TIGER WOODS
Professional Golfer (1975-)
Born Eldrick Woods on December 30, 1975, in Cypress, California. As soon as he could stand up on his own, Tiger's parents introduced their only child to the game of golf by giving him a sawed-off putter to practice with. He picked the game up fast and was shooting in the high'40s for nine holes before his third birthday. At the age of 8, he won the first of six Optimist International Junior World Titles. He is the only player in USGA history to have won both the Junior Amateur and Amateur titles.
He played in his first professional tournament in 1992, at age 16, the Nissan Los Angeles Open. After perhaps the most remarkable amateur career ever he won the U.S. Junior Amateur Championships in 1991, 1992, and 193, and the U.S. Amateur title in 1994, 1995, and 1996 and two years at Stanford University, where he won the NCAA title. Woods turned pro in the summer of 1996. His potential seemed unlimited, especially when he won 2 titles and finished in the top 10 five times out of his first 8 Professional Golf Association tour events. In 1997, at the age of 21, Woods became the youngest player ever to win the Masters, and the first person of African or Asian descent to win a major golf championship.
Revised: July 18, 2013.
