Woods, Tiger 1975- (Eldrick Woods)

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Woods, Tiger 1975- (Eldrick Woods)

PERSONAL:

Born December 30, 1975, in Cypress, CA; son of Earl D. (a U.S. Army officer) and Kultida (a U.S. Army secretary) Woods; married Elin Nordegren (a nanny and model), October 5, 2004; children: Sam Alexis (daughter). Education: Studied at Stanford University.

ADDRESSES:

Office—PGA, P.O. Box 109601, 100 Avenue of Champions, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, 33418-3665.

CAREER:

Golfer. Professional golfer, 1996—. Tiger Woods Foundation, cofounder, 1996—; Tiger Woods Design, founder and chair, 2006—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Player of the year, American Junior Golf Association, 1991-92; national amateur of the year, Golfweek/Titleist, 1991-92; player of the year, Golf Digest, 1991, 1992; Southern California player of the year, 1991-93; Dial Award, 1993; player of the year, Gold World, 1993, 1994; player of the year, Los Angeles Times, 1994; sportsman of the year, Sports Illustrated, 1996, 2000; rookie of the year, Professional Golfer's Association, 1996; male athlete of the year, Associated Press, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2006; male athlete of the year, ESPN, 1997; player of the year, Professional Golfer's Association, 1997, 1999-2003, 2005-07; world sportsman of the year, World Sports Academy, 1999; Byron Nelson award, PGA Tour, 1999-2003; player of the year, Golf Writers Association, 1999-2003, 2005-06; Vardon Trophy, PGA of America, 1999-2003; most powerful person in sports, Sporting News, 2000; sportsman of the year, Reuters, 2000; best male golfer, ESPY Awards, 2003, 2005-07; one of the most influential people in sports, Business Week, 2007; Charlie Bartlett award, Golf Writers Association of America, 2007.

WRITINGS:

(With others) How I Play Golf, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Quotable Tiger: A Grand Slam Compendium of Compelling Quotes by and about Tiger Woods, Golf Champion Extraordinaire, compiled by Rich Skyzinski, TowleHouse (Nashville, TN), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer. Born in Cypress, California, on December 30, 1975, he is the son of an African American army officer and a Thai American military secretary. Woods's father, Earl, started teaching his son how to play golf at a very young age, reportedly swinging his first club before he was able to even walk. By the age of five, Woods had already appeared in Golf Digest magazine and was featured on the television program That's Incredible! If Woods misbehaved, his father would not allow him to play golf, a trick that worked to keep Woods in line growing up.

At the age of fifteen, Woods won the U.S. Junior Amateur title, becoming the youngest golfer to ever win that title. He went on to win three consecutive titles at that level, also breaking a record in doing so. He then won three consecutive U.S. Men's Amateur titles, setting another record in having won both Junior and Amateur titles. In 1991 he was named player of the year by the American Junior Golf Association, national amateur of the year by Golfweek/Titleist, player of the year by Golf Digest, and, from 1991 to 1993, Southern California player of the year. He won the Dial Award in 1993 and was named player of the year by Golf World in 1993 and 1994. The Los Angeles Times also named him player of the year in 1994.

Woods studied at Stanford University from 1994 to 1996 and became the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion in 1996. In that year he turned professional, debuting at the Greater Milwaukee Open. His sixteenth-place finish was respectable, but Woods worked hard to quickly seat himself at the top of the leader board. Just weeks later, he won his first professional tournament in Las Vegas, earning a spot on the 1997 Professional Golfer's Association (PGA) Tour. In his first year of turning pro, Woods was named sportsman of the year by Sports Illustrated and rookie of the year by the PGA.

In 1997 Woods achieved groundbreaking success in his game by besting the Masters record for having the largest margin of victory ever recorded, winning by twelve points at eighteen under par. That series, in fact, saw Woods break twenty records and tie another six, including becoming the youngest person to win the Masters. After this successful season, Woods was named male athlete of the year by the Associated Press and ESPN and player of the year by the PGA, a title he held from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2007.

In 2000 Woods had accumulated the second-highest monetary winnings and endorsements of an athlete. He had repeated his titles with Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press, and was named both player of the year and world sportsman of the year by the World Sports Academy in 1999. He made a run from 1999 to 2003, holding the PGA Tour's Byron Nelson award, PGA of America's Vardon Trophy, and being named player of the year by the Golf Writers Association. In 2003 he was named the best male golfer at the ESPY Awards, a title he repeated from 2005 to 2007.

In 2004 Woods's performance on the greens fell, with critics citing personal problems as the reason. Woods's father was struggling with cancer and heart problems. In October, Woods married Swedish model Elin Nordegren. Steve Helling, writing in People, asked Woods about married life. To this Woods responded: "I couldn't be happier. I knew that Elin was a special woman pretty soon after I met her. I knew that she was the one for me, so I was pretty calm about marrying her. I know how lucky I am to have her. I knew I was doing the right thing."

Woods's winning record soon continued, however, and he was named the player of the year by the Golf Writers Association again in 2005 and 2006. Business Week labeled him as one of the most influential people in sports the following year. The Golf Writers Association of America gave him the Charlie Bartlett award in 2007, the same year he and Elin saw the birth of their first child, Sam Alexis. By this point in his career, Woods had won thirteen major golf championships, sealing his place as one of golf's most significant players. A contributor to People asked Woods what marks the difference between a golfer and a golf sensation. Woods responded by saying that "natural ability, of course, but also determination" make the difference, appending that "practice makes perfect." In a biographical sketch in Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Woods was recorded as saying: "I did the same things every kid did. I studied and went to the mall. I got into trouble and got out of it. The only difference is I can sometimes hit a little ball into a hole in less strokes than some other people."

Aside from his golf, Woods has been interviewed numerous times on national television programs, featured in his own video game, and tried his hand at writing. In 2001 Rich Skyzinski compiled a collection of quotes by Woods called Quotable Tiger: A Grand Slam Compendium of Compelling Quotes by and about Tiger Woods, Golf Champion Extraordinaire. With the assistance of the editors of Golf Digest, Woods also published How I Play Golf that same year. The book outlines the seven key aspects Woods considers crucial to his success. Woods imparts the importance of discipline and commitment to the sport as well as a physical training regime. The book contains a number of photographs of Woods and outlines various swings of his, including an evolution of how his swing changed from his teens through his twenties.

Alan Shipnuck, reviewing the book in Sports Illustrated, remarked that the section on building up strength to play the game of golf was "the most interesting chapter," pointing out that Tiger's exercise regime had previously been little-known. Shipnuck observed the "painstaking" amount of detail in the book but found the writing "formal and stilted." Shipnuck concluded that, "for all its flaws, How I Play Golf is worth the price for the glorious photography of Woods swinging the golf club." A contributor to Publishers Weekly suggested that "this instructional book will reach far beyond the links." The same contributor concluded: "Accompanied by wonderful photos, the book reads as if Woods is right there with the golfer, providing instructions."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Almanac of Famous People, 9th edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2007.

American Decades 1990-1999, edited by Tandy McConnell, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 31, edited by Ashyia Henderson, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Book 3, edited by Terrie M. Rooney, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.

Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 18, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.

Newsmakers, Issue 4, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1995.

Notable Black American Men, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1998.

Notable Sports Figures, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2004.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2000.

Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives Thematic Series: Sports Figures, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, NY), 2002.

Sports Stars, Series 2, UXL (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Woods, Tiger, Quotable Tiger: A Grand Slam Compendium of Compelling Quotes by and about Tiger Woods, Golf Champion Extraordinaire, compiled by Rich Skyzinski, TowleHouse (Nashville, TN), 2001.

Woods, Tiger, and others, How I Play Golf, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, May 1, 2001, "Scoreboard," review of How I Play Golf, p. 65.

Business First-Columbus, Tod Leonard, April 20, 2001, "The Swing Set: Ease Kids into Golf and Make It Fun," review of How I Play Golf, p. 5.

Charlotte Observer, December 3, 2007, "Golf Year in Review: Woody Austin"; December 5, 2007, "Golf Year in Review: A Memorable Season on the Links."

Children's Digest, January 1, 1996, Judith P. Josephson, "Tiger Woods," author profile.

Christian Science Monitor, January 14, 2000, "How Sweet It Is—Tiger's Winning Swing," author profile, p. 12; March 31, 2000, M.S. Mason and Suman Bandrapalli, author profile, p. 17; November 24, 2000, "A Sport Can Shine Only When Its Stars Come Out," author profile, p. 12; December 29, 2000, "Sports 101," author profile, p. 12; April 6, 2005, "Can New Rivalries Put Golf on an Upswing?," author profile, p. 11; February 7, 2007, "Backstory: Who's the More Dominant Sportsman: Woods or Federer?," author profile, p. 20; June 20, 2008, "Fortitude and the U.S. Open," author profile, p. 19.

Economist, June 16, 2001, "Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright; Lexington; the Wonders of Mr Woods," author profile, p. 7.

Essence, November 1, 1997, Isabel Wilkerson, "The All American," author profile, p. 99.

Golf Digest, January 1, 2000, Bob Verdi, "The Grillroom: Tiger Woods," author profile, p. 132; November 1, 2001, "Earl Woods: He Devoted Himself to Training Tiger, and He Sure Likes What He Sees," author profile, p. 108; January 1, 2002, Tom Callahan, "Talking Shop with the Bear on Tiger," author profile, p. 45; December 1, 2002, Pete McDaniel, "Tiger Tips: How to Drive It on Target When the Heat Is On," author profile, p. 37; February 1, 2003, Marc Saltzman, "Tiger at Play," author profile, p. 56; February 1, 2003, Pete McDaniel, "Tiger Tips: Hit It Straight and Solid from an Uphill Lie," author profile, p. 31; February 1, 2004, Guy Yocom, "Earl Woods Age 71, Cypress, California," author profile, p. 114; February 1, 2004, "Tiger's Proposal," author profile, p. 46; August 1, 2005, Pete McDaniel and Mark Soltau, "Ask Tiger," author profile, p. 40; January 1, 2006, Jaime Diaz, "Tiger at 30," author profile, p. 89.

Golf Magazine, April 1, 1997, George Peper, "One Year Later," author profile, p. 52; November 1, 2005, Kate Meyers, "Denis the Menace: Perpetually PO'd Denis Leary Goes off on Gap Wedges, Tiger Woods and How to Shave 20 Strokes Overnight," author profile, p. 44; June 1, 2008, Kevin Cook, "The Secrets of Tiger's Amazing Mind," author profile, p. 82.

Golf World, November 10, 2000, Tim Rosaforte and John Hawkins, "A Star Is Worn," author profile, p. 28; February 15, 2002, "Woods Skips Nissan Open," author profile, p. 52; August 23, 2002, Bob Verdi, "Going, Going, Gone?," author profile, p. 80; November 23, 2007, Ryan Herrington, "Pop Quiz," author profile, p. 80; December 28, 2007, Tim Rosaforte, "Sage Advice: As the Ryder Cup Returns to the U.S. and Tiger Woods Seeks Another Stellar Year, Our Man on the Scene Sorts out What to Expect in 2008," author profile, p. 100.

Houston Chronicle, December 5, 1996, Leslie Sowers, "Tiger Woods: Winning Is Par for the Course," author profile, p. 5; April 17, 1997, "Week in Review," author profile, p. 7; May 29, 1997, "Golfers Will Be Wild about New Tiger Shirts," author profile, p. 6; June 25, 1997, Rick Shefchik, "Son's First Round of Golf Is More than Par for the Course," author profile, p. 2; February 8, 2001, "Random Quotes," author profile, p. 2; March 29, 2001, "‘Tiger Woods’ Game Is a Three- course Deal," author profile, p. 8; July 5, 2001, "After Break, Woods Returns to Western," author profile, p. 13.

Jet, September 16, 1996, "Tiger Woods Turns Pro after Making Golf History," author profile, p. 48; May 12, 1997, "Tiger Woods Says He Is More than Black," author profile, p. 52.

Los Angeles Times, July 1, 2008, Thomas Bonk, "Tiger Woods' Knee Surgery?," author profile.

Miami Herald, July 13, 2008, "With No Tiger at the British Open, Will There Be Drama," author profile.

Newsweek International, December 22, 2003, Mark Starr, "Changes for a Champion," author profile, p. 64.

New York Times, June 1, 2008, Chip Brown, "Just Breathing His Air, Sharing His Sun, and Drinking His Water Make Us More Complete," author profile, p. 50.

New York Times Book Review, November 25, 2001, Tyler D. Johnson, "Books in Brief: Nonfiction," review of How I Play Golf, p. 28.

New York Times Magazine, July 14, 2002, Michael Sokolove, "The Tiger Files: A Taxonomy of a Post-everything Pop Icon," author profile, p. 32.

People, September 23, 1991, "Tiger on the Tee," author profile, p. 81; April 28, 1997, Alex Tresniowski, "Eyes on the Tiger," author profile, p. 89; October 21, 2002, "Pop Quiz with Tiger Woods," author profile, p. 28; February 14, 2005, Steve Helling, "One Happy Tiger: Tiger Woods—Usually Golf's Most Private Cat—Opens up about Marriage, Kids, and His Pimped-out Golf Cart," author profile, p. 97.

Publishers Weekly, November 4, 1996, Judy Quinn, "Not Out of Woods Titles Yet," p. 19; September 24, 2001, review of How I Play Golf, p. 84.

Record (Bergen County, NJ), June 17, 2008, Ian O'Connor, "Why We Watch Sports," author profile, p. 1.

Sports Illustrated, March 27, 1995, Rick Reilly, "Goodness Gracious, He's a Great Ball of Fire," author profile, p. 62; July 24, 2000, "An Audience with the Earl," p. 96; December 3, 2001, "Scorecard," author profile, p. 33; December 3, 2001, Alan Shipnuck, "Tiger Woods's First-person Instructional Is—unlike Its Author—under Par," author profile, p. 10; August 19, 2002, Alan Shipnuck, "Q+A Jim Arnold," author profile, p. 9; November 11, 2002, "Scorecard," author profile, p. 21; August 29, 2005, Gary Van Sickle and Jim Gorant, "Questions for Tiger Woods," author profile, p. 4; October 17, 2005, Jim Gorant, "Questions for Tiger Woods," author profile, p. 11; April 2, 2007, John Garrity, "Tiger 2.0," author profile, p. 68.

Sports Illustrated for Kids, August 1, 1997, John Strege, "Tiger Woods Has Everyone's Attention. He's Talented, He's Exciting, He's Grrreat!," author profile, p. 38.

Sports Illustrated Kids, May 1, 2007, Ted Keith, "Scouting Report: Tiger Woods," author profile, p. 30; May 1, 2008, Justin Tejada, "On the Prowl," author profile, p. 18.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), April 9, 1999, Bill Ward, "Weekend Highlights," author profile, p. 20; April 1, 2000, Steve Alexander, "Duffers, Pros Have a Variety of Chip Shots," author profile, p. 11; February 4, 2001, Robert Armstrong, "Paperbacks," author profile, p. 17.

Talk of the Nation, July 24, 2000, "Interview: Author John Feinstein Talks about Tiger Woods and His Phenomenal Golfing Career," author interview.

Tampa Tribune, September 25, 1998, "Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf," author profile, p. 38.

Time, August 14, 2000, "Changing Stripes," author profile, p. 62; August 14, 2000, Dan Goodgame, "The Game of Risk," author profile, p. 56; October 4, 2004, Wilson Rothman, "Q&A Tiger Woods," author interview, p. 93.

Time for Kids, December 13, 2002, Mia Kabasakalis, "Who's News," author profile, p. 8.

Town & Country, May 1, 2002, Mike Bryan, "Tiger Woods: Strokes of Genius," author profile, p. 152.

Tulsa World, June 18, 2007, "Day 4 in Review: News of the Day," author profile.

UPI NewsTrack, May 23, 2008, "Tiger Woods Not Ready to Return."

USA Today, June 17, 2008, "Living History," p. 8; June 18, 2008, Reid Cherner and Tom Weir, "Tiger Woods Out for the Season," author profile.