Tiger Woods: Up Close and Personal

Trivia question: Who is the youngest winner in the famed Master's tournament in the world of golf, had the widest margin of victory and the most par second nine in the same tournament, is the highest paid athlete earning an estimated $ 85 million dollars, and has been named athlete of the year and sportsman of the year for several years in several magazines and media organizations?

Yep, you guessed it right: Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods is today's most successful, sensational, multi-awarded champion in the world of golf and is considered as golf's newest "global icon" He is such a golf sensation that nobody can ever say that he has never heard of Tiger Woods. Even people who are not into golf may not know the ins and outs of the game, but they know who Tiger Woods is.

Born in December 30, 1975 in Cypress California, Tiger's real name is "Eldrick Woods." His father is Earl Woods, a retired U.S Army Lieutenant Colonel of mixed African-American-Chinse and Native American Ancestry. His mother is Kultida Woods originally from Thailand who herself is of Thai-Chinese and Dutch Ancestry, making Eldrick a "Cablinasian" (A mix of Caucasian, Black, American-Indian and Asian) a term he coined himself. With this mix of multi-racial heritage, He is credited with promoting the minorities and young people in the United States to get interested in the game of golf. He is the only child of Earl and Kultida's marriage but he has two half brothers and one half-sister from Earl Wood's first wife.

Eldrick was nicknamed "Tiger" after a Vietnamese friend that his father served with in Vietnam. He became generally known by that name by the time he became very well known in amateur golf.

Coached by his father, Tiger began playing golf at the age of 2. He was a child prodigy in the game of golf. He was the youngest champion in the 9 to 10 boy's event of the Junior World of Golf championships considering that he was only 8 years old at that time. He won the Junior World Championship six times with four consecutive wins. He was 15 years old when he became the U.S Junior Amateur Champion making him the youngest in history.