Essay on Tiger Woods: Youngest Pro Golfer, First African-American US Masters Winner

Tiger Woods is a professional golfer whose professional career began in 1997 when he was just 21 years old. This was the year he was declared the youngest player and the first African-American to win the US Masters. He was born in Cypress California in 1975. When still young, he learned how to play golf. He grew up in the orange country in California (Sam.20). He was a prodigy and was introduced to golf when he was at the age two by his father who was himself athletic. His father was a single digit handicap amateur. He was also one of the pioneer African-American basketball players at Kansas State University. Since the father was in the military, he had the privilege of playing golf at the Navy golf course (Benedic& Armen 8). When he was six months old, he took an interest in golf as his father was playing golf. He used to watch the way his father was hitting the golf ball into the net and then he began to imitate the swings. This is how the father came to gain skills in golf and love the game. His father by the name Earl was his mentor and teacher. By the time he was eight years old, he had become so proficient in playing golf to the extent that he began showing off his skills on television shows like `Good Morning America' (Benedic& Armen 5). His father made significant contributions to the success of Woods. He got married to a woman from Sweden, and they together got two children. His father was an army officer, and the mother was of Thai origin.

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As Woods was growing, his father began calling him Tiger to honor his friend and soldier who had a similar moniker. This is how the name Tiger came up. At the age of 22 in 1997, he won the US Masters at Augusta with a scoring record of 21. He won other 13 majors and was declared the PGA player of that year. After that victory personal problems began to crop up which affected his professional career (Jane 86)? Between 2004 and 201). When he was nine years old, Woods committed to his father that he was going to be a professional golfer and he promised to do his best and perform excellently in sport.

Since he became a professional golfer in 1997, he has built a very strong and competitive career and attained tremendous achievements. He has had 105 wins and 14 majors so far. The 81 PGA Tour Wins he has had so far, is the second highest any player has ever won. (Benedict & Armen 7). In 2001, he was declared the first golf player to have four professional major championships together.

Woods joined Stanford University where he won several US titles in golf before he became a professional in 1996. When he made his first appearance in the British Open, he tied a course record of 64. In the Subsequent years, he even became more successful by winning many championships; GA titles, open wins and U.S. Masters. In 2005, he was voted the PGA tour player of that year for seven consecutive times in a row.

Wood also had the privilege of accessing the joint forces training base in Los Alamitos as well as the Golf course in Long Beach. In 1978, Wood had a golf contest with the comedian Bob Hope in a competition that was televised. He managed to shoot 48 over nine holes. When he was five years old, he appeared on the Golf Digest on ABC Television and won the competition. At the age of 8, in 1984, he emerged the winner of the 9-10 boys event which was the youngest available age group in the World Golf Championships. When he was ten years old, he won the Drive Pitch under ten sections, a competition which was held in California in a navy course. He continued winning in the subsequent years. In 2000, he became the youngest golfer to win the British Open at St. Andrews. He also became the youngest golfer to complete the Grand Slam of the significant professional championships (Benedic& Armen 9). All the Grand Slam players were adults except him.

In 1996 and 2000 he was selected as the Sportsman of the year. The Associated Press also chose him as the male athlete of the years 1997,1999 and 2000. In 1999 and 2000, the founding members of the world sports academy selected him as the world sportsman of the year(Jane 89). The`Businessweek' in 2008 made Tiger the number one in the Power 100 category of the most influential people in sports. The following year in 2009, he was made the APA Athlete of the year(Sam.169). Out of 142 votes cast by the AP editors throughout the country, he received 56 votes. He also received an induction into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. He was selected as the player of the year by PGA Tour in the years 1997, 1999, 2000-2003, 2005-2007, 2009 and 2013(Benedic& Armen 9). The Golf writers of the United States of America voted him the best player of the years1997, 1999, 2000-2003, 2005-2007 and 2009.

The next decade, his professional career was interrupted by injuries and marital problems. He took a voluntary leave from his profession from December 2009 to June 2010 to resolve marital issues with his wife. Several women revealed his extramarital affairs through media sources (Jane 90). He eventually divorced his wife. In November 2011, he fell into position 58 in the world rankings before rising again to the first position in 2013. Apart from the injuries which he sustained leading him to undergo four surgeries on his back he had severe family problems which affected his professional career (Sam 170) Between 2015 and 2018, he managed to complete only one tournament which led to his drop in the world best 1000 golfers. When he returned to his regular competition, he began rising steadily and reached the top. He started to make winnings after five years without any win at the tour championships in September 2018(Benedict & Armen 11). He won his first Masters after eleven years in 2019.

Conclusion

Apart from the marital problems and the injuries he has been sustaining, Tiger Woods is a professional golfer player without anybody to match him. The number of awards he has won since he began his professional golf is unmatched. Several organizations worldwide have declared him the best player on various categories hence making him one of the highly decorated sportsmen ever lived. Though he has occasionally performed poorly due to marital issues, he quickly bounces back and regains his victory. Tiger is a talented player who has a passion for the golfer, and his name is synonymous to golf.

Works Cited

Benedict, Jeff, and Armen Keteyian. Tiger Woods. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks2019. Print.

Sam Borden. Eternal Championships.New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks2017. Print.

Jane Berstein. Still Running. Pearson: New York. 2017.Print