Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods
Personal information
Full name	Eldrick Tont Woods
Nickname	Tiger
Born	December 30, 1975 (1975-12-30) (age 35) Cypress, California
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Windermere, Florida
Spouse	Elin Nordegren (2004–2010)
Children	Sam Alexis (b. 2007) Charlie Axel (b. 2009)
Career
College	Stanford University (two years)
Turned professional	1996
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour (joined 1996)
Professional wins	97[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	71 (3rd all time)
European Tour	38 (3rd all time)[2][3]
Japan Golf Tour	2
Asian Tour	1
PGA Tour of Australasia	1
Other	15
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 14)
Masters Tournament	Won: 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005
U.S. Open	Won: 2000, 2002, 2008
The Open Championship	Won: 2000, 2005, 2006
PGA Championship	Won: 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour Rookie of the Year	1996
PGA Player of the Year	1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
PGA Tour Player of the Year	1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
PGA Tour leading money winner	1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Vardon Trophy	1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Byron Nelson Award	1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
FedEx Cup Champion	2007, 2009
(For a full list of awards, see here)

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975)^[4] is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, he is the highest-paid professional athlete in the world, having earned an estimated $90.5 million from winnings and endorsements in 2010.^[5]

Woods has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player (Jack Nicklaus leads with 18), and 71 PGA Tour events, third all time.^[6] He 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. Additionally, Woods is only the second 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.

Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record ten times,^[7] the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons.

On December 11, 2009, Woods announced he would take an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage after he admitted infidelity. His multiple infidelities were revealed by over a dozen women, through many worldwide media sources.^[8][9] Woods returned to competition for the 2010 Masters on April 8, 2010,^[10] after a break lasting 20 weeks.

In July 2010, Forbes announced Tiger Woods as the richest sportsman in the world earning a reported $105m according to them and $90.5m according to Sports Illustrated.^[11]

Contents 1 Background and family 2 Early life and amateur golf career 3 College golfing career 4 Professional career 4.1 1996–98: early years and first major win 4.2 1999–2002: slams 4.3 2003–04: Swing adjustments 4.4 2005–07: resurgence 4.5 Death of father 4.6 Returns to top form 4.7 2008: injury-shortened season 4.8 2009: returning to the PGA Tour 4.9 2010 5 Playing style 6 Equipment 7 Other ventures and aspects 7.1 Charity and youth projects 7.2 Writings 7.3 Golf course design 7.4 Endorsements 7.5 Honors 7.6 Politics 7.7 Cut streak 7.8 Tiger-proofing 7.9 Ryder Cup performance 8 Career achievements 8.1 Major championships 8.1.1 Wins (14) 8.1.2 Results timeline 8.2 World Golf Championships 8.2.1 Wins (16) 8.2.2 Results timeline 8.3 PGA Tour career summary 9 Personal life 9.1 Marriage 9.2 Marital infidelity and career break 9.3 Other 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External links

Background and family

Woods was born in Cypress, California, to 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), and one half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl, a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran, was of mixed African American, Chinese, and Native American ancestry. Kultida (née Punsawad), originally from Thailand, is of mixed Thai, Chinese, and Dutch ancestry. This makes Woods himself half Asian (one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Thai), one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch.^[12] He refers to his ethnic make-up as “Cablinasian” (a syllabic abbreviation he coined from Caucasian, Black, (American) Indian, and Asian).^[13]

From childhood he was raised as a Buddhist and actively practised this faith from childhood until well into his adult career.^[14] He has attributed his deviations and infidelity to his losing track of Buddhism. He said that "Buddhism teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught."^[15]

At birth, Woods was given 'Eldrick' and 'Tont' as first and middle names. His middle name, Tont (Thai: ต้น), is a traditional Thai name.^[16] He got his nickname from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong,^[17] to whom his father had also given the Tiger nickname. He became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf, he was simply known as 'Tiger' Woods.

Early life and amateur golf career

Woods grew up in Orange County, California. He was a child prodigy, introduced to golf before the age of two, by his athletic father Earl, who was a good standard amateur golfer and one of the earliest Negro college baseball players at Kansas State University.^[18] In 1978, Tiger putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. Before turning three, Tiger entered and won the Under Age 10 section of the Drive, Pitch, and Putt competition, held at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, California.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21] He first broke 80 at age eight.^[22] He went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

Woods' father Earl wrote that Tiger first beat him when he was 11 years old, with Earl trying his best. Earl lost to Tiger every time from then on.^[28][29] Woods's first major national junior tournament was the 1989 Big I, when he was 13 years old. Woods was paired with pro John Daly, then relatively unknown, in the final round; the event's format placed a professional with each group of juniors who had qualified. Daly birdied three of the last four holes to beat Woods by only one stroke.^[30] As a young teenager, Woods first met Jack Nicklaus in Los Angeles at the Bel-Air Country Club, when Nicklaus was performing a clinic for the club's members. Woods was part of the show, and impressed Nicklaus and the crowd with his skills and potential.^[31]

While attending Western High School in Anaheim at the age of 15, Woods became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in 1991, was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the Year for 1991.^[32] In 1992, he defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, becoming the first multiple winner, competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open, and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year, and Golfweek National Amateur of the Year.^[33][34]

The following year, Woods won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the event's youngest-ever and only multiple winner.^[35] 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.^[36] 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).^[37][38]

Woods graduated from Western High School in 1994 at age 18, and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" among the graduating class. He had starred for the high school's golf team under coach Don Crosby.^[39]

College golfing career

Woods was recruited very heavily by college golf powers, and chose Stanford University, the 1994 NCAA Division I champion. He obtained a golf scholarship and enrolled at Stanford in the fall of 1994. He won his first collegiate event, the 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational, in September.^[40] He declared a major in economics, and was nicknamed "Urkel" by his college teammates.^[41] In 1995, he defended his U.S. Amateur title, at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island^[36] and was 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).^[42][43] He 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,^[44] and won the NCAA individual golf championship.^[45] In winning the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship, he tied the record for an amateur aggregate score of 281.^[46] He left college after two years and turned professional.

Professional career

1996–98: early years and first major win

With the announcement "Hello world," Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike, Inc. and $20 million from Titleist.^[47][48] These endorsement contracts were the highest in golf history to that stage. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open, tying for 60th place, but went on to win two events in the next three months to qualify for the Tour Championship. For his efforts, Woods was named Sports Illustrated's 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.^[49] He began his tradition of wearing a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, a link to his college days at Stanford and a color he believes symbolizes aggression and assertiveness.^[50][51]

The following April, Woods won his first major, The Masters, with a record score of 18 under par, by a record margin of 12 strokes, becoming the youngest Masters winner and the first African American to do so.^[52] He set a total of 20 Masters records and tied six others. He won another three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997, in only his 42nd week as a professional, rose to number one in the Official World Golf Rankings, the fastest-ever ascent to world No. 1.^[53] He was named PGA Player of the Year, the first golfer to win the award the year following his rookie season.

While expectations for Woods were high, his form faded in the second half of 1997, and in 1998 he only won one PGA Tour event. He answered critics of his "slump" and what seemed to be wavering form by maintaining he was undergoing extensive swing changes with his coach, Butch Harmon, and was hoping to do better in the future.^[54]

1999–2002: slams

In June 1999, Woods won the Memorial Tournament, a victory that marked the beginning of one of the greatest sustained periods of dominance in the history of men's golf. He completed his 1999 campaign by winning his last four starts—including the PGA Championship—and finished the season with eight wins, a feat not achieved since 1974.^[55] He was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years.^[55][56]

Woods started 2000 with his fifth consecutive victory and began a record-setting season, winning three consecutive majors, nine PGA Tour events, and setting or tying 27 Tour records. He went on to capture his sixth consecutive victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with a memorable comeback. Trailing by seven strokes with seven holes to play, he finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for a 64 and a two-stroke victory. His six consecutive wins were the most since Ben Hogan in 1948 and only five behind Byron Nelson's record of eleven in a row. In the 2000 U.S. Open, he broke or tied a total of nine U.S. Open records with his 15-shot win, including Old Tom Morris's record for the largest victory margin ever in a major championship, which had stood since 1862, and became the Tour's all-time career money leader. He led by a record 10 strokes going into the final round, and Sports Illustrated called it "the greatest performance in golf history."^[57] In the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews, which he won by eight strokes, he set the record for lowest score to par (−19) in any major tournament, and he holds at least a share of that record in all four major championships. At 24, he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam.^[58]

Woods's major championship streak was seriously threatened at the 2000 PGA Championship, however, when Bob May went head-to-head with Woods on Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club. Woods played the last twelve holes of regulation seven under par, and won a three-hole playoff with a birdie on the first hole and pars on the next two. He joined Ben Hogan (1953) as the only other player to win three professional majors in one season. Three weeks later, he won his third straight start on Tour at the Bell Canadian Open, becoming only the second man after Lee Trevino in 1971 to win the Triple Crown of Golf (U.S., British, and Canadian Opens) in one year. Of the twenty events he entered in 2000, he finished in the top three fourteen times. His adjusted scoring average of 67.79 and his actual scoring average of 68.17 were the lowest in PGA Tour history, besting his own record of 68.43 in 1999 and Byron Nelson's average of 68.33 in 1945. He was named the 2000 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, becoming the first and only athlete to be honored twice.^[59] Woods was ranked as the twelfth best golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine just four years after he turned professional.^[60]

The following season, Woods continued to dominate. His 2001 Masters Tournament win marked the only time in the modern era of the Grand Slam that any player has held all four major championship titles at the same time, a feat now known as the "Tiger Slam".^[61] It is not viewed as a true Grand Slam, however, because it was not achieved in a calendar year. Surprisingly, he was not a factor in the three remaining majors of the year, but finished with the most PGA Tour wins in the season, with five. In 2002, he started off strong, joining Nick Faldo (1989–90) and Jack Nicklaus (1965–66) as the only men to have won back-to-back Masters Tournaments.^[62]

Two months later, Woods was the only player under par at the U.S. Open, and resurrected buzz about the calendar Grand Slam, which had eluded him in 2000.^[63] All eyes were on Woods at the Open Championship, but his third round score of 81 in dreadful weather at Muirfield ended his Grand Slam hopes.^[64] At the PGA Championship, he nearly repeated his 2000 feat of winning three majors in one year, but bogeys at the thirteenth and fourteenth holes in the final round cost him the championship by one stroke.^[65] Nonetheless, he took home the money title, Vardon Trophy, and Player of the Year honors for the fourth year in a row.^[66]

2003–04: Swing adjustments

The next phase of Woods's career saw him remain among the top competitors on the tour, but lose his dominating edge. He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004, falling to second in the PGA Tour money list in 2003 and fourth in 2004. In September 2004, his record streak of 264 consecutive weeks as the world's top-ranked golfer came to an end at the Deutsche Bank Championship, when Vijay Singh won and overtook Woods in the Official World Golf Rankings.^[67]

Many commentators were puzzled by Woods's "slump," offering explanations that ranged from his rift with swing coach Butch Harmon to his marriage. At the same time, he let it be known that he was again working on changes to his swing, this time in hopes of reducing the wear and tear on his surgically repaired left knee, which was subjected to severe stress in the 1998–2003 version of his swing.^[54][68] Again, he anticipated that once the adjustments were complete, he would return to his previous form. Woods changed coaches, working with Hank Haney after leaving Harmon.

2005–07: resurgence

In the 2005 season, Woods quickly returned to his winning ways. He won the Buick Invitational in January, and in March he outplayed Phil Mickelson to win the Ford Championship at Doral and temporarily return to the Official World Golf Rankings number one position (Singh displaced him once again two weeks later).^[50] In April, he finally broke his "drought" in the majors by winning the 2005 Masters Tournament in a playoff, which regained him the number one spot in the World Rankings. Singh and Woods swapped the #1 position several times over the next couple of months, but by early July Woods had reclaimed the top spot, propelled further by a victory at the 2005 Open Championship, his 10th major. He went on to win six official money events on the PGA Tour in 2005, topping the money list for the sixth time in his career. His 2005 wins also included two at the World Golf Championships.

For Woods, the year 2006 was markedly different from 2005. While he began just as dominantly (winning the first two PGA tournaments he entered on the year) and was in the hunt for his fifth Masters championship in April, he never mounted a Sunday charge to defend his title, allowing Phil Mickelson to claim the green jacket.^[69][70]

Death of father

On May 3, 2006, Woods' father, mentor and inspiration, Earl, died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer.^[71] Woods took a nine-week hiatus from the PGA Tour to be with his family. When he returned for the 2006 U.S. Open, the rust was evident—he missed the cut at Winged Foot, the first time he had missed the cut at a major as a professional, and ended his record-tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at majors. Still, a tie for second at the Western Open just three weeks later showed him poised to defend his Open crown at Hoylake.

Returns to top form

At the 2006 Open Championship, Woods almost exclusively used long irons off the tee (he hit driver only one time the entire week—the 16th hole of the first round), he missed just four fairways all week (hitting the fairway 92% of the time), and his score of −18 to par (three eagles, 19 birdies, 43 pars, and seven bogeys) was just one off of his major championship record −19, set at St Andrews in 2000. The victory was an emotional one for Woods, who dedicated his play to his father's memory.^[72]

Four weeks later at the 2006 PGA Championship, Woods again won in dominating fashion, making only three bogeys, tying the record for fewest in a major. He finished the tournament at 18-under-par, equaling the to-par record in the PGA that he shares with Bob May from 2000.^[73] In August 2006, he won his 50th professional tournament at the Buick Open—and at the age of thirty years and seven months, he became the youngest golfer to do so.^[74] He ended the year by winning six consecutive PGA Tour events, and won the three most prestigious awards given by the PGA Tour (Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Byron Nelson Awards) in the same year for a record seventh time.

At the close of his first 11 seasons, Woods's 54 wins and 12 major wins had surpassed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record of 51 (set by Byron Nelson) and total majors record of 11 (set by Jack Nicklaus). He was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for a record-tying fourth time.^[75]

Woods and tennis star Roger Federer, who share a major sponsor, first met at the 2006 U.S. Open tennis final. Since then, they have attended each other's events and have voiced their mutual appreciation for each other's talents.^{[76][77][78][79]}

Woods began 2007 with a two-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational for his third straight win at the event and his seventh consecutive win on the PGA Tour.^[80] The victory marked the fifth time he had won his first tournament of the season. With this win, he became the third man (after Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead) to win at least five times in three different events on the PGA Tour (his two other events are the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and WGC-CA Championship). He earned his second victory of the year at the WGC-CA Championship for his third consecutive and sixth win overall at the event. With this victory, he became the first player to have three consecutive victories in five different events.^[81]

At the 2007 Masters Tournament, Woods was in the final group on the last day of a major for the thirteenth time in his career, but unlike the previous twelve occasions, he was unable to come away with the win. He finished tied for second two strokes behind winner Zach Johnson.^[82]

Woods earned his third victory of the season by two strokes at the Wachovia Championship,^[83] the 24th different PGA Tour tournament he won.^[84] He has collected at least three wins in a season nine times in his 12-year career. At the U.S. Open, he was in the final group for the fourth consecutive major championship, but began the day two strokes back and finished tied for second once again. His streak of never having come from behind to win on the final day of a major continued.^[85]

In search of a record-tying third consecutive Open Championship, Woods fell out of contention with a second-round 75, and never mounted a charge over the weekend. Although his putting was solid (he sank a 90-footer in the first round), his iron play held him back. "I wasn't hitting the ball as close as I needed to all week," he said, after he finished tied for twelfth, five strokes off the pace.^[86]

In early August, Woods won his record 14th World Golf Championships event at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by 8 strokes for his third consecutive and sixth victory overall at the event. He became the first golfer to win the same event three straight times on two different occasions (1999–2001) and (2005–2007). The following week, he won his second straight PGA Championship by defeating Woody Austin by two strokes.^[87] He became the first golfer to win the PGA Championship in back-to-back seasons on two different occasions: 1999–2000 and 2006–2007. He became the second golfer, after Sam Snead, to have won at least five events on the PGA Tour in eight different seasons.

Woods earned his 60th PGA Tour victory at the BMW Championship by shooting a course record 63 in the final round to win by two strokes. He sank a fifty-foot putt in the final round and missed only two fairways on the weekend.^[88] He led the field in most birdies for the tournament, and ranked in the top five in driving accuracy, driving distance, putts per round, putts per green, and greens in regulation. Woods finished his 2007 season with a runaway victory at the Tour Championship to capture his fourth title in his last five starts of the year. He became the only two-time winner of the event, and the champion of the inaugural FedEx Cup. In his 16 starts on Tour in 2007, his adjusted scoring average was 67.79, matching his own record set in 2000. His substantial leads over the second, third, and fourth players were similar in 2000 (1.46 (Phil Mickelson), 1.52 (Ernie Els), 1.66 (David Duval)) and 2007 (1.50 (Els), 1.51 (Justin Rose), 1.60 (Steve Stricker)).

2008: injury-shortened season

Woods started the 2008 season with an eight-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational. The win marked his 62nd PGA Tour victory, tying him with Arnold Palmer for fourth on the all time list.^[89] This marked his sixth victory at the event, the sixth time he has begun the PGA Tour season with a victory, and his third PGA Tour win in a row. The following week, he was trailing by four strokes going into the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic, but made six birdies on the back nine for a dramatic one-stroke victory.^[90] He took home his 15th World Golf Championships event at the Accenture Match Play Championship with a record-breaking 8 & 7 victory in the final.^[91]

In his next event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods got off to a slow start, finishing the first round at even par and tied for 34th place. After finishing the third round in a five-way tie for first place, he completed his fifth consecutive PGA Tour victory with a dramatic 24-foot putt on the 18th hole to defeat Bart Bryant by a stroke. It was also his fifth career victory in this event. Geoff Ogilvy stopped Woods's run at the WGC-CA Championship, a tournament Woods had won in each of the previous three years. He remains the only golfer to have had more than one streak of at least five straight wins on the PGA Tour.

Despite bold predictions that Woods might again challenge for the Grand Slam, he did not mount a serious charge at the 2008 Masters Tournament, struggling with his putter through each round. He would still finish alone in second, three strokes behind the champion, Trevor Immelman. On April 15, 2008, he underwent his third left knee arthroscopic surgery in Park City, Utah, and missed two months on the PGA Tour. The first surgery he had was in 1994 when he had a benign tumor removed and the second in December 2002.^[92] He was named Men's Fitness's Fittest Athlete in the June/July 2008 issue.^[93]

Woods returned for the 2008 U.S. Open in one of the most anticipated golfing groupings in history^[94] between him, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott, the top three golfers in the world. Woods struggled the first day on the course, notching a double bogey on his first hole. He would end the round at +1 (72), four shots off the lead. He scored −3 (68) his second day, still paired with Mickelson, managing 5 birdies, 1 eagle and 4 bogeys. On the third day of the tournament, he started off with a double bogey once again and was trailing by 5 shots with six holes to play. However, he finished the round by making 2 eagle putts, a combined 100 feet (30 m) in length, and a chip-in birdie to take a one shot lead into the final round. His final putt assured that he would be in the final group for the sixth time in the last eight major championships.

On Sunday, June 15, Woods began the day with another double bogey, and trailed Rocco Mediate by one stroke after 71 holes. He winced after several of his tee shots, and sometimes made an effort to keep weight off of his left foot. Woods was behind by one stroke when he reached the final hole. Left with a 12-foot putt for birdie, he made the shot to force an 18-hole playoff with Mediate on Monday.^[95][96] Despite leading by as many as three strokes at one point in the playoff, Woods again dropped back and needed to birdie the 18th to force sudden death with Mediate, and did so. Woods made par on the first sudden death hole; Mediate subsequently missed his par putt, giving Woods his 14th major championship.^[97] After the tournament, Mediate said "This guy does things that are just not normal by any stretch of the imagination,"^[98] and Kenny Perry added, "he beat everybody on one leg."^[99]

Two days after winning the U.S. Open, Woods announced that 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. Woods also revealed that he had been playing for at least 10 months with a torn ligament in his left knee, and sustained a double stress fracture in his left tibia while rehabbing after the surgery he had after the Masters.^[100][101] Publications throughout the world asserted his U.S. Open victory as "epic" and praised his efforts especially after learning of the extent of his knee injury. Woods called it "My greatest ever championship – the best of the 14 because of all the things that have gone on over the past week."^[102]

Woods' absence from the remainder of the season caused PGA Tour TV ratings to decline. Overall viewership for the second half of the 2008 season saw a 46.8% decline as compared to 2007.^[103]

2009: returning to the PGA Tour

Called "one of the most anticipated returns in sports" by the Associated Press,^[104] Woods' first PGA Tour event after an eight month layoff came at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. He lost to Tim Clark in the second round.^[105] His first stroke play event was the WGC-CA Championship at Doral where he finished 9th (−11). Woods won his first title of the year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he was five strokes behind Sean O'Hair entering the final round. Woods shot a final round 67 and made a 16-foot birdie putt at the final hole to defeat O'Hair by one stroke.^[106] Afterwards, he would continue to perform consistently. At The Masters, he finished sixth, four strokes behind eventual winner Ángel Cabrera. Then, despite having the 18-hole lead at the Quail Hollow Championship, he finished two strokes behind Sean O'Hair. At The Players Championship, he played in the final grouping on Sunday, but finished eighth.

Woods won his second event of 2009 at the Memorial Tournament. He trailed by four shots after three rounds but shot a final round 65, which included two consecutive birdies to end the tournament.^[107] The win was Woods' fourth at the event. Woods won his third event of the 2009 season on July 5 at the AT&T National, an event hosted by Woods himself.^[108] However, for the third time going into a 2009 major, Woods failed to capitalize on his preceding win. Instead, at the 2009 Open Championship, he missed the cut for only the second time in a major championship since turning professional.^[109]

On August 2, Woods captured the Buick Open for his fourth win of the season, a three-shot victory over three other players. After firing an opening-round 71 that put him in 95th place and outside of the cutline, Woods responded with a second-round 63, nine-under par, that vaulted him into contention. A third-round 65 put him atop the leaderboard and he coasted to victory with a final-round 69 for a 20-under 268 four-round total.^[110] This was the biggest turnaround pro victory to date.^[111]

Woods won his 70th career event the following week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He went head-to-head against Pádraig Harrington on Sunday until the 16th, where Harrington made a triple bogey 8 on the par 5 and Woods made birdie. Tiger went on to win the event by 4 strokes over Harrington and Robert Allenby.^[112]

At the 2009 PGA Championship, Woods shot a 5-under 67 to take the lead after the first round. He remained leader or co-leader through the second and third rounds. Going into the final round, Woods had a 2 stroke lead at 8-under. However, at the 68th hole, Woods was overtaken for the first time atop the leaderboard by Yang Yong-eun. Yang eventually won the tournament by three strokes over Woods who finished second.^[113] It marked the first time that Woods would fail to win a major when leading or co-leading after 54 holes and the first time he had lost any tournament on American soil when leading by more than one shot.^[114] It also meant that Woods would end the year without a major for the first time since 2004.

Woods won his 71st career title at the BMW Championship. The win moved him to first place in the FedEx Cup standings going into the final playoff event. It was his fifth win at the BMW Championship (including three wins as the Western Open) and marked the fifth time he had won an event five or more times in his career on the PGA Tour.^[115] Woods finished second at The Tour Championship to win his second FedEx Cup title.^[116]

At the 2009 Presidents Cup, Woods had an impressive and equally spectacular performance in which he won all five of his matches at the event. He joined his friend Mark O'Meara, who won all five of his matches at the 1996 Presidents Cup, and Shigeki Maruyama, who accomplished this feat in the 1998 Presidents Cup.^[117][118] In all three instances, their respective teams won the competition. Woods was paired with Steve Stricker all four rounds of the competition in foursomes and four-ball. On the first day of foursomes, they won 6 and 4 over the team of Ryo Ishikawa and Geoff Ogilvy.^[119] In Friday's match of four-ball, they won over the team of Ángel Cabrera and Geoff Ogilvy, 5 and 3.^[120] On Saturday, they beat the team of Tim Clark and Mike Weir after trailing for most of the match by winning the 17th and 18th holes to win 1-up in morning foursomes,^[121] and in the afternoon four-ball they defeated the team of Ryo Ishikawa and Y. E. Yang by the score of 4 and 2.^[122][123] In the singles match, Woods was paired with his nemesis from the 2009 PGA Championship, Yang. Yang grabbed the quick 1-up lead on the first hole, but on the third hole lost the lead and Woods went onto win the match by a score of 6 and 5.^[124] In addition, Woods was the one who clinched the Cup for the United States, which was his first time ever in his career he had the honor and opportunity to do this in a team event competition.^[125][126]

In November 2009, Woods was paid $3.3 million to play in the JBWere Masters, held at Kingston Heath in Melbourne, Australia from November 12 to 15. The event was sold out for the first time. He went on to win at 14 under par, two strokes over Australian Greg Chalmers, marking his 38th European Tour win and his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia.^[127]

2010

After his past marital infidelities came to light, Woods announced an indefinite break from competitive golf at the end of 2009. In March 2010, he announced that he would be playing in the 2010 Masters.^[128] In late March, he began working on a new commercial for longstanding sponsor Nike.

Missing the start of the 2010 season, Woods returned to competition for the 2010 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, starting on April 8, 2010,^[10] after a break lasting 20 weeks. He finished the tournament tied for fourth.^[129] Woods next competed at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship at the end of April, but missed the cut for just the sixth time of his career. He shot his second-worst round as a professional on 30 April, a 7-over 79 during the second round to miss the 36-hole cut by eight strokes.^[130] Woods withdrew from The Players Championship during the fourth round, on May 9, later citing a neck injury. He had scored 70-71-71 in the first three rounds, and was two over par for the round, while playing the seventh hole, when he withdrew. Woods returned to competitive golf four weeks later to defend his title at The Memorial Tournament. He made the cut and went on to finish T19, his worst finish in that tournament since 2002. His next competitive tournament began June 17, 2010 at the U.S. Open held at Pebble Beach, the site of his 2000 win by a record 15 shots. After a relatively unspectacular performance through the first two rounds, Woods showed signs of his pre-2010 form, as he managed a back nine 31 in route to shooting a five-under-par 66 on Saturday, which would tie for the low round of the tournament and put him back into contention. However, he was unable to mount a charge on Sunday, despite the collapse of 54 hole leader Dustin Johnson, and went on to finish the tournament at three-over-par and in a tie for fourth place, repeating his top-5 result at the 2010 Masters Tournament.^[131]

Woods then played in the AT&T National in late June, which he used to host. He was the favorite among many coming into his former tournament, but he struggled all four days of the tournament and failed to post a round under par tying for 46th place.^[132]

Woods then flew to Ireland to play in a 2-day charity event – the JP McManus Pro-Am – and then flew home to Florida to "see his kids" before preparing for The Open Championship just over a week later. He changed his putter for the Open Championship at St Andrews, saying he always struggled on slow greens and needed this new Nike Method 001 putter to "get the ball rolling faster and better". It was the first time Woods had used any other putter than his Titleist Scotty Cameron since 1999. Woods putted well the first day of the tournament, shooting a 5-under, but wind gusts of over 40 mph suspended play for 66 minutes the next day at St Andrews, and Woods was never able to get anything going. It was the same story Saturday. He missed short putts over and over again. He changed his putter back to his old Scotty Cameron for the final round, but did not putt any better. Woods finished 3-under overall, 13 shots behind winner Louis Oosthuizen (tied for 23rd place).

Woods finished in 18-over par tying for 78th place (second-to-last place) in the Bridgestone Invitational on August 8. Woods posted his worst four-round result as a professional golfer.^[133]

Playing style

When Woods first joined the professional tour in 1996, his long drives had a large impact on the world of golf.^[134][135] However, when he did not upgrade his equipment in the following years (insisting upon the use of True Temper Dynamic Gold steel-shafted clubs and smaller steel clubheads that promoted accuracy over distance),^[136] many opponents caught up to him. Phil Mickelson even made a joke in 2003 about Woods using "inferior equipment", which did not sit well with Nike, Titleist or Woods.^[137][138] During 2004, Woods finally upgraded his driver technology to a larger clubhead and graphite shaft, which, coupled with his clubhead speed, made him one of the Tour's lengthier players off the tee once again.

Despite his power advantage, Woods has always focused on developing an excellent all-around game. Although in recent years he has typically been near the bottom of the Tour rankings in driving accuracy, his iron play is generally accurate, his recovery and bunker play is very strong, and his putting (especially under pressure) is possibly his greatest asset. He is largely responsible for a shift to higher standards of athleticism amongst professional golfers, and is known for putting in more hours of practice than most.^{[139][140][141]}

From mid-1993, while he was still an amateur, until 2004, Woods worked almost exclusively with leading swing coach Butch Harmon. From mid-1997, Harmon and Woods fashioned a major redevelopment of Woods' full swing, achieving greater consistency, better distance control, and better kinesiology. The changes began to pay off in 1999.^[142] Since March 2004, Woods has been coached by Hank Haney, who has worked on flattening his swing plane. Woods has continued to win tournaments with Haney, but his driving accuracy has dropped significantly since his move from Harmon. In June 2004, Woods was involved in a media spat with Harmon, who also works as a golf broadcaster, when Harmon suggested that he was in "denial" about the problems in his game, but they publicly patched up their differences.^[143]

Haney announced that he was stepping down as Woods' coach on May 10, 2010.^[144]

Equipment

As of 2010:^[145][146]

• Driver: Nike VR Tour Driver (9.5 degrees; Mitsubishi Diamana Whiteboard 83g shaft)
• Fairway Woods: Nike SQ II 15° 3-wood with Mitsubishi Diamana Blueboard and Nike SQ II 19° 5-Wood
• Irons: Nike VR Forged TW Blade (2-PW) (Tiger will put his 5 Wood or 2 Iron in the bag depending upon the course setup and conditions). All irons are 1 degree upright, have D4 swingweight, standard size Tour Velvet grips and True Temper Dynamic Gold X-100 shafts.^[146]
• Wedges: Nike VR 56° Sand Wedge and Nike SV 60° Lob Wedge
• Putter: Scotty Cameron By Titleist GSS Newport 2 putter (standard loft and lie, 35 inches long) Championship^[145][146]
• Ball: Nike ONE Tour (only "1"s with "Tiger" imprint)
• Golf Glove: Nike Dri-FIT Tour glove
• Golf Shoes: Nike Air Zoom TW 2010
• Club Cover: Frank, a plush tiger head club cover created by his mother, which has appeared in several commercials.^[147]
• Fairway wood "Kiwi" bird headcover relates to the nationality of his caddie Steve Williams (New Zealand).

Other ventures and aspects

Charity and youth projects

Woods has established several charitable and youth projects.

• The Tiger Woods Foundation: The Tiger Woods Foundation was established in 1996 by Woods and his father Earl. It 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.^[148] The Tiger Woods Foundation recently has teamed up with the PGA Tour to create a new PGA tour event that will take place in the nation's capital (Washington, D.C.) beginning in July, 2007.^[149]
• In The City Golf Clinics and Festivals: Since 1997, the Tiger Woods Foundation has conducted junior golf clinics across the country.^[148] The Foundation began the “In the City” golf clinic program in 2003. The first three clinics were held in Indio, California, Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and were targeted to all youth, ages 7–17, and their families. Each three-day event features golf lessons on Thursday and Friday of clinic week and a free community festival on Saturday. Host cities invite 15 junior golfers to participate in the annual Tiger Woods Foundation Youth Clinic. This three-day junior golf event includes tickets to Disney Resorts, a junior golf clinic, and an exhibition by Tiger Woods.^[150]
• Tiger Woods Learning Center: This is a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m²) educational facility in Anaheim, California which opened in February 2006. It is expected to be used by several thousand students each year in grades 4 to 12. The center features seven classrooms, extensive multi-media facilities and an outdoor golf teaching area.^[151][152]
• Tiger Jam: An annual fundraising concert which has raised over $10 million for the Tiger Woods Foundation. Past performers at Tiger Jam include Sting, Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder.^[153]
• Chevron World Challenge: An annual off-season charity golf tournament. The event carries generous prize money, and in 2007 Woods donated his $1.35 million first-place check to his Learning Center.^[154]
• Tiger Woods Foundation National Junior Golf Team: An eighteen member team which competes in the annual Junior World Golf Championships.^[155]

Woods has also participated in charity work for his current caddy, Steve Williams. On April 24, 2006 Woods won an auto racing event that benefited the Steve Williams Foundation to raise funds to provide sporting careers for disadvantaged youth.^[156]

Writings

Woods has written a golf instruction column for Golf Digest magazine since 1997,^[157] and in 2001 wrote a best-selling golf instruction book, How I Play Golf, which had the largest print run of any golf book for its first edition, 1.5 million copies.^[158]

Golf course design

Woods announced on December 3, 2006 that he will develop his first golf course in the United Arab Emirates through his golf course design company, Tiger Woods Design. The Tiger Woods Dubai will feature a 7,700-yard (7,000 m), par-72 course named Al Ruwaya (meaning "serenity"), a 60,000-square-foot (6,000 m²) clubhouse, a golf academy, 320 exclusive villas and a boutique hotel with 80 suites. Tiger Woods Dubai is a joint venture between Woods and Tatweer, a member of the government-affiliated Dubai Holding. Woods chose Dubai because he was excited about the "challenge of transforming a desert terrain into a world-class golf course." The development was scheduled to be finished in late 2009 at Dubailand, the region's largest tourism and leisure project.^[159] However, economic difficulties in Dubai have delayed the completion of this project.

On August 14, 2007, Woods announced his first course to be designed in the U.S., The Cliffs at High Carolina. The private course will sit at about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina.^[160]

Woods will also design a golf course in Mexico. This will be his first oceanfront course. It will be called Punta Brava, which will be located by Ensenada, Baja California. The project will include an 18-hole course designed by Woods, 40 estate lots of up to three acres in size, and 80 villa homes of up to 7,000 square feet. Construction will start in 2009 with the project scheduled for completion in 2011.^[161]

Endorsements

Woods has been called the world's most marketable athlete.^[162] Shortly after his 21st birthday in 1996, he began signing endorsement deals with numerous companies, including General Motors, Titleist, General Mills, American Express, Accenture, and Nike, Inc. In 2000, he signed a 5-year, $105 million contract extension with Nike. It was the largest endorsing deal ever signed by an athlete at that time.^[163] Woods' endorsement has been credited in playing a significant role in taking the Nike Golf brand from a "start-up" golf company earlier in the past decade, to becoming the leading golf apparel company in the world, and a major player in the equipment and golf ball market.^[162][164] Nike Golf is one of the fastest growing brands in the sport, with an estimated $600 million in sales.^[165] Woods has been described as the "ultimate endorser" for Nike Golf,^[165] frequently seen wearing Nike gear during tournaments, and even in advertisements for other products.^[163] Woods receives a cut from the sales of Nike Golf apparel, footwear, golf equipment, golf balls,^[162] and has a building named after him at Nike’s headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon.^[166]

In 2002, Woods was involved in every aspect of the launch of Buick's Rendezvous SUV. A company spokesman stated that Buick is happy with the value of Woods' endorsement, pointing out that more than 130,000 Rendezvous vehicles were sold in 2002 and 2003. "That exceeded our forecasts," he was quoted as saying, "It has to be in recognition of Tiger." In February 2004, Buick renewed Woods' endorsement contract for another five years, in a deal reportedly worth $40 million.^[163]

Woods collaborated closely with TAG Heuer to develop the world's first professional golf watch, released in April 2005.^[167] The lightweight, titanium-construction watch, designed to be worn while playing the game, incorporates numerous innovative design features to accommodate golf play. It is capable of absorbing up to 5,000 Gs of shock, far in excess of the forces generated by a normal golf swing.^[167] In 2006, the TAG Heuer Professional Golf Watch won the prestigious iF product design award in the Leisure/Lifestyle category.^[168]

Woods also endorses the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series of video games; he has done so since 1999.^[169] In 2006, he signed a six-year contract with Electronic Arts, the series' publisher.^[170]

In February 2007, along with Roger Federer and Thierry Henry, Woods became an ambassador for the "Gillette Champions" marketing campaign. Gillette did not disclose financial terms, though an expert estimated the deal could total between $10 million and $20 million.^[171]

In October 2007, Gatorade announced that Woods would have his own brand of sports drink starting in March 2008. "Gatorade Tiger" was his first U.S. deal with a beverage company and his first licensing agreement. Although no figures were officially disclosed, Golfweek magazine reported that it was for five years and could pay him as much as $100 million.^[172] The company decided in early fall 2009 to discontinue the drink due to weak sales.^[173]

According to Golf Digest, Woods made $769,440,709 from 1996 to 2007,^[174] and the magazine predicted that by 2010, Woods would pass one billion dollars in earnings.^[175] In 2009, Forbes confirmed that Woods was indeed the world's first athlete to earn over a billion dollars in his career (before taxes), after accounting for the 10 million dollar bonus Woods received for the FedEx Cup title.^[176][177] The same year, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $600 million, making him the second richest "African American" behind only Oprah Winfrey.^[178]

Honors

On August 20, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Woods would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame. He was inducted December 5, 2007 at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento.^[179][180]

He has been named "Athlete of the Decade" by the Associated Press in December 2009.^[181] He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year a record-tying four times, and is the only person to be named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year more than once.

Since his record-breaking win at the 1997 Masters Tournament, golf's increased popularity is commonly attributed to Woods' presence. He is credited by some sources for dramatically increasing prize money in golf, generating interest in new audiences, and for drawing the largest TV audiences in golf history.^{[49][182][183][184][185][186]}

Politics

Tiger Woods is registered as an independent.^[187] In January 2009, Woods delivered a speech commemorating the military at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.^[188][189] In April 2009, Woods visited the White House while in the Washington, D.C. area promoting the golf tournament he hosts, the AT&T National.^[190]

Cut streak

In both Byron Nelson's and Woods's eras, "making the cut" has been defined as receiving a paycheck. However, in Nelson's day, only players who placed in the top 20 (sometimes as few as 15)^[191] in an event won a paycheck, whereas in Woods's day only players who reach a low enough score (top 70 and ties for most events) within the first 36 holes win a paycheck.^[192] Several golf analysts argue that Woods did not actually surpass Nelson's consecutive cuts mark, reasoning that 31 of the tournaments in which Woods competed were "no-cut" events, meaning all the players in the field were guaranteed to compete throughout the entire event regardless of their scores through 36 holes (and hence all "made the cut," meaning that they all received a paycheck). These analysts argue that this would leave Woods's final consecutive cuts made at 111, and Nelson's at 113.^[193]

However, at least ten of the tournaments in which Nelson played did not have modern-day cuts; that is, all of the players in these events were guaranteed to compete past 36 holes. The Masters, for example, did not institute a 36-hole cut until 1957 (which was well after Nelson retired), the PGA Championship was match play until 1958, and it is unclear whether or not three other events in which Nelson competed had 36-hole cuts.^[194][195] Therefore, these analysts remove "no 36-hole cut" events from both cut streak measures, leaving Nelson's consecutive cuts made at 103 (or possibly less) and Woods's at 111.^[196]

In the tournaments in which Nelson competed that did not have 36-hole cuts (that is: the Masters, PGA Championship and the possible three other tournaments), only the top 20 players received a paycheck even though all players in these events were guaranteed to compete past 36 holes.^[192] Hence, in these no-cut events, Nelson still placed in the top 20, so Nelson's 113 cuts made are reflective of his 113 top 20 finishes. Woods achieved a top 20 finish 21 consecutive times (from July 2000 to July 2001) and, in the 31 no-cut events in which he played, he won 10 and finished out of the top 10 only five times. Others, including Woods himself, argue that the two streaks cannot be compared, because the variation of tournament structures in the two eras is too great for any meaningful comparison to be made.^[193][196]

A more relevant comparison on cut streaks is the 105 consecutive cuts made by Jack Nicklaus between 1970 and 1976, ending at the 1976 World Open.^[197] The cut format from that era was virtually identical to the current PGA Tour practice, and most events in Nicklaus' streak, except for the Tournament of Champions (now the SBS Championship), the World Series of Golf (now the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational), and the U.S. Professional Match Play Championship (10 events for Nicklaus) had a cut made after 36 holes.

Tiger-proofing

Early in Woods's career, a small number of golf experts expressed concern about his impact on the competitiveness of the game and the public appeal of professional golf. Sportswriter Bill Lyon of Knight-Ridder asked in a column, "Isn't Tiger Woods actually bad for golf?" (though Lyon ultimately concluded that he was not).^[198] At first, some pundits feared that Woods would drive the spirit of competition out of the game of golf by making existing courses obsolete and relegating opponents to simply competing for second place each week.

A related effect was measured by economist Jennifer Brown of the University of California, Berkeley who found that other golfers played worse when competing against Woods than when he was not in the tournament. The scores of highly skilled (exempt) golfers are nearly one stroke higher when playing against Woods. This effect was larger when he was on winning streaks and disappeared during his well-publicized slump in 2003–04. Brown explains the results by noting that competitors of similar skill can hope to win by increasing their level of effort, but that, when facing a "superstar" competitor, extra exertion does not significantly raise one's level of winning while increasing risk of injury or exhaustion, leading to reduced effort.^[199]

Many courses in the PGA Tour rotation (including Major Championship sites like Augusta National) began to add yardage to their tees in an effort to slow down long hitters like Woods, a strategy that became known as "Tiger-Proofing". Woods himself welcomed the change as he believes adding yardage to the course does not affect his ability to win.^[200]

Ryder Cup performance

Despite his outstanding success on the PGA Tour, Woods had little success in the Ryder Cup early in his career. In his first Ryder Cup in 1997, he earned only 1½ points competing in every match and partnering mostly with Mark O'Meara. Costantino Rocca defeated Woods in his singles match.^[201] In 1999, he earned 2 points over every match with a variety of partners.^[202] In 2002, he lost both Friday matches,^[203] but, partnered with Davis Love III for both of Saturday's matches, won two points for the Americans, and was slated to anchor the Americans for the singles matches, both squads going into Sunday with 8 points.^[204] However, after the Europeans took an early lead, his match with Jesper Parnevik was rendered unimportant and they halved the match.^[205] In 2004, he was paired with Phil Mickelson on Friday but lost both matches,^[206] and only earned one point on Saturday.^[207] With the Americans facing a 5–11 deficit, he won the first singles match, but the team was not able to rally.^[206] In 2006, he was paired with Jim Furyk for all of the pairs matches, and they won two of their four matches.^[208] Woods won his singles match, one of only three Americans to do so that day.^[209] Woods missed the 2008 Ryder Cup competition altogether, as he was recovering from reconstructive surgery on his left knee. Despite Woods' absence, the United States team posted its largest margin of victory in the event since 1981.

Career achievements

Woods has won 71 official PGA Tour events including 14 majors. He is 14–1 when going into the final round of a major with at least a share of the lead. He has been heralded as "the greatest closer in history" by multiple golf experts.^{[210][211][212]} He owns the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history.

He has spent the most consecutive and cumulative weeks atop the world rankings. He is one of five players (along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus) to have won all four professional major championships in his career, known as the Career Grand Slam, and was the youngest to do so.^[213] Woods is the only player to have won all four professional major championships in a row, accomplishing the feat in the 2000–2001 seasons.

When Woods turned pro, Mike "Fluff" Cowan was his caddie until March 8, 1999.^[214] He was replaced by Steve Williams, who has become a close friend of Woods and is often credited with helping him with key shots and putts.^[215]

• PGA Tour wins (71)
• European Tour wins (38)
• Japan Golf Tour wins (2)
• Asian Tour wins (1)
• PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)
• Other professional wins (15)
• Amateur wins (21)

Major championships

Wins (14)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1997	Masters Tournament	099 shot lead	-18−18 (70–66–65–69=270)	1212 strokes	Tom Kite
1999	PGA Championship	00Tied for lead	-11−11 (70–67–68–72=277)	011 stroke	Sergio García
2000	U.S. Open	1010 shot lead	-12−12 (65–69–71–67=272)	1515 strokes	Ernie Els, Miguel Ángel Jiménez
2000	The Open Championship	066 shot lead	-19−19 (67–66–67–69=269)	088 strokes	Thomas Bjørn, Ernie Els
2000	PGA Championship (2)	011 shot lead	-18−18 (66–67–70–67=270)	00Playoff 1	Bob May
2001	Masters Tournament (2)	011 shot lead	-16−16 (70–66–68–68=272)	022 strokes	David Duval
2002	Masters Tournament (3)	00Tied for lead	-12−12 (70–69–66–71=276)	033 strokes	Retief Goosen
2002	U.S. Open (2)	044 shot lead	-03−3 (67–68–70–72=277)	033 strokes	Phil Mickelson
2005	Masters Tournament (4)	033 shot lead	-12−12 (74–66–65–71=276)	00Playoff 2	Chris DiMarco
2005	The Open Championship (2)	022 shot lead	-14−14 (66–67–71–70=274)	055 strokes	Colin Montgomerie
2006	The Open Championship (3)	011 shot lead	-18−18 (67–65–71–67=270)	022 strokes	Chris DiMarco
2006	PGA Championship (3)	00Tied for lead	-18−18 (69–68–65–68=270)	055 strokes	Shaun Micheel
2007	PGA Championship (4)	033 shot lead	-08−8 (71–63–69–69=272)	022 strokes	Woody Austin
2008	U.S. Open (3)	011 shot lead	-01−1 (72–68–70–73=283)	00Playoff 3	Rocco Mediate

¹ Defeated May in three-hole playoff by 1 stroke: Woods (3–4–5=12), May (4–4–5=13)
² Defeated DiMarco with birdie on first extra hole
³ Defeated Mediate with a par on 1st sudden death hole after 18-hole playoff was tied at even par

Results timeline

Tournament	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	T41 LA	CUT	1	T8	T18
U.S. Open	WD	T82	T19	T18	T3
The Open Championship	T68	T22 LA	T24	3	T7
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	T29	T10	1

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
The Masters	5	1	1	T15	T22	1	T3	T2	2	T6
U.S. Open	1	T12	1	T20	T17	2	CUT	T2	1	T6
The Open Championship	1	T25	T28	T4	T9	1	1	T12	DNP	CUT
PGA Championship	1	T29	2	T39	T24	T4	1	1	DNP	2

Tournament	2010
The Masters	T4
U.S. Open	T4
The Open Championship	T23
PGA Championship	T28

LA = Low Amateur
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

World Golf Championships

Wins (16)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1999	WGC-NEC Invitational	055 shot lead	-10-10 (66-71-62-71=270)	011 stroke	Phil Mickelson
1999	WGC-American Express Championship	-031 shot deficit	-06-6 (71-69-70-68=278)	00Playoff 1	Miguel Ángel Jiménez
2000	WGC-NEC Invitational (2)	099 shot lead	-21-21 (64-61-67-67=259)	1111 strokes	Justin Leonard, Phillip Price
2001	WGC-NEC Invitational (3)	-022 shot deficit	-12-12 (66-67-66-69=268)	00Playoff 2	Jim Furyk
2002	WGC-American Express Championship (2)	055 shot lead	-25-25 (65-65-67-66=263)	011 stroke	Retief Goosen
2003	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	n/an/a	n/a2 & 1	n/an/a	David Toms
2003	WGC-American Express Championship (3)	022 shot lead	-06-6 (67-66-69-72=274)	022 strokes	Stuart Appleby, Tim Herron, Vijay Singh
2004	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (2)	n/an/a	n/a3 & 2	n/an/a	Davis Love III
2005	WGC-NEC Invitational (4)	00Tied for lead	-06-6 (66-70-67-71=274)	011 stroke	Chris DiMarco
2005	WGC-American Express Championship (4)	-022 shot deficit	-10-10 (67-68-68-67=270)	00Playoff 3	John Daly
2006	WGC-NEC InvitationalWGC-Bridgestone Invitational (5)	-031 shot deficit	-10-10 (67-64-71-68=270)	00Playoff 4	Stewart Cink
2006	WGC-American Express Championship (5)	066 shot lead	-23-23 (63-64-67-67=261)	088 strokes	Ian Poulter, Adam Scott
2007	WGC-American Express ChampionshipWGC-CA Championship (6)	044 shot lead	-10-10 (71-66-68-73=278)	022 strokes	Brett Wetterich
2007	WGC-NEC InvitationalWGC-Bridgestone Invitational (6)	-031 shot deficit	-08-8 (68-70-69-65=272)	088 strokes	Justin Rose, Rory Sabbatini
2008	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship (3)	n/an/a	n/a8 & 7	n/an/a	Stewart Cink
2009	WGC-NEC InvitationalzWGC-Bridgestone Invitational (7)	-013 shot deficit	-12-12 (68-70-65-65=268)	044 strokes	Robert Allenby, Pádraig Harrington

¹ Won on the first extra hole of a sudden-death playoff.
² Won on the seventh extra hole of a sudden-death playoff.
³ Won on the second extra hole of a sudden-death playoff.
⁴ Won on the fourth extra hole of a sudden-death playoff.

Results timeline

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Accenture Match Play Championship	QF	2	DNP	R64	1	1	R32	R16	R16	1	R32	DNP
CA Championship	1	T5	NT1	1	1	9	1	1	1	5	T9	DNP
Bridgestone Invitational	1	1	1	4	T4	T2	1	1	1	DNP	1	T78
HSBC Champions	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	T6

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No Tournament
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10. Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

PGA Tour career summary

Year	Wins (Majors)	Earnings ($)	Money list rank
1996	2	790,594	24
1997	4 (1)	2,066,833	1
1998	1	1,841,117	4
1999	8 (1)	6,616,585	1
2000	9 (3)	9,188,321	1
2001	5 (1)	6,687,777	1
2002	5 (2)	6,912,625	1
2003	5	6,673,413	2
2004	1	5,365,472	4
2005	6 (2)	10,628,024	1
2006	8 (2)	9,941,563	1
2007	7 (1)	10,867,052	1
2008	4 (1)	5,775,000	2
2009	6	10,508,163	1
2010*	0	872,086	78
Career*	71 (14)	93,734,625	1

* As of August 15, 2010.

Personal life

Marriage

In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish former model and daughter of former minister of migration Barbro Holmberg and radio journalist Thomas Nordegren.^[216] They were introduced during The Open Championship in 2001 by Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as an au pair. They married on October 5, 2004 at the Sandy Lane resort on the Caribbean island of Barbados,^[217] and lived at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden. In January 2006, they purchased a $39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, intending to make it their primary residence.^[218] Jupiter Island residents include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman, and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson. In 2007, a guest house owned by Woods on the Jupiter Island estate was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning.^[219]

Early in the morning of June 18, 2007, Elin gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, in Orlando.^[220] The birth occurred just one day after Woods finished tied for second in the 2007 U.S. Open.^[221] Woods chose to name his daughter Sam because his father said that Woods looked more like a Sam.^[222][223] On September 2, 2008, Woods announced on his website that he and his wife were expecting their second child.^[224] Five months later, it was announced Elin had given birth to a son, Charlie Axel Woods, on February 8, 2009.^[225] Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren officially divorced on August 23rd, 2010.

Marital infidelity and career break

On November 25, 2009, supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer published a story claiming that Woods had an extramarital affair with nightclub manager Rachel Uchitel‎,^[226] a claim she denied.^[227] The story began to attract media attention when Woods had a car accident a day and a half later:^[228] as he left his home around 2:30 A.M. in his SUV, a 2009 Cadillac Escalade, Woods hit a hedge, a fire hydrant, and, finally, a tree down the street from his house.^[229] Woods was treated for minor facial lacerations,^[230] and cited for careless driving.^[229] He refused to speak to the police and the accident fanned intense speculation for two days, until Woods released a statement on his website^[231] taking blame for the crash and adding that it was a private matter; he also praised his wife, Elin, for getting him out of the car.^[232]

Woods announced shortly afterward that he would neither play in nor attend his own charity golf tournament, the Chevron World Challenge, nor any other remaining tournament in 2009.^[233]

Interest in the story grew, until San Diego cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs publicly claimed in the gossip magazine Us Weekly that she had a two-and-a-half-year affair with Woods, producing voice and text messages that she said Woods left her. The voice message stated: "Hey it's Tiger, I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone...You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."^[226] Woods released an apology on the day that the story was published, expressing regret for "transgressions" and saying "I have let my family down."^[234] Woods was not specific about the reason for the apology, and requested privacy.^[235]

After over a dozen women claimed in various media outlets that they had affairs with Woods, media pressure increased.^[236] On December 11, he released another statement, admitting to infidelity, offering another apology,^[8] and announcing an indefinite hiatus from professional golf.^[8] On the same day, lawyers acting on his behalf obtained an injunction in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, preventing the publication in the UK of any images of Woods naked or having sexual intercourse, while denying that Woods was aware of the existence of any such images.^[237] Reporting the subject of the injunction was also enjoined.^[238] The following week, one of the women who had undertaken media interviews regarding her relationship with Woods admitted having taken photographs of Woods naked, on the pre-meditated premise that she would sell them if they ever broke up.^[239]

The day after the statement, several companies indicated they were reconsidering endorsement deals. Gillette suspended advertising featuring Woods, and said they would not be hiring him for any public appearances for the company.^[240] On December 13, management consultancy firm Accenture completely cut its sponsorship of Woods, stating that the golfer was "no longer the right representative."^[241]

On December 8, 2009, Nielsen indicated that advertisers had tentatively suspended TV ads featuring Woods after news of his adulteries emerged. Major sponsors initially pledged support and to retain Woods,^[242] but he was suspended by Gillette on December 11,^[240] and completely dropped by Accenture on December 13.^[241] On December 18, TAG Heuer dropped Woods "for the foreseeable future" from its advertising campaigns, only to then change their home page by December 23 to the statement that "Tag Heuer stands with Tiger Woods".^[243] On January 1, 2010, AT&T announced the end of its sponsorship of Woods.^[244] On January 4, 2010, Electronic Arts, via the blog of President Peter Moore, stated that they would continue to work with Woods and cited their collaboration on a web-based golf game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online.^[245] On January 13, General Motors ended a free car loan deal that had been due to end on December 31, 2010.^[246]

A December 2009 study by Christopher R. Knittel and Victor Stango, economics professors at the University of California at Davis, estimated that the shareholder loss caused by Woods' extramarital affairs to be between $5 billion and $12 billion.^[247][248]

Golf Digest magazine, which had featured monthly instructional articles from Woods on an exclusive basis since 1997, announced in its February 2010 issue that it would suspend publication of articles by Woods while he works out his problems.^[249]

On February 19, 2010, Woods delivered a televised speech from the PGA Tour headquarters in Florida.^[250][251] He admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife. He said he used to believe he was entitled to do whatever he wanted to do, and that, due to his success, normal rules did not apply to him. He said he realizes now that he was wrong to have had extramarital affairs, and apologized for the hurt his behavior caused to his family, friends, fans, and business partners. Woods stated he had strayed from Buddhism, his trained faith since childhood, and that he would work to re-embrace his faith in the future. Woods also stated he had been in a therapy program for 45 days, and would be returning there soon. He stated he planned to return to competitive golf in the future, but was unspecific on details. He did not take questions.^[252]

On February 27, 2010, energy drink firm Gatorade ended its sponsorship of Tiger Woods. However, Gatorade said it would continue its partnership with the charitable Tiger Woods Foundation.^[253] In March Irish bookmaker Paddy Power revealed that Woods had declined a $75 million endorsement deal with them.^[254] On March 16, 2010, he announced that he would return to golf at the 2010 Masters.^[128] However, his wife Elin planned to return to Sweden instead of attending the tournament.^[255]

On March 21, 2010, he was interviewed by Tom Rinaldi, his first interview after the incident.^[256] On April 29, 2010, the National Enquirer reported that Woods had confessed to his wife that he has had 120 affairs.^[257] He also admitted having a one night stand with his neighbours' 21 year old daughter Raychel Coudriet whom he has known since she was 14.^[258] The couple officially divorced on August 23rd, 2010.^[259]

Other

On December 15, 2009, The New York Times reported that Anthony Galea, a Canadian sports doctor who had previously treated Woods, was under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly providing the drug Actovegin and human growth hormone to athletes.^[260] According to the same article, Galea visited Woods at his Orlando home at least four times in February and March 2009 to administer a special blood-spinning technique, and that Woods had responded well to the treatment.

Woods has said he "believes in Buddhism... Not every aspect, but most of it."^[261] In his February 19, 2010 public apology statement, Woods said that he had been raised as a Buddhist and had practiced this faith until recent years. He then said that he will turn back to Buddhism to help him turn his life around.^[262]

When Woods came to Thailand for a tournament in 2000, Thai officials tried to bestow on him royal decorations, and even offered him Thai citizenship, based on his mother being Thai.^[263] Although Woods said the bestowment would bring his family "a lot of honor [and] a lot of pride," he reportedly declined the offer because of tax complications.^[264]

Woods has a niece named Cheyenne Woods who, as of 2009, is an amateur golfer at Wake Forest University.^[265]

Woods and his wife own a 155-foot (47 m) yacht called Privacy, berthed in Florida. The $20 million, 6,500 square feet (600 m²) vessel features a master suite, six staterooms, a theatre, gym, and Jacuzzi, and sleeps 21 people. Registered in the Cayman Islands, the boat was built for Woods by Christensen Shipyards, a Vancouver, Washington-based luxury yacht builder.^[266] Woods sometimes stays on the yacht when playing tournaments at oceanside golf courses.^{[267][268][269]}

See also

• Career Grand Slam Champions
• List of World Number One male golfers
• Golfers with most major championship wins
• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Longest PGA Tour win streaks
• Most PGA Tour wins in a year
• Most wins in one PGA Tour event
• Golfers with most European Tour wins
• Monday Night Golf

References

Further reading

• Andrisani, John (1997). The Tiger Woods Way: An Analysis of Tiger Woods' Power-Swing Technique. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-609-80139-2. OCLC 55124056 
• Clary, Jack (1997). Tiger Woods. Twickenham, England: Tiger Books International. ISBN 9781855019546. OCLC 40859379 
• Feinstein, John (1999). The Majors: In Pursuit of Golf's Holy Grail. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316279710. OCLC 40602886 
• Londino, Lawrence J. (2006). Tiger Woods: A Biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313331213. OCLC 61109403 
• Rosaforte, Tim (2000). Raising the Bar: The Championship Years of Tiger Woods. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 9780312272128. OCLC 45248211 
• Woods, Earl; McDaniel, Pete (1997). Training a Tiger: A Father's Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780062701787. OCLC 35925055 
• Woods, Tiger (2001). How I Play Golf. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 9780446529310. OCLC 46992172 

External links

• Tiger Woods official site
• Tiger Woods profile on the PGA Tour's official site
• Tiger Woods Foundation
• Tiger Woods Learning Center
• Tiger Woods at the Internet Movie Database
• Works about Tiger Woods in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Tiger Woods on the Official World Golf Rankings site
• Tiger Woods' Perfect Golf Swing Video
• Tiger Woods' Videos on mReplay
• Tiger Woods Video on ESPN Video Archive
• Tiger Woods Video on FoxSports Video Archive

Tiger Woods Family Elin Nordegren · Earl Woods · Cheyenne Woods Golf achievements Career achievements · Tournament performances Foundation AT&T National · Learning Center · Start Something · Chevron World Challenge · Tiger Jam Tiger Woods Design The Cliffs at High Carolina · Al Ruwaya Golf Course · Punta Brava Other ventures Tiger Woods PGA Tour  · Monday Night Golf

Tiger Woods in the major championships Masters Tournament champions 1934 Horton Smith • 1935 Gene Sarazen† • 1936 Horton Smith • 1937 Byron Nelson • 1938 Henry Picard • 1939 Ralph Guldahl • 1940 Jimmy Demaret • 1941 Craig Wood • 1942 Byron Nelson† • 1943-45 Cancelled due to World War II • 1946 Herman Keiser • 1947 Jimmy Demaret • 1948 Claude Harmon • 1949 Sam Snead • 1950 Jimmy Demaret • 1951 Ben Hogan • 1952 Sam Snead • 1953 Ben Hogan • 1954 Sam Snead† • 1955 Cary Middlecoff • 1956 Jack Burke, Jr. • 1957 Doug Ford • 1958 Arnold Palmer • 1959 Art Wall, Jr. • 1960 Arnold Palmer • 1961 Gary Player • 1962 Arnold Palmer† • 1963 Jack Nicklaus • 1964 Arnold Palmer • 1965 Jack Nicklaus • 1966 Jack Nicklaus† • 1967 Gay Brewer • 1968 Bob Goalby • 1969 George Archer • 1970 Billy Casper† • 1971 Charles Coody • 1972 Jack Nicklaus • 1973 Tommy Aaron • 1974 Gary Player • 1975 Jack Nicklaus • 1976 Raymond Floyd • 1977 Tom Watson • 1978 Gary Player • 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller† • 1980 Severiano Ballesteros • 1981 Tom Watson • 1982 Craig Stadler† • 1983 Severiano Ballesteros • 1984 Ben Crenshaw • 1985 Bernhard Langer • 1986 Jack Nicklaus • 1987 Larry Mize† • 1988 Sandy Lyle • 1989 Nick Faldo† • 1990 Nick Faldo† • 1991 Ian Woosnam • 1992 Fred Couples • 1993 Bernhard Langer • 1994 José María Olazábal • 1995 Ben Crenshaw • 1996 Nick Faldo • 1997 Tiger Woods • 1998 Mark O'Meara • 1999 José María Olazábal • 2000 Vijay Singh • 2001 Tiger Woods • 2002 Tiger Woods • 2003 Mike Weir† • 2004 Phil Mickelson • 2005 Tiger Woods† • 2006 Phil Mickelson • 2007 Zach Johnson • 2008 Trevor Immelman • 2009 Ángel Cabrera† • 2010 Phil Mickelson † indicates the event was won in a playoff U.S. Open champions 1895 Horace Rawlins · 1896 James Foulis · 1897 Joe Lloyd · 1898 Fred Herd · 1899 Willie Smith · 1900 Harry Vardon · 1901 Willie Anderson† · 1902 Laurie Auchterlonie · 1903 Willie Anderson† · 1904 Willie Anderson · 1905 Willie Anderson · 1906 Alex Smith · 1907 Alec Ross · 1908 Fred McLeod† · 1909 George Sargent · 1910 Alex Smith† · 1911 John McDermott† · 1912 John McDermott · 1913 Francis Ouimet‡ · 1914 Walter Hagen · 1915 Jerome Travers# · 1916 Chick Evans# · 1917–18 Cancelled due to World War I · 1919 Walter Hagen† · 1920 Ted Ray · 1921 Jim Barnes · 1922 Gene Sarazen · 1923 Bobby Jones‡ · 1924 Cyril Walker · 1925 Willie Macfarlane† · 1926 Bobby Jones# · 1927 Tommy Armour† · 1928 Johnny Farrell† · 1929 Bobby Jones‡ · 1930 Bobby Jones# · 1931 Billy Burke† · 1932 Gene Sarazen · 1933 Johnny Goodman# · 1934 Olin Dutra · 1935 Sam Parks, Jr. · 1936 Tony Manero · 1937 Ralph Guldahl · 1938 Ralph Guldahl · 1939 Byron Nelson† · 1940 Lawson Little† · 1941 Craig Wood · 1942–45 Cancelled due to World War II · 1946 Lloyd Mangrum† · 1947 Lew Worsham† · 1948 Ben Hogan · 1949 Cary Middlecoff · 1950 Ben Hogan† · 1951 Ben Hogan · 1952 Julius Boros · 1953 Ben Hogan · 1954 Ed Furgol · 1955 Jack Fleck† · 1956 Cary Middlecoff · 1957 Dick Mayer† · 1958 Tommy Bolt · 1959 Billy Casper · 1960 Arnold Palmer · 1961 Gene Littler · 1962 Jack Nicklaus† · 1963 Julius Boros† · 1964 Ken Venturi · 1965 Gary Player† · 1966 Billy Casper† · 1967 Jack Nicklaus · 1968 Lee Trevino · 1969 Orville Moody · 1970 Tony Jacklin · 1971 Lee Trevino† · 1972 Jack Nicklaus · 1973 Johnny Miller · 1974 Hale Irwin · 1975 Lou Graham† · 1976 Jerry Pate · 1977 Hubert Green · 1978 Andy North · 1979 Hale Irwin · 1980 Jack Nicklaus · 1981 David Graham · 1982 Tom Watson · 1983 Larry Nelson · 1984 Fuzzy Zoeller† · 1985 Andy North · 1986 Raymond Floyd · 1987 Scott Simpson · 1988 Curtis Strange† · 1989 Curtis Strange · 1990 Hale Irwin† · 1991 Payne Stewart† · 1992 Tom Kite · 1993 Lee Janzen · 1994 Ernie Els† · 1995 Corey Pavin · 1996 Steve Jones · 1997 Ernie Els · 1998 Lee Janzen · 1999 Payne Stewart · 2000 Tiger Woods · 2001 Retief Goosen† · 2002 Tiger Woods · 2003 Jim Furyk · 2004 Retief Goosen · 2005 Michael Campbell · 2006 Geoff Ogilvy · 2007 Ángel Cabrera · 2008 Tiger Woods† · 2009 Lucas Glover · 2010 Graeme McDowell † indicates the event was won in a playoff ‡ indicates the event was won in a playoff by an amateur # indicates the event was won by an amateur The Open Championship champions 1860 Willie Park, Sr. · 1861 Tom Morris, Sr. · 1862 Tom Morris, Sr. · 1863 Willie Park, Sr. · 1864 Tom Morris, Sr. · 1865 Andrew Strath · 1866 Willie Park, Sr. · 1867 Tom Morris, Sr. · 1868 Tom Morris, Jr. · 1869 Tom Morris, Jr. · 1870 Tom Morris, Jr. · 1871 No championship · 1872 Tom Morris, Jr. · 1873 Tom Kidd · 1874 Mungo Park · 1875 Willie Park, Sr. · 1876 Bob Martin · 1877 Jamie Anderson · 1878 Jamie Anderson · 1879 Jamie Anderson · 1880 Bob Ferguson · 1881 Bob Ferguson · 1882 Bob Ferguson · 1883 Willie Fernie† · 1884 Jack Simpson · 1885 Bob Martin · 1886 David Brown · 1887 Willie Park, Jr. · 1888 Jack Burns · 1889 Willie Park, Jr.† · 1890 John Ball# · 1891 Hugh Kirkaldy · 1892 Harold Hilton# · 1893 William Auchterlonie · 1894 John Henry Taylor · 1895 John Henry Taylor · 1896 Harry Vardon · 1897 Harold Hilton# · 1898 Harry Vardon · 1899 Harry Vardon · 1900 John Henry Taylor · 1901 James Braid · 1902 Sandy Herd · 1903 Harry Vardon · 1904 Jack White · 1905 James Braid · 1906 James Braid · 1907 Arnaud Massy · 1908 James Braid · 1909 John Henry Taylor · 1910 James Braid · 1911 Harry Vardon† · 1912 Edward Ray · 1913 John Henry Taylor · 1914 Harry Vardon · 1915-19 No Championships due to World War I · 1920 George Duncan · 1921 Jock Hutchison† · 1922 Walter Hagen · 1923 Arthur Havers · 1924 Walter Hagen · 1925 Jim Barnes · 1926 Bobby Jones# · 1927 Bobby Jones# · 1928 Walter Hagen · 1929 Walter Hagen · 1930 Bobby Jones#· 1931 Tommy Armour · 1932 Gene Sarazen · 1933 Denny Shute† · 1934 Henry Cotton · 1935 Alf Perry · 1936 Alf Padgham · 1937 Henry Cotton · 1938 Reg Whitcombe · 1939 Richard Burton · 1940-45 No Championships due to World War II · 1946 Sam Snead · 1947 Fred Daly · 1948 Henry Cotton · 1949 Bobby Locke† · 1950 Bobby Locke · 1951 Max Faulkner · 1952 Bobby Locke · 1953 Ben Hogan · 1954 Peter Thomson · 1955 Peter Thomson · 1956 Peter Thomson · 1957 Bobby Locke · 1958 Peter Thomson† · 1959 Gary Player · 1960 Kel Nagle · 1961 Arnold Palmer · 1962 Arnold Palmer · 1963 Bob Charles† · 1964 Tony Lema · 1965 Peter Thomson · 1966 Jack Nicklaus · 1967 Roberto De Vicenzo · 1968 Gary Player · 1969 Tony Jacklin · 1970 Jack Nicklaus† · 1971 Lee Trevino · 1972 Lee Trevino · 1973 Tom Weiskopf · 1974 Gary Player · 1975 Tom Watson† · 1976 Johnny Miller · 1977 Tom Watson · 1978 Jack Nicklaus · 1979 Severiano Ballesteros · 1980 Tom Watson · 1981 Bill Rogers · 1982 Tom Watson · 1983 Tom Watson · 1984 Severiano Ballesteros · 1985 Sandy Lyle · 1986 Greg Norman · 1987 Nick Faldo · 1988 Severiano Ballesteros · 1989 Mark Calcavecchia† · 1990 Nick Faldo · 1991 Ian Baker-Finch · 1992 Nick Faldo · 1993 Greg Norman · 1994 Nick Price · 1995 John Daly† · 1996 Tom Lehman · 1997 Justin Leonard · 1998 Mark O'Meara† · 1999 Paul Lawrie† · 2000 Tiger Woods · 2001 David Duval · 2002 Ernie Els† · 2003 Ben Curtis · 2004 Todd Hamilton† · 2005 Tiger Woods · 2006 Tiger Woods · 2007 Pádraig Harrington† · 2008 Pádraig Harrington · 2009 Stewart Cink† · 2010 Louis Oosthuizen † indicates the event was won in a playoff # indicates the event was won by an amateur PGA Championship champions Match play era 1916 Jim Barnes • 1917–18 Cancelled due to World War I • 1919 Jim Barnes • 1920 Jock Hutchison • 1921 Walter Hagen • 1922 Gene Sarazen • 1923 Gene Sarazen • 1924 Walter Hagen • 1925 Walter Hagen • 1926 Walter Hagen • 1927 Walter Hagen • 1928 Leo Diegel • 1929 Leo Diegel • 1930 Tommy Armour • 1931 Tom Creavy • 1932 Olin Dutra • 1933 Gene Sarazen • 1934 Paul Runyan • 1935 Johnny Revolta • 1936 Denny Shute • 1937 Denny Shute • 1938 Paul Runyan • 1939 Henry Picard • 1940 Byron Nelson • 1941 Vic Ghezzi • 1942 Sam Snead • 1943 Cancelled due to World War II • 1944 Bob Hamilton • 1945 Byron Nelson • 1946 Ben Hogan • 1947 Jim Ferrier • 1948 Ben Hogan • 1949 Sam Snead • 1950 Chandler Harper • 1951 Sam Snead • 1952 Jim Turnesa • 1953 Walter Burkemo • 1954 Chick Harbert • 1955 Doug Ford • 1956 Jack Burke, Jr. • 1957 Lionel Hebert Stroke play era 1958 Dow Finsterwald • 1959 Bob Rosburg • 1960 Jay Hebert • 1961 Jerry Barber† • 1962 Gary Player • 1963 Jack Nicklaus • 1964 Bobby Nichols • 1965 Dave Marr • 1966 Al Geiberger • 1967 Don January† • 1968 Julius Boros • 1969 Raymond Floyd • 1970 Dave Stockton • 1971 Jack Nicklaus • 1972 Gary Player • 1973 Jack Nicklaus • 1974 Lee Trevino • 1975 Jack Nicklaus • 1976 Dave Stockton • 1977 Lanny Wadkins† • 1978 John Mahaffey† • 1979 David Graham† • 1980 Jack Nicklaus • 1981 Larry Nelson • 1982 Raymond Floyd • 1983 Hal Sutton • 1984 Lee Trevino • 1985 Hubert Green • 1986 Bob Tway • 1987 Larry Nelson† • 1988 Jeff Sluman • 1989 Payne Stewart • 1990 Wayne Grady • 1991 John Daly • 1992 Nick Price • 1993 Paul Azinger† • 1994 Nick Price • 1995 Steve Elkington† • 1996 Mark Brooks† • 1997 Davis Love III • 1998 Vijay Singh • 1999 Tiger Woods • 2000 Tiger Woods† • 2001 David Toms • 2002 Rich Beem • 2003 Shaun Micheel • 2004 Vijay Singh† • 2005 Phil Mickelson • 2006 Tiger Woods • 2007 Tiger Woods • 2008 Pádraig Harrington • 2009 Y. E. Yang • 2010 Martin Kaymer† † indicates the event was won in a playoff Male golfers who have won 2 or more major championships in one year 1922 Gene Sarazen (2) · 1924 Walter Hagen (2) · 1926 Bobby Jones† (2) · 1927 Bobby Jones† (2) · 1930 Bobby Jones †‡# (4) · 1932 Gene Sarazen (2) · 1948 Ben Hogan (2) · 1949 Sam Snead (2) · 1951 Ben Hogan (2) · 1953 Ben Hogan ‡ (3) · 1960 Arnold Palmer (2) · 1962 Arnold Palmer (2) · 1963 Jack Nicklaus (2) · 1966 Jack Nicklaus ‡ (2) · 1971 Lee Trevino (2) · 1972 Jack Nicklaus (2) · 1974 Gary Player (2) · 1975 Jack Nicklaus (2) · 1977 Tom Watson (2) · 1980 Jack Nicklaus (2) · 1982 Tom Watson (2) · 1990 Nick Faldo (2) · 1994 Nick Price (2) · 1998 Mark O'Meara (2) · 2000 Tiger Woods ‡ (3) · 2002 Tiger Woods (2) · 2005 Tiger Woods ‡ (2) · 2006 Tiger Woods ‡ (2) · 2008 Pádraig Harrington (2) † indicates amateur golfer ‡ indicates golfer won a career grand slam in the year winning two majors # indicates won grand slam in calendar year Men's Career Grand Slam Champion Golfers 1930 Bobby Jones (1) • 1935 Gene Sarazen (1) • 1953 Ben Hogan (1) • 1966 Jack Nicklaus (1) • 1968 Gary Player (1) • 1971 Jack Nicklaus (2) • 1978 Jack Nicklaus (3) • 2000 Tiger Woods (1) • 2005 Tiger Woods (2) • 2008 Tiger Woods (3)

Tiger Woods awards and achievements World Number ones since 1986 Seve Ballesteros | Fred Couples | David Duval | Ernie Els | Nick Faldo | Bernhard Langer | Tom Lehman | Greg Norman | Nick Price | Vijay Singh | Lee Westwood* | Tiger Woods | Ian Woosnam  *Lee Westwood (ENG) is the current World No. 1. PGA Tour Rookies of the Year 1990 Robert Gamez · 1991 John Daly‡ · 1992 Mark Carnevale · 1993 Vijay Singh† · 1994 Ernie Els‡ · 1995 Woody Austin · 1996 Tiger Woods†∞ · 1997 Stewart Cink† · 1998 Steve Flesch · 1999 Carlos Franco · 2000 Michael Clark II · 2001 Charles Howell III · 2002 Jonathan Byrd · 2003 Ben Curtis‡ · 2004 Todd Hamilton‡ · 2005 Sean O'Hair · 2006 Trevor Immelman† · 2007 Brandt Snedeker · 2008 Andrés Romero · 2009 Marc Leishman · 2010 Rickie Fowler ‡ indicates won major in the year the golfer won award † indicates won major sometime in their respective golfing careers ∞ indicates won all four majors in the golfers career PGA and PGA Tour Players of the Year PGA Players of the Year 1948 Ben Hogan‡ · 1949 Sam Snead‡ · 1950 Ben Hogan† · 1951 Ben Hogan‡ · 1952 Julius Boros · 1953 Ben Hogan#∞ · 1954 Ed Furgol† · 1955 Doug Ford† · 1956 Jack Burke, Jr.‡ · 1957 Dick Mayer† · 1958 Dow Finsterwald† · 1959 Art Wall, Jr.† · 1960 Arnold Palmer‡ · 1961 Jerry Barber† · 1962 Arnold Palmer‡ · 1963 Julius Boros† · 1964 Ken Venturi† · 1965 Dave Marr †· 1966 Billy Casper† · 1967 Jack Nicklaus† · 1968 No award · 1969 Orville Moody† · 1970 Billy Casper† · 1971 Lee Trevino ‡· 1972 Jack Nicklaus‡∞∞ · 1973 Jack Nicklaus† · 1974 Johnny Miller† · 1975 Jack Nicklaus‡ · 1976 Jack Nicklaus · 1977 Tom Watson‡ · 1978 Tom Watson · 1979 Tom Watson · 1980 Tom Watson† · 1981 Bill Rogers† · 1982 Tom Watson‡ · 1983 Hal Sutton† · 1984 Tom Watson · 1985 Lanny Wadkins · 1986 Bob Tway† · 1987 Paul Azinger · 1988 Curtis Strange† · 1989 Tom Kite · 1990 Nick Faldo‡ · 1991 Corey Pavin · 1992 Fred Couples† · 1993 Nick Price · 1994 Nick Price‡ · 1995 Greg Norman · 1996 Tom Lehman† · 1997 Tiger Woods† · 1998 Mark O'Meara‡ · 1999 Tiger Woods† · 2000 Tiger Woods#∞ · 2001 Tiger Woods† · 2002 Tiger Woods‡ · 2003 Tiger Woods · 2004 Vijay Singh† · 2005 Tiger Woods‡∞∞ · 2006 Tiger Woods‡ · 2007 Tiger Woods† · 2008 Pádraig Harrington‡ · 2009 Tiger Woods · 2010 Jim Furyk PGA Tour Players of the Year 1990 Wayne Levi · 1991 Fred Couples · 1992 Fred Couples† · 1993 Nick Price · 1994 Nick Price‡ · 1995 Greg Norman · 1996 Tom Lehman† · 1997 Tiger Woods† · 1998 Mark O'Meara‡ · 1999 Tiger Woods† · 2000 Tiger Woods#∞ · 2001 Tiger Woods† · 2002 Tiger Woods‡ · 2003 Tiger Woods · 2004 Vijay Singh† · 2005 Tiger Woods‡∞∞ · 2006 Tiger Woods‡ · 2007 Tiger Woods† · 2008 Pádraig Harrington‡ · 2009 Tiger Woods · 2010 Jim Furyk † One major ‡ Two majors # Three majors ∞ One career grand slam ∞∞ Two career grand slams All of these are in the year of the award Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year 1931: Pepper Martin · 1932: Gene Sarazen · 1933: Carl Hubbell · 1934: Dizzy Dean · 1935: Joe Louis · 1936: Jesse Owens · 1937: Don Budge · 1938: Don Budge · 1939: Nile Kinnick]] · 1940: Tom Harmon · 1941: Joe DiMaggio · 1942: Frank Sinkwich · 1943: Gunder Hägg · 1944: Byron Nelson · 1945: Byron Nelson · 1946: Glenn Davis · 1947: Johnny Lujack · 1948: Lou Boudreau · 1949: Leon Hart · 1950: Jim Konstanty · 1951: Dick Kazmaier · 1952: Bob Mathias · 1953: Ben Hogan · 1954: Willie Mays · 1955: Howard Cassady · 1956: Mickey Mantle · 1957: Ted Williams · 1958: Herb Elliot · 1959: Ingemar Johansson · 1960: Rafer Johnson · 1961: Roger Maris · 1962: Maury Wills · 1963: Sandy Koufax · 1964: Don Schollander · 1965: Sandy Koufax · 1966: Frank Robinson · 1967: Carl Yastrzemski · 1968: Denny McLain · 1969: Tom Seaver · 1970: George Blanda · 1971: Lee Trevino · 1972: Mark Spitz · 1973: O.J. Simpson · 1974: Muhammad Ali · 1975: Fred Lynn · 1976: Bruce Jenner · 1977: Steve Cauthen · 1978: Ron Guidry · 1979: Willie Stargell · 1980: U.S. Olympic Hockey Team · 1981: John McEnroe · 1982: Wayne Gretzky · 1983: Carl Lewis · 1984: Carl Lewis · 1985: Dwight Gooden · 1986: Larry Bird · 1987: Ben Johnson · 1988: Orel Hershiser · 1989: Joe Montana · 1990: Joe Montana · 1991: Michael Jordan · 1992: Michael Jordan · 1993: Michael Jordan · 1994: George Foreman · 1995: Cal Ripken, Jr. · 1996: Michael Johnson · 1997: Tiger Woods · 1998: Mark McGwire · 1999: Tiger Woods · 2000: Tiger Woods · 2001: Barry Bonds · 2002: Lance Armstrong · 2003: Lance Armstrong · 2004: Lance Armstrong · 2005: Lance Armstrong · 2006: Tiger Woods · 2007: Tom Brady · 2008: Michael Phelps · 2009: Jimmie Johnson Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year 1954: Roger Bannister · 1955: Johnny Podres · 1956: Bobby Joe Morrow · 1957: Stan Musial · 1958: Rafer Johnson · 1959: Ingemar Johansson · 1960: Arnold Palmer · 1961: Jerry Lucas · 1962: Terry Baker · 1963: Pete Rozelle · 1964: Ken Venturi · 1965: Sandy Koufax · 1966: Jim Ryun · 1967: Carl Yastrzemski · 1968: Bill Russell · 1969: Tom Seaver · 1970: Bobby Orr · 1971: Lee Trevino · 1972: Billie Jean King & John Wooden · 1973: Jackie Stewart · 1974: Muhammad Ali · 1975: Pete Rose · 1976: Chris Evert · 1977: Steve Cauthen · 1978: Jack Nicklaus · 1979: Terry Bradshaw & Willie Stargell · 1980: U.S. Olympic Hockey Team · 1981: Sugar Ray Leonard · 1982: Wayne Gretzky · 1983: Mary Decker · 1984: Edwin Moses & Mary Lou Retton · 1985: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar · 1986: Joe Paterno · 1987: Bob Bourne, Judi Brown King, Kipchoge Keino, Dale Murphy, Chip Rives, Patty Sheehan, Rory Sparrow, & Reggie Williams · 1988: Orel Hershiser · 1989: Greg LeMond · 1990: Joe Montana · 1991: Michael Jordan · 1992: Arthur Ashe · 1993: Don Shula · 1994: Bonnie Blair & Johann Olav Koss · 1995: Cal Ripken, Jr. · 1996: Tiger Woods · 1997: Dean Smith · 1998: Mark McGwire & Sammy Sosa · 1999: U.S. Women's Soccer Team · 2000: Tiger Woods · 2001: Curt Schilling & Randy Johnson · 2002: Lance Armstrong · 2003: David Robinson & Tim Duncan · 2004: Boston Red Sox · 2005: Tom Brady · 2006: Dwyane Wade · 2007: Brett Favre · 2008: Michael Phelps · 2009: Derek Jeter · 2010: Drew Brees Laureus World Sportsman of the Year 2000: Tiger Woods · 2001: Tiger Woods · 2002: Michael Schumacher · 2003: Lance Armstrong · 2004: Michael Schumacher · 2005: Roger Federer · 2006: Roger Federer · 2007: Roger Federer · 2008: Roger Federer · 2009: Usain Bolt · 2010: Usain Bolt FedEx Cup Playoff events: The Barclays | Deutsche Bank Championship | BMW Championship | The Tour Championship Seasons and Winners: 2007 – Tiger Woods | 2008 – Vijay Singh | 2009 – Tiger Woods | 2010 – Jim Furyk Other: List of point distributions of the FedEx Cup

Tiger Woods in the Ryder Cup United States Ryder Cup team – 1997 Fred Couples · Brad Faxon · Jim Furyk · Scott Hoch · Lee Janzen · Tom Lehman · Justin Leonard · Davis Love III · Jeff Maggert · Phil Mickelson · Mark O'Meara · Tiger Woods Tom Kite (non-playing captain) Lost: 13.5 – 14.5 United States Ryder Cup team – 1999 David Duval · Jim Furyk · Tom Lehman · Justin Leonard · Davis Love III · Jeff Maggert · Phil Mickelson · Mark O'Meara · Steve Pate · Payne Stewart · Hal Sutton · Tiger Woods Ben Crenshaw (non-playing captain) Won: 14.5 – 13.5 United States Ryder Cup team – 2002 Paul Azinger · Mark Calcavecchia · Stewart Cink · David Duval · Jim Furyk · Scott Hoch · Davis Love III · Phil Mickelson · Hal Sutton · David Toms · Scott Verplank · Tiger Woods Curtis Strange (non-playing captain) Lost: 12.5 – 15.5 United States Ryder Cup team – 2004 Chad Campbell · Stewart Cink · Chris DiMarco · Fred Funk · Jim Furyk · Jay Haas · Davis Love III · Phil Mickelson · Kenny Perry · Chris Riley · David Toms · Tiger Woods Hal Sutton (non-playing captain) Lost: 9.5 – 18.5 United States Ryder Cup team – 2006 Chad Campbell · Stewart Cink · Chris DiMarco · Jim Furyk ·  J. J. Henry · Zach Johnson · Phil Mickelson · Vaughn Taylor · David Toms · Scott Verplank · Brett Wetterich · Tiger Woods Tom Lehman (non-playing captain) Lost: 9.5 – 18.5

Tiger Woods in the Presidents Cup United States Presidents Cup team – 1998 Mark Calcavecchia • Fred Couples • David Duval • Jim Furyk • Scott Hoch • John Huston • Lee Janzen • Justin Leonard • Davis Love III • Phil Mickelson • Mark O'Meara • Tiger Woods Jack Nicklaus (non-playing captain) Lost: 11.5 – 20.5 United States Presidents Cup team – 2000 Paul Azinger • Notah Begay III • Stewart Cink • David Duval • Jim Furyk • Tom Lehman • Davis Love III • Phil Mickelson • Loren Roberts • Hal Sutton • Kirk Triplett • Tiger Woods Ken Venturi (non-playing captain) Won: 21.5 – 10.5 United States Presidents Cup team – 2003 Chris DiMarco • Fred Funk • Jim Furyk • Jay Haas • Charles Howell III • Jerry Kelly • Justin Leonard • Davis Love III • Phil Mickelson • Kenny Perry • David Toms • Tiger Woods Jack Nicklaus (non-playing captain) Tied: 17 – 17 United States Presidents Cup team – 2005 Stewart Cink • Fred Couples • Chris DiMarco • Fred Funk • Jim Furyk • Justin Leonard • Davis Love III • Phil Mickelson • Kenny Perry • David Toms • Scott Verplank • Tiger Woods Jack Nicklaus (non-playing captain) Won: 18.5 – 15.5 United States Presidents Cup team – 2007 Woody Austin • Stewart Cink • Jim Furyk • Lucas Glover • Charles Howell III • Zach Johnson • Hunter Mahan • Phil Mickelson • Steve Stricker • David Toms • Scott Verplank • Tiger Woods Jack Nicklaus (non-playing captain) Won: 19.5 – 14.5 United States Presidents Cup team – 2009 Stewart Cink • Jim Furyk • Lucas Glover • Zach Johnson • Anthony Kim • Justin Leonard • Hunter Mahan • Phil Mickelson • Sean O'Hair • Kenny Perry • Steve Stricker • Tiger Woods Fred Couples (non-playing captain) Won: 19.5 – 14.5

World Golf Championships winners   WGC-Matchplay winners 1999 Jeff Maggert  · 2000 Darren Clarke  · 2001 Steve Stricker  · 2002 Kevin Sutherland  · 2003 Tiger Woods  · 2004 Tiger Woods  · 2005 David Toms  · 2006 Geoff Ogilvy  · 2007 Henrik Stenson  · 2008 Tiger Woods  · 2009 Geoff Ogilvy  · 2010 Ian Poulter   WGC-Championship winners 1999 Tiger Woods†  · 2000 Mike Weir  · 2001 Cancelled  · 2002 Tiger Woods  · 2003 Tiger Woods  · 2004 Ernie Els  · 2005 Tiger Woods†  · 2006 Tiger Woods  · 2007 Tiger Woods  · 2008 Geoff Ogilvy  · 2009 Phil Mickelson  · 2010 Ernie Els   WGC-Invitational winners 1999 Tiger Woods  · 2000 Tiger Woods  · 2001 Tiger Woods†  · 2002 Craig Parry  · 2003 Darren Clarke  · 2004 Stewart Cink  · 2005 Tiger Woods  · 2006 Tiger Woods†  · 2007 Tiger Woods  · 2008 Vijay Singh  · 2009 Tiger Woods  · 2010 Hunter Mahan   WGC-Champions winners 2009 Phil Mickelson  · 2010 Francesco Molinari   WGC-World Cup winners 2000 David Duval / Tiger Woods  · 2001 Ernie Els / Retief Goosen  · 2002 Toshimitsu Izawa / Shigeki Maruyama  · 2003 Trevor Immelman / Rory Sabbatini  · 2004 Paul Casey / Luke Donald  · 2005 Stephen Dodd / Bradley Dredge  · 2006 Bernhard Langer / Marcel Siem  · No Longer WGC Event † indicates the event was won in a playoff

Persondata
Name	Woods, Eldrick Tont "Tiger"
Alternative names	Woods, Tiger
Short description	Golfer
Date of birth	December 30, 1975
Place of birth	Cypress, California, United States
Date of death
Place of death