Tiger Woods
Eldrick ‘Tiger’ Woods was born on December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California to Earl and Kultida Woods. He is the only child of their marriage but has two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957), and one half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran was of mixed African American (50 percent), Filipino (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. Kultida (nee Punsawad), originally from Thailand, is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one-eighth Chinese, one eighth Filipino, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. He affably refers to his ethnic make-up as Cablinasian (a portmanteau of Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian), a term he coined himself. In addition, Woods is also a Buddhist. He has said that his faith was acquired from his mother and that it helps control both his stubborness and impatience.
Tiger got his nickname from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given the Tiger nickname. Woods became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf was simply known as “Tiger Woods.” He grew up in the Los Angeles area, attending high school at Western High in Anaheim.
Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, Woods shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC’s That’s Incredible. In 1984 at the age of eight he won the 9–10 boys’ event, the youngest age group available, at the Junior World Golf Championships. Woods went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. At the age of 15, he became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion, was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year 1991. He successfully defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, becoming the first multiple winner, competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year and Golfweek National Amateur of the Year in 1992.
The following year, he won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the event’s youngest-ever and only multiple winner. In 1994, Woods became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship. He was a member of the American team at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships and 1995 Walker Cup. Later that year, he enrolled at Stanford University, and won his first collegiate event, the William Tucker Invitational. At Stanford he majored in Economics and was nicknamed “Urkel” by his college teammates. In 1995, Woods defended his U.S. Amateur title, and was voted Pac-10 Player of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford’s Male Freshman of the Year (an award that encompasses all sports). He participated in his first PGA Tour major, The Masters, and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. At age 20 in 1996, Woods became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles and won the NCAA individual golf championship. In winning the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship, Woods tied the record for an amateur aggregate score of 281. He left college after two years and turned professional.
Credit : Wikipedia
Technorati Tags: Childhood, Celebrities, Famous, Golf, Golfer, Photos, Tiger Woods
