He was born as Eldrick Tont Woods to Earl Woods and Kultida; he was nicknamed Tiger in honour of his father’s friend. He has three half-siblings through his father’s previous marriage. He is of mixed ancestry. His father was a Vietnam War Veteran.

He was introduced to golf when he was just two by his father who had himself been an amateur golfer. He excelled in golf and went on to win the Junior World Golf Championships six times.

He attended Western High School from where he graduated in 1994. He became a U.S. Junior Amateur champion when he was 15 years old. He would win the championship three times.

He enrolled at Stanford University under a golfing scholarship in 1994. He left after two years to pursue golfing as a career.

After becoming a professional golfer in 1996 he was immediately offered deals with Nike, Inc., and Titleist as he had become famous because of his collegiate career.

He won the Masters, his first major tournament in 1997. He was ranked No.1 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He won the PGA Championship in 1999.

He had a great start to the new millennium with six consecutive wins in 2000. One of his victories for the year was the U.S. open where he broke or equaled nine records.

He won several golfing titles that season and by winning the 2001 Masters Tournament, he became the first player to win all four major professional titles at the same time.

The next two seasons were not that great for him. However his form returned in 2005 and he won six official PGA Tour money events. He closed the 2006 season with 54 wins.

His great form continued through the next couple of years. However a knee surgery in the later part of 2008 forced him to take a short break.

He was enthusiastically welcomed back to golf in 2009. He did not disappoint his fans and performed well winning the 2009 Presidents Cup with an amazing performance.

There had been some scandals and controversies involving his personal life in late 2009 which hampered his performance in 2010. His sponsors cancelled their contracts and his rankings also fell. For the first time in his career he could not win a single event.

In 2011 his dismal performances continued. He fell to No.7 rank by March. Over the year his personal, professional, and health woes continued and he fell to No. 58.

The 2012 season was better for him — he won two tournaments at the beginning. He went on to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament.

By 2013 he was back to his original form. He won the Farmers Insurance Open in January and the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March. A win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational re-established his position as the World No.1.

With 79 official PGA Tour events, he had been hailed as the “greatest closer in history”. He was the youngest among the few players to have won all four professional major championships. He is also the only one to have completed the Career Grand Slam in a row.

He was inducted into at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento in 2007.

The Associated Press named him the “Athlete of the Decade” in December 2009.

He married former Swedish model Elin Nordegren in 2004. They had two children.

In 2009 reports of his extramarital affairs with multiple women began surfacing. Even though he denied it in the beginning he eventually accepted his transgressions. This led to the couple’s divorce in 2010.

This famous golfer is of mixed African American, Native American, Chinese, Thai and Dutch ancestry.