Tiger Woods – Biography
Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer.
Tiger Woods’s Net Worth and Salary
Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer with an $800 million net worth. Tiger gets between $50 and $60 million each year. For example, he made $63 million from his many efforts between June 2019 and June 2020.
His career earnings have topped $1.5 billion since he turned pro in 1996. After adjusting for inflation, that equates to about $1.8 billion. He is the highest-paid golfer of all time and, for many years, the highest-paid celebrity on the planet.
He has the all-time lowest scoring average. He has won 11 PGA Player of the Year awards, two Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year awards, and four AP Male Athlete of the Year awards.
Woods is widely recognized as one of the best golfers of all time, as well as one of the most famous athletes of all time. In 2021, he will be enshrined into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Tiger Woods’s Birth, Parents, Siblings & Education
Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods was born in Cypress, California on December 30, 1975, to Earl and Tida Woods. He is the couple’s only child. From his father’s first marriage, he has two half-brothers, Earl Jr. and Kevin, and a half-sister, Royce.
Tiger’s mother was born in Thailand. Tiger’s ethnicity is Cablinasian, which means he is Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian. Tiger was named after his father’s friend, Colonel Vuong Dang Phong, who was also known as Tiger.
Woods was born and raised in Orange County, California. Earl Woods, Woods’ father, introduced him to golf before he was two years old. Earl was a low-handicap amateur golfer.
He was also one of Kansas State University’s first African-American college baseball players.
Tiger Woods’s Amateur and College Career
Tiger putted against comedian Bob Hope during a television appearance on “The Mike Douglas Show” in 1978 as an amateur. He shot a 48 over nine holes when he was three years old.
He made his television debut at the age of five, appearing in “Golf Digest” and on ABC’s “That’s Incredible!” Tiger won the Under Age 10 segment of the Drive, Pitch, and Putt competition when he was six years old, at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, California.
He won the 9–10 boys’ event, the smallest age group eligible, at the Junior World Golf Championships when he was eight years old.
That same year, he became the first person to reach the age of 80. Tiger won the Junior World Championships six times, including four years in a row between 1988 and 1991.
Earl was 11 years old when he first overcame his father, and he was determined to win that game. Earl lost to Tiger every time after that. Woods was a 15-year-old student at Anaheim’s Western High School when he became the country’s youngest Junior Amateur winner, a record that stood until 2010.
In 1990 and 1991, he was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year. He was named the “Golf Digest” Junior Amateur Player of the Year in 1991. When he successfully defended his championship in 1992, Woods became the first two-time winner of the US Junior Amateur Championship.
That same year, he competed in his first PGA Tour tournament, the Nissan Los Angeles Open. He was selected “Golf Digest” Amateur Player of the Year in 1992, as well as “Golf World” Player of the Year and “Golfweek” National Amateur of the Year.
The following year, Woods won his third consecutive US Junior Amateur Championship; he is the only three-time champion of the event. He was the youngest winner of the US Amateur Championship in 1994, a record he kept until 2008.
He was a member of the American team that won the Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships in 1994. Woods graduated from high school in 1994 and was named the class’s “Most Likely to Succeed.”
Woods was highly sought by the most powerful collegiate golf programs. He chose to attend Stanford University, the defending NCAA champions in 1994. In the fall of 1994, he enrolled at Stanford and won his first collegiate event, the 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational, in September.
He successfully defended his US Amateur title at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island in 1995, and he was named 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).
At the age of 19, Woods competed in his first PGA Tour major, the 1995 Masters, and finished tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut; two years later, he won the tournament by 12 shots.
In 1996, at the age of 20, he became the first golfer in history to win three straight U.S. Amateur titles, as well as the NCAA individual golf championship. He dropped out of college after two years to pursue a career as a professional golfer.
Tiger Woods’s Professional Career
At the age of 20, Woods turned pro in August 1996 and instantly landed advertising deals with Nike and Titleist, which were the most lucrative endorsement contracts in golf history at the time. Woods was voted Sportsman of the Year by “Sports Illustrated” in 1996, as well as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
He won his first major, the Masters, on April 13, 1997, by 12 shots in a record-breaking performance, becoming the tournament’s youngest winner at the age of 21. He achieved the record for the fastest ascension to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings two months later.
Following a disappointing 1998 season, Woods concluded the 1999 season with eight victories, including the PGA Championship.
From 2000 through 2010, Woods was the dominant force in golf. From August 1999 to September 2004 (264 weeks), then again from June 2005 to October 2010, he was the world’s top-ranked golfer (281 weeks). During this time, he won 13 major championships in golf.
Woods’ career was punctuated by comebacks from personal difficulties and injuries during the next decade. Woods dropped to 58th in the world rankings in November 2011 until regaining the top spot between March 2013 and May 2014. Injuries, however, forced him to have four back surgery between 2014 and 2017.
Between August 2015 and January 2018, Woods played in only one tournament, and he fell out of the top 1,000 golfers in the world. Woods made steady progress to the top of the game after returning to regular play, winning his first tournament in five years at the Tour Championship in September 2018 and his first major in 11 years at the 2019 Masters.
Woods holds a number of golf records. He has held the world number one ranking for the most consecutive weeks and the most total weeks of any golfer in history. He has won the PGA Player of the Year title 11 times and the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average eight times.
Woods has the record for being the highest paid golfer in ten different seasons. He has 15 professional major golf championships and 82 PGA Tour events to his credit.
Woods has the most career major championships and PGA Tour victories of any active golfer. He is the youngest player to complete a career Grand Slam and the second golfer (after Jack Nicklaus) to do so three times.
Woods has 18 World Golf Championship titles to his name. He was also a member of the American Ryder Cup winning squad in 1999. In May 2019, Woods became the fourth golfer to earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Tiger Woods’s Relationship Status
During The Open Championship in 2001, Woods met Elin Nordegren, a Swedish former model and the daughter of former migration minister Barbro Holmberg and radio journalist Thomas Nordegren. Jesper Parnevik, a Swedish golfer, hired her as an au pair.
They married on October 5, 2004, at the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados, and lived in Isleworth, a subdivision in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. Woods and Nordegren’s first child, a girl called Sam Alexis Woods, was born in 2007. Woods selected the name since his father had always referred to him as Sam. Charlie Axel Woods, their son, was born in 2009.
From December 2009 until early April 2010, he took a self-imposed break from professional golf in order to work out marital troubles with his then-wife, Elin. Woods acknowledged to having several affairs, and the pair split on August 23, 2010.
On March 18, 2013, Woods disclosed his relationship with Olympic gold medalist skier Lindsey Vonn. They divorced in May of 2015. Woods was in a relationship with stylist Kristin Smith from November 2016 to August 2017. Woods stated in November 2017 that he was in a relationship with restaurant manager Erica Herman, following months of suspicion about their relationship.
On May 29, 2017, about 3:00 a.m. EDT, Woods was arrested near his Jupiter Island, Florida, home by the Jupiter Police Department for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was dozing off in his car, which was stopped in a traffic lane with the motor running.
He then admitted that he had taken prescription medicines and was unaware of how they would interact with one another. Woods said on July 3, 2017, that he has completed an out-of-state intensive program to address an unidentified issue.
At his appearance on August 9, 2017, Woods had his attorney Douglas Duncan enter a not guilty plea on his behalf and agreed to participate in a first-time DUI offender program and appear in court again on October 25. Woods pleaded guilty to careless driving during a hearing on October 27, 2017. He was sentenced to a year of probation, a $250 fine, and 50 hours of community service, as well as regular drug testing. He was not permitted to consume alcohol while on probation, and if he did, he faced 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Tiger Woods Earnings
Tiger earns his first money by winning tournaments and advertising things. Tiger has made $118 million on the golf field since turning pro in 1996 (including $2.07 million at the 2019 Masters).
This represents 7.6 percent of his overall career earnings to date. The majority of Tigers’ income comes from endorsements, as it does for other dominant athletes such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Nike, Gatorade, American Express, Asahi, General Mills (Wheaties), Golf Digest, Rolex, Gillette, Accenture, Tag Heuer, AT&T, EA Sports, NetJets, Upper Deck, TLC Laser Eye Centers, and Buick account for approximately 92.4 percent of his lifetime earnings, totaling over $1.6 billion.
Gatorade created a specially branded drink for Woods dubbed “Gatorade Tiger.” The Gatorade deal alone was worth $100 million over the course of five years.
Tiger Woods, along with fellow super star Roger Federer and Thierry Henry, used to earn $20 million per year to endorse Gillette. Tiger commands a fee of $10 million to build golf courses all around the world, and he can earn up to $1.5 million just for attending a golf tournament.
Tiger inked a 5-year $30 million deal with American Express on May 20, 1997, a day after winning the Byron Nelson Classic (the first tournament he joined after becoming the youngest player ever to win The Masters).
The American Express contract, along with his Nike, Titleist, and tournament wins, increased his career earnings to $100 million. In other words, Tiger earned $100 million in just 8 months (264 days) after being professional. LeBron James’ initial Nike contract, inked in 2003, was worth $90 million over seven years.
Tiger signed his second Nike sponsorship agreement in September 2000. This agreement was worth $100 million over five years ($20 million per year).
In other words, Tiger made $140 million from Nike alone between 1997 and 2005. During that seven-year span, he most certainly earned little more than $200 million from all transactions.
Other Assets and Real Estate:
- Tiger owns a $25 million yacht that he named “Privacy”. He sometimes sleeps on the yacht during tournaments that are near water.
- His PGA tour Pension plan is worth at least $20 million.
- He owns a $54 million Gulfstream G550 private jet. The only time Tiger has flown commercially in the last 15 years was in January 2017 when he was traveling from Los Angeles to Dubai.
- He owns a 12-acre ocean-front property in Jupiter, Florida that is worth at least $55 million
- In the wake of the 2009 financial crisis and his career slowdown, Tiger launched a course design business. He has designed courses around the world with plenty of work on his plate.
Marriage And Divorce Settlement With Elin Nordegren:
In 2004, Tiger Woods married Elin Nordegren. Woods and Nordegren welcomed their first child, a daughter called Sam Alexis Woods, in 2007, and their son, Charlie Axel Woods, in 2009.
Tiger’s infidelity scandal shocked the pair in 2009, finally leading to the couple’s divorce.
His game and connections with sponsors have suffered as a result of the turmoil surrounding his divorce from Elin Nordegren, costing him millions in potential earnings. He also paid Elin $100 million in assets, which included cash and real properties.
Tiger Woods Net Worth Achievements:
1995: $10,000 (before turning pro)
1997: $7 million (signs first deals with Nike and Titleist)
1999: $40 million
2001: $50 million
2003: $100 million
2005: $250 million
2009: $500 million (career earnings surpass $1 billion)
2010 $400 million (divorce settlement finalized)
2016: $700 million
2019: $800 million
Tiger was the second-richest person of color in the United States in 2009, with a net worth of $500 million, trailing only Oprah Winfrey, who was worth $2.5 billion at the time.
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Quick Facts of Tiger Woods
- Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer who has a net worth of $800 million.
- He will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2021.
- In 1994, he became the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, a record he held until 2008.
- At age 20 in 1996, he became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles and won the NCAA individual golf championship.
- Since turning pro in 1996, Tiger has earned $118 million on the golf course (including $2.07 million he won at the 2019 Masters).
