Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods has had a remarkable start since becoming a professional golfer in the late summer of 1996. He has won 12 tournaments, nine of those on the PGA TOUR, including the 1997 Masters Tournament. At the age of 21 years, three months and 14 days, Woods was the youngest Masters champion ever. He also was the first major championship winner of African or Asian heritage.

He achieved No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for the most rapid progression ever to that lofty position. On June 15, 1997, in his 42nd week as a professional, Woods became the youngest-ever No. 1 golfer at age 21 years, 24 weeks. Woods compiled one of the most impressive amateur records in golf history, winning six USGA national championships plus the NCAA title, before turning professional on August 27, 1996, eight months past his 20th birthday. He concluded his amateur career by winning an unprecedented third consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship with a record 18 consecutive match-play victories.

By age 15, Woods was the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. He became the first to win that title twice in 1992 and won for a third time in 1993. At age 18, in 1994, he was the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur, rallying from six holes behind with the greatest comeback in the history of the event. He won the U.S. Amateur for a second time in 1995. He is the only player in USGA history to have won both the Junior Amateur and Amateur titles.

He is the son of Earl Woods, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, and his wife, Kultida, a native of Thailand. He was nicknamed "Tiger" after a Vietnamese soldier and friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given that nickname.

Born on December 30, 1975, Woods grew up in Cypress, California, 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles. He was not out of the crib before he took an interest in golf, at age 6 months, watching as his father hit golf balls into a net and imitating his swing. He appeared on the "Mike Douglas Show" at age 2, putting with Bob Hope. He shot 48 for nine holes at age 3 and was featured in Golf Digest at age 5.

Woods won Optimist International Junior tournaments six times at ages 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 15, and also won the Insurance Youth Golf Classic at age 14, when he was the youngest ever to win that title. He won his first U.S. Junior Amateur the next year, 1991, and had seven additional victories.

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