Tiger Woods Fast Facts
CNN Editorial Research
Here’s a look at one of the most successful golfers in history, Tiger Woods.
Personal
Birth date: December 30, 1975
Birth place: Cypress, California
Birth name: Eldrick Tont Woods
Father: Earl Woods
Mother: Kultilda (Punsawad) Woods
Marriage: Elin Nordegren (October 5, 2004-August 23, 2010, divorced)
Children: Charlie Axel and Sam Alexis
Education: Attended Stanford University, 1994-1996
Other Facts
Won the Masters Tournament five times, the US Open three times, the PGA Championship four times and the British Open three times.
Woods is the PGA career money list leader.
With 82 PGA Tour wins, Woods is tied with Sam Snead for most all-time career victories.
His father nicknamed him “Tiger” after a South Vietnamese soldier with whom he had fought alongside during the Vietnam War.
Timeline
1978 – At the age of 2, wins a putting contest with Bob Hope. The match was staged for the “Mike Douglas Show.”
1980 – Appears on the TV show “That’s Incredible.”
1991 – Wins his first US Junior Amateur golf championship. At 15 years of age, Woods was the youngest champion in history until 14-year-old Jim Liu broke his record in 2010.
1992 – Wins his second US Junior Amateur golf championship.
February 27, 1992 – Competes in his first PGA tournament at the age of 16. He is given a sponsor’s exemption in order to play and is the youngest player ever to play in a PGA tournament at that time.
1993 – Wins his third US Junior Amateur golf championship.
1994-1996 – Wins three consecutive US Amateur golf championships.
August 27, 1996 – Turns professional.
August 1996 – Signs a five-year endorsement deal with Nike worth $40 million.
October 6, 1996 – Wins his first tournament as a professional at the Las Vegas Invitational.
1996 – Forms the Tiger Woods Foundation for the promotion of minority participation in golf and other sports. In February 2018, the charity is renamed TGR Foundation to reflect its growth and scope.
April 13, 1997 – Wins his first Masters Tournament.
May 19, 1997 – Signs an endorsement deal with American Express worth between $13 and $30 million.
June 1997 – Becomes the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world after his 42nd week on the PGA Tour. At 21 years, 24 weeks, he is the youngest player ever to hold the No. 1 spot.
August 15, 1999 – Wins his first PGA championship.
June 18, 2000 – Wins his first US Open by 15 strokes, the largest margin in US Open history.
July 23, 2000 – Wins his first British Open.
September 14, 2000 – Signs a five-year endorsement contract with Nike. It is worth an estimated $85 million, making it the richest endorsement contract in sports history, at the time.
June 16, 2002 – Wins his second US Open.
December 8, 2003 – Named PGA Player of the Year for the fifth straight year.
May 13, 2005 – Woods fails to make the cut at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. It is the first time since 1998 that Woods is eliminated from a tournament.
November 23, 2005 – Wins the PGA Grand Slam of Golf for a record-breaking sixth time.
February 10, 2006 – Opens the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, California.
May 3, 2006 – Woods’ father, Earl Woods, dies of prostate cancer.
July 23, 2006 – Wins his third British Open.
August 20, 2006 – Wins his third PGA Championship.
August 12, 2007 – Wins his fourth PGA Championship.
April 15, 2008 – Undergoes arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He had two prior surgeries on the same knee, first in 1994 to remove a benign tumor, and another arthroscopic surgery in December 2002.
June 16, 2008 – Wins the US Open in sudden death, defeating Rocco Mediate.
June 18, 2008 – Woods announces that he will undergo reconstructive anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery on his left knee and will miss the remainder of the PGA tour season.
February 26, 2009 – After an eight-month hiatus from golf due to knee surgery, Woods plays the second round of the World Golf Championships Match Play and loses to Tim Clark.
November 15, 2009 – Wins the Australian Masters.
November 27, 2009 – Is taken to a hospital after being injured in a car accident in front of his home in Florida. He is released later the same day.
December 2, 2009 – Woods apologizes for “transgressions” that let his family down — the same day a gossip magazine publishes a report alleging he had an affair. He does not admit to an affair and offers no details about the “transgressions” in his statement.
February 19, 2010 – Makes a televised statement apologizing for being unfaithful to his wife and letting down both fans and family. “I had affairs, I cheated. What I did was not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame,” he says. Responding to rumors, Woods says that his wife never hit him, as some media reported in connection with the car crash on November 27, 2009, and that there has “never been an episode of domestic violence” in his relationship with his wife. Woods also says that he entered a rehabilitation center for 45 days, from the end of December to early February, and that he will continue to receive treatment and therapy.
October 31, 2010 – After 281 straight weeks, the longest in Official World Golf Ranking history, Woods loses his No. 1 ranking to Lee Westwood.
2010 – Loses about $20 million from estimated endorsements after sponsors including Gatorade, AT&T and Accenture end ties. Other sponsors including Nike, Upper Deck and EA Sports remain with Woods.
June 7, 2011 – Announces he will miss the US Open due to knee and Achilles tendon injuries.
July 19, 2011 – Woods announces that after a 12-year relationship, he and caddie Steve Williams will no longer be working together.
August 4, 2011 – Returns to golf at the Bridgestone Invitational, after a nearly three-month break.
August 11, 2011 – Plays one of his worst first rounds of golf in a major championship. He fails to make the cut at the PGA Championship for the first time in his career.
October 3, 2011 – For the first time in 15 years, Woods does not make it onto golf’s top 50 players list, according to the official World Golf Ranking.
October 5, 2011 – Signs a new endorsement deal with Swiss watch-maker Rolex.
March 25, 2012 – Earns his first PGA Tour win since September 2009, in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.
June 3, 2012 – With his win at the Memorial Tournament, ties Jack Nicklaus with 73 PGA Tour victories.
July 2, 2012 – Beats Nicklaus’ PGA Tour record with the AT&T National win. Woods’ 74th PGA Tour win ranks him in second place on the all-time list.
September 3, 2012 – Becomes the first PGA tour participant to earn $100 million.
March 25, 2013 – Woods wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the eighth time, and regains the No. 1 spot.
March 31, 2014 – Woods undergoes back surgery for a pinched nerve.
August 23, 2015 – Posts a top 10 finish at his debut at the Wyndham Championships but ends his season as the 257th ranked player in the world. His finish was four shots off eventual winner Davis Love III. Woods has now missed the cut for three majors in a row.
December 1, 2015 – Announces that he underwent his third microdiscectomy surgery last month — a procedure to remove bone around a pinched nerve to allow space for it to heal — and admits he has no idea when he will be back on the course.
July 20, 2016 – It is announced that Woods will miss the PGA Championship due to his continued recovery from back surgery. This marks the first time in his career that he has missed all four major championships.
December 4, 2016 – Woods finishes 14 shots behind the winner in the Hero World Challenge, his first competitive event in more than a year.
May 29, 2017 – Woods is arrested on suspicion of DUI in Jupiter, Florida. He says in a statement that he had “an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications” and that alcohol was not involved.
June 19, 2017 – Woods announces that he is receiving professional help to manage medication for back pain and a sleep disorder.
July 3, 2017 – Announces that he has completed an intensive program for managing his medications.
October 27, 2017 – Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving. His 12-month probation is contingent on completing any recommended treatment including DUI school, 50 hours of community services and random drug and alcohol testing.
December 3, 2017 – Making his long-awaited return from a fourth back surgery — his first tournament for 301 days since pulling out of the Dubai Desert Classic in February — Woods finishes in a tie for ninth place in the Hero World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas.
September 23, 2018 – Wins the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, for his first PGA Tour victory since August 2013 and his 80th overall.
April 14, 2019 – Wins his fifth Masters and 15th major title.
May 6, 2019 – President Donald Trump presents Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, during a White House ceremony.
October 27, 2019 – Wins his record-equaling 82nd PGA Tour title at the Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan. Woods is tied with legendary golfer Sam Snead, who won 82 titles throughout his more than 50-year career.
May 24, 2020 – Woods and Peyton Manning defeat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady by one stroke in “The Match: Champions for Charity” golf tournament at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida. The event raises over $20 million for coronavirus relief efforts and captures an average of 5.8 million viewers to become the most-watched golf telecast in the history of cable television.
February 23, 2021 – Woods is hospitalized after a serious one-car rollover accident in Los Angeles County, according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department. Wood’s agent Mark Steinberg said the golfer suffered “multiple leg injuries” and was in surgery following the accident. The next day, Woods is “awake, responsive, and recovering” in the hospital after emergency surgery on his lower right leg and ankle at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The leg fractures were “comminuted,” meaning the bone was broken into more than two parts, and “open,” meaning the broken bone was exposed to open air, creating risk of an infection, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anish Mahajan says in the statement.
November 29, 2021 – In an exclusive interview published in Golf Digest, Tiger Woods speaks publicly about his golfing future for the first time since his car crash. “I think something that is realistic is playing the tour one day, never full time, ever again, but pick and choose, just like Mr. (Ben) Hogan did,” Woods tells interviewer Henni Koyack.
March 9, 2022 – Woods is inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame at the PGA Tour headquarters in Florida.
April 7, 2022 – Tees off in the first round of the Masters, his first tournament in 14 months, completing a remarkable comeback after sustaining serious leg injuries in his February 2021 car crash.
October 2022 – Erica Herman, a longtime former girlfriend of Woods, files a complaint in Martin County, Florida after their six-year relationship comes to end. Herman alleges a trust owned by Woods violated the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act by breaking the oral tenancy agreement. On March 6, 2023, Herman files a second complaint aimed at nullifying the NDA she signed in 2017.
April 19, 2023 – Announces he has completed “successful” surgery on his ankle following his withdrawal from The Masters earlier this month.
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