Sport Tiger Woods squanders opportunity to go low Saturday at Honda Classic

Tiger Woods’ skills and record wins made him one of the most recognized figures in sports. However, the legendary golfer has had many high and lows, both professionally and personally. We take a look at his life and career in pictures.

Eldrick Tont ‘Tiger’ Woods was born in Cypress, California, U.S., on Dec. 30, 1975, to Earl and Kultida Woods. He started learning golf at a very young age, with his father acting as his coach and mentor. Woods appeared on "The Mike Douglas Show" (pictured) when he was only three years old, swinging the club like a pro. By five, he had appeared in an edition of Golf Digest, and by eight, he was showing his skills on TV shows like "Good Morning America." 

Woods won the Junior World Golf Championships for the first time in 1984, and went on to win it five further times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991.

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(Pictured) Tiger Woods with father Earl Woods in 1990.

At 15, he became the youngest-ever U.S. Junior Amateur champion in 1991 and was named Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the Year. He defended his title in 1992 and 1993 and remains the only three-time winner at the event. In 1994 he won his first U.S. Amateur Championship.

Woods graduated from high school and was accepted at Stanford University with a golf scholarship in 1994. A year later, he participated in his first PGA Tour major, The Masters. In 1996, he scored a hat-trick of U.S. Amateur Championship titles. He dropped out of college in 1996 and turned professional.

Soon after becoming a professional golfer, Woods was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1996. The golfer won his first Major title, The Masters, in 1997 (pictured), becoming the tournament’s youngest-ever winner.

Throughout his golfing career, Woods has sported red shirts in the final rounds of tournaments. “I wear red on Sundays because my mom thinks that that’s my power color, and you know you should always listen to your mom,” he said about his fashion choice on the field.

(Pictured) Woods with his mother Kultida Woods after winning the 2000 U.S. Open in Pebble Beach, California.

He continued to set records. Within 42 weeks of turning pro, he had the fastest-ever ascent to number one in the Official World Golf Rankings. He was also the top-ranked player for 281 consecutive weeks—a record he continues to hold. To date, he has remained world number one for a total of 683 weeks, which is a little more than 13 years.

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Woods finished the 1999 season with eight wins, including the PGA Championship. His superlative playing skills garnered a huge TV audience and also resulted in a dramatic increase in prize money.

In 2000, Woods became the youngest golfer to hold a Career Grand Slam in the sport. He is the only player to win all four Major championships in a row—the U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship and the Masters— a feat which is known as the “Tiger Slam.”

Everything Woods did became iconic. His fist-pumping every time he holed an important putt in a game became famous among fans as the “Tiger Fist Pump.”

On Oct. 5, 2004, Woods married former Swedish model Elin Nordegren (R). The couple have two children— daughter Sam Alexis Woods (pictured) and son Charlie Axel Woods.

The Woods-Nike collaboration, which started in 1996 when the golfer turned pro, became one of the most enduring endorsements of all time. At the time, the five-year deal was reportedly worth $40 million.

Along with his career, his fortunes also climbed as he featured in Forbes’ 2015 list of world’s highest paid athletes over the past decade. Along with Nike, he has collaborated with brands like Accenture, TAG Heuer, and Gillette for endorsements and his peak earnings were approximately $115 million in 2008.

An avid gamer, Woods collaborated with Electronic Arts for a series of “Tiger Woods PGA Tour” video games, one each year, from 1998 to 2013. He was the only golfer to do so until Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy joined the club with his first PGA Tour video game in 2015.

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He is no stranger to charity. The Tiger Woods Foundation, established by Woods and his father in 1996, helps conduct golf clinics across the U.S. It also operates the Tiger Woods Learning Center, featuring extensive multimedia facilities and an outdoor golf teaching area.

In April 2008, he underwent knee surgery to repair cartilage damage. Upon his return at the year’s U.S. Open, he claimed a memorable victory over Rocco Mediate. About his win, golfer Kenny Perry said that Woods “beat everybody on one leg.”

Woods has won a total of 79 official PGA Tour events—just three titles short of the legendary golfer Sam Snead. The former world number one has also won 14 professional Majors so far.

Woods also holds the record for most victories at a single event—he’s won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational eight times over the years.

(Pictured) With Arnold Palmer in 2013.

On Nov. 25, 2009, American tabloid The National Enquirer claimed that Woods was having an extramarital affair with New York-based nightclub manager Rachel Uchitel, who denied the allegations.

Two days later, Woods crashed his SUV into a tree near his home, leading to raging media speculations about the accident. On Dec. 11, 2009, he released a statement at a press conference (pictured) admitting to infidelity, announcing an “indefinite break from golf.”

On Aug. 23, 2010, Nordegren and Woods finalized their divorce. With a settlement estimated at $100 million, it was one of the most expensive divorces in history. Woods’ endorsements and popularity also took a big hit during this period.

Due to a series of knee and back surgeries, coupled by setbacks in his personal life, Woods slowly lost his finesse. Barring a powerful performance in 2013, he was losing most games and slowly went down the world rankings.

On Nov. 5, 2013, Woods made history as he became the first golfer to hit a ball from Asia to Europe on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge, which connects the two continents.

Woods brushed aside all speculation of his resignation from golf in a blog post released on the PGA Tour’s official website on Dec. 22, 2015. He said, “The thing I'm looking forward to the most about 2016 is getting back out there again. I’ve missed it, and I would like to do it pain-free.”

He was expected to return at the PGA Tour Safeway Open in October 2016 but felt he wasn’t ready. After 15 months out due to back surgery, his official return (pictured) was at the Hero World Challenge at the beginning of December 2016.

His back problems continued in 2017, forcing him to withdraw from a European Tour event in Dubai in February and the Masters Tournament in March. On April 20, it was announced that Woods had undergone his fourth back surgery since 2014 and will need up to six months to recover.

To mark the 20th anniversary of his first Masters win in 1997, Woods’ memoir titled "The 1997 Masters: My Story" was published in March 2017. He was only 21 when he won the tournament by a historic 12 shots. The book was co-authored by Lorne Rubenstein.

On May 29, 2017, the golfer was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in Jupiter, Florida, U.S. Upon his release, Woods said in a statement: “I understand the severity of what I did, and I take full responsibility for my actions. I want the public to know that alcohol was not involved. What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didn’t realize the mix of medications had affected me so strongly. I would like to apologize with all my heart to my family, friends and the fans. I expect more from myself too. I will do everything in my power to ensure this never happens again.”

After a 10-month absence, he returned to the course, finishing the Hero World Challenge on Dec. 3, 2017. He beat the likes of U.S. PGA Champion Justin Thomas, U.S. Open Champion Brooks Koepka and world number one Dustin Johnson, as he tied for ninth place. He is also looking forward to the 2018 Masters that begins in April, about which he said: “I need to play enough but not play too much and I don’t know the best way to go about it yet but we will figure it out.”