. As he continued to rack up junior tournaments across California, Tiger came to national attention after winning the 9–10 boys' event in the Junior World Golf Championships. It marked the start of an unprecedented run that saw him claim that title six years in a row through age 15.
Throughout his teenage years, Tiger dedicated all his effort towards golf with intense training under his father's tutelage. He traveled across the country playing tournaments while also becoming a standout on his high school varsity golf team. The work paid off when at 18 years old and a freshman at Stanford University, Tiger won an unprecedented third straight U.S. Amateur Championship in 1996.
Two months later, Tiger decided to leave college and turn professional in order to play full-time on the PGA tour. His early dominance in the amateur ranks brought enormous expectations and publicity right from the start. After initially struggling to make cuts in seven straight events, Tiger won two tournaments towards the end of 1996 and was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year.
What transpired over the next decade marked perhaps the greatest stretch of golf ever played. Tiger won 43 PGA tournaments between 1997 and 2007 including an astonishing stretch of seven consecutive victories in 2006-2007. During that period, he captured 13 major championship victories cementing his status as golf's all-time great.
His greatest season came in 2000 when at age 24 he became the youngest player ever to win the career grand slam in addition to setting the PGA Tour record with 264 total weeks ranked as the number one golfer in the world. Tiger followed it up the next year by winning the Masters tournament which gave him four consecutive major tournament wins across two calendar years. In the years to come, Tiger dominated nearly every golf tournament he entered while his celebrity status transcended beyond sports.
Of course, no athlete is without adversity and distractions. Tiger suffered severe knee injuries that required multiple surgeries in 2008 just as his performance began to slip ever so slightly from his untouchable prime. Off the course, his long-time marriage crumbled after news broke of his marital infidelities in late 2009. As the scandal grew, Woods took an indefinite break from competitive golf and later issued a televised apology for his behavior.
After significant changes to his personal life and swing mechanics in the following years, Tiger was never quite able to recapture his previous form. His last major tournament victory came at the U.S. Open in 2008 with stars like Phil Mickelson beginning to challenge his supremacy. From 2014 to 2017, debilitating back injuries caused Tiger to remain sidelines for long stretches. At times, it appeared his legendary career was coming to an unceremonious end as he fell outside the top 1000 in the World Golf Rankings.
Amazingly though at age 42, Tiger was able to overcome pain and paralysis fears in his back to start his comeback. He captured his first tournament win in five years at the 2018 Tour Championship while stunning the sports world a year later in 2019 by winning his 5th green jacket and 15th major title at The Masters. The triumph marked his first major in over a decade as he added another iconic moment to his illustrious career.
As he enters the twilight of his playing days now in his late 40s, Woods continues to chase the all-time majors record of 18 currently held by Jack Nicklaus. While injuries may prevent Tiger from ever reaching that summit, he undeniably remains the biggest name and draws in the world of golf. His 15 Major victories, 82 PGA tour wins and record 683 weeks as the number one world-ranked golfer solidify his legacy as one of the most talented and transformative athletes his sport has ever known.
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