31 Little Known Facts About Tiger Woods That Will Make You Love Him More

Tiger Woods, one of the most successful golfers in history who won 15 Majors and 82 PGC tours, has been making headlines very often for breaking records. In a very young age, he made a mark for himself in the vast world of sports, and now stands out as the greatest player in the field. But, there’s very little known about him. Here are some impressive facts about him, we bet you didn’t know before:

1. Woods is one of the most successful golfer and one of the famous athletes of all time. After competing in amateur event since he was a toddler, he turned professional in August 1996, at the age of 20 after two years of college study.
2. He was married to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model, for about six years, from October 5, 2004, and lived in Orlando, Florida, with their two children, a daughter, Sam Alexis Woods and a son, Charlie Axel Woods. After the sex scandal in 2009,they separated on August 23, 2010.
3. He was involved in some extramarital affairs which was first reported in November 2009 and later admitted by Woods, derailed his professional and personal life. He later apologized to ‘all of those who have supported over the years.’
4. On May 29, 2017, Wood was arrested near his Jupiter Island, Florida, for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was put on probation for a year after he pleaded guilty on October 27, 2017, and was fined $250 with 50 hours of community service.
5. After his marriage breakup he was in relationship with Lindsey Vonn, an Olympic gold medal skier, for about three years before dating stylist, Kristin Smith, for two years. He is currently in relationship with Erica Herman a manager at a Florida restaurant he owns.
6. He was born Eldrick Tont ‘Tiger’ Woods, on December 30, 1075, in Cypress, California, to Kultida ‘Tida’ Woods and Earl Dennison Wood, a retired Army infantry officer. He has two half-brothers, Earl Jr. and Kevin, as well as a half-sister, Royce from his father’s first marriage.
7. He was nicknamed ‘Tiger’ in honor of his father’s friend Colonel Vuong Dang Phong, also known as Tiger. With Afro-American and Thai, background, he calls his ethnic make-up as ‘Cablinasian,’ abbreviated for Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian.
8. Introduced to golf before the age of two, he shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy course, a year later and was featured in Golf Digest and on ‘ABC’s That’s Incredible,’ as five-year-old.
9. Wood won his first tournament, an ‘UnderAge-10 Section of the Drive, Pitch and Putt’ competition, before the age of seven, held at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, California and went on to win the first of six age group event at the ‘1984 Optimist International Junior World Championships.’
10. As student of Western High School, Anaheim, he won first of three ‘U.S. Junior Amateur,’ championship in 1991. He was youngest then and the only player to win it for three time. He was named 1991’s ‘Southern California Amateur Player of the Year,’ and ‘Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the Year.’
11. Wood’s struggle with speech growing up was revealed in a letter of encouragement to a boy named Dillon, who was bullied for stuttering and had contemplated suicide. He wrote ‘I know what it’s like to be different and to sometimes not fit in. I also stuttered as a child and would talk to my dog until he fell asleep.’
12. Aged 18 years in 1994, he became the youngest ‘U.S. Amateur Champion,’ at the TPC at Sawgrass in Florida and was selected as the member of ‘1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championship,’ winning team. He went on to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles, the first to do so.
13. In 1995, he joined Stanford University to study Economics as major on a golf scholarship and won his first collegiate event, the 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational tournament that year. He was voted ‘Pac-10 Player of the Year,’ ‘NCAA First Team All-American,’ and ‘Stanford’s Male Freshman of the Year.’
14. As a 19-year old he appeared in his first PGA Tour major, the 1995 Masters and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. Later in May he won the ‘NCAA Individual Golf Championship,’ and finished runner-up at ‘The Open Championship,’ in July that year.
15. In August 1996, Wood turned professional at age 20, and won two events in next three months to qualify for the Tour Championship. He was named ‘1996 Sportsman of the Year,’ by Sports Illustrated and ‘PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.’
16. On April 13, 1997, Wood won his first major, The Masters,’ with record score of 18-under-par 270, by margin of 12 strokes. He is the tournaments youngest and first Afro-Asian-American winner.
17. On June 15, 1997, he set the record for the fastest ascent to World No.1 in only his 42nd week as professional according to the Official World Golf Rankings. He was named ‘PGA Player of the Year,’ another first to his name, just in his second year.
18. In June 1999, he started his sustained period of dominance with a win at the ‘Memorial Tournament,’ and finished the season with eight wins, a feat not achieved since 1974. He is the first to successfully defend the title in 2000.
19. In 2000, he won six consecutive events including the ‘U.S. Open,’ with nine tournament records, dubbed as ‘the greatest performance in golf history,’ by Sports Illustrated. He was named ‘Sports Illustrated Sports Man of the Year 2000,’ with victory in nine of the twenty PGA Tour events he entered.
20. His ‘2001 Masters Tournament,’ win marked the only time in modern era of the Grand Slam that any player has held all four major championship titles at the same time, although not in same calendar year, a feat came to be known as ‘Tiger Slam.’
21. In December 2009, he took indefinite break, when his marital infidelities came to light and returned to competitive golf in April at the ‘2010 Masters,’ finishing fourth. Following his longtime coach Hank Haney resignation, his performance continued to suffer through 2011, and his ranking gradually fell to a low of # 58.
22. Early in 2014, his game was hampered due to back pain and subsequently he underwent number of surgeries. Later on he would struggle with nearly every aspect of his game and began to miss back-to-back cuts at majors.
23. On April 2019, he won his first major championship in eleven years, the ‘Masters,’ and in the process he became the second oldest golfer at age 43 to win the Masters. He was awarded the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom,’ for his incredible comeback in sports and life.
24. Woods has won 15 majors, second only to Jack Nicklaus’ 18 and tied with Sam Snead in winning 82 official PGA Tour events. He is 14-1 when going into the final rounds of a major with at least a share of the lead.
25. Despite his power advantage, he worked exclusively with leading swing coach Butch Harmon and later he was coached by Hank Haney, who worked on flattening his swing plane. In summer of 2010, Haney was replaced by Sean Foley, known for his scientific approach to golf swing.
26. Apart from 82 PGA Tour wins under his belt, he has won 41 European Tour wins, 3 Japan Golf Tour wins and 18 other professional golf tournaments around the world.
27. He is a regular columnist and a playing editor for Golf Digest, before he published a best-selling golf instruction book, ‘How I Play Golf,’ in 2001. Later in March 2017, he co-authored a memoir, ‘The 1997 Master: My Story.’
28. Along with his father Earl, Woods, established ‘TGR Foundation,’ in 1996, for promoting golf among inner-city children. The foundation conducts junior golf clinics across the country and operates ‘Tiger Woods Learning Centre, in four campuses.
29. Early in 2004, Wood became the first player to pass the $40 million mark in career earnings and according to Forbes, in 2009, he was the world’s first professional athlete to earn over a billion dollars in his career, after accounting for the $10 million bonus Woods received for the FedEx Cup title.
30. With his dominance over the game, analysts expressed concern about his impact on the competitiveness of the game. Many courses in PGA Tour have added a yardage to their tees to reduce the advantage of long hitters like Woods, which came to be known as ‘Tiger-Proofing.’
31. Tiger Woods Net Worth: $800 Million