Tiger Woods

Dec 30, 1975 -

Tiger Woods was born in Cypress, California on December 30, 1975. His real first name given at birth wa Eldrick, but he was given the nickname "Tiger" right away. His father, Earl Woods, was a Vietname War vet and nicknamed Tiger after one of his war buddies. His mother, Kultida Woods, is originally from Thailand. Woods refers to his ethnicity as 'Cablinasian'.

Woods got married In 2004 to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. The ceremony was held at the Sandy Lane Hotel and Golf Club on Barbados They currently live in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida.

Tiger Woods started playing golf when he was three years old. In 1984 (at age eight) he won the 9-10 boys' event at the Junior World Golf Championships. He won the U.S. Junior Amateur title in 1991, 1992 and 1993. He won his first US Amateur title in 1994 (the youngest ever to win) and repeated two more times. He attended Stanford University and won one NCAA individual championship.

Woods turned pro in 1996 and won two events. The following April he won his first green jacket at The Masters by a record margin of 12 shots. He won seven out of eleven major championships starting with the 1999 PGA Championship and finishing with the 2002 U.S. Open. When he won the 2001 Masters it was the only time anyone had ever won four consecutive majors.

He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004 and fell out of his number one ranking. Woods later returned to his winning ways, and has now won 14 major tournaments. He won the US Open in 2008 while injured, and had to sit out the remainder of the 2008 season.