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Main article: Career of Tiger Woods

Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and immediately signed deals with Nike, Inc. and Titlelist that ranked as the most lucrative endorsement contracts in golf history at that time.[1][2] Woods was named Sports Illustrated's 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.[3] In April 1997, he won his first major, the Masters, becoming the tournament's youngest-ever winner.[4] Two months later, he set the record for the fastest-ever ascent to #1 in the Official World Golf Rankings.[5] After a lackluster 1998, Woods finished the 1999 season with eight wins, including the PGA Championship, a feat not achieved since 1974.[6][7]

In 2000, Woods achieved six consecutive wins, the longest winning streak since 1948. One of these was the 2000 U.S. Open, where he broke or tied nine tournament records in what Sports Illustrated called "the greatest performance in golf history."[8] At age 24, he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam.[9] At the end of 2000, Woods had won nine of the twenty PGA Tour events he entered and had broken the record for lowest scoring average in tour history. He was named the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, the first and only athlete to be honored twice, and was ranked by Golf Digest magazine as the twelfth-best golfer of all time.[10][11]

Following a stellar 2001 and 2002 in which Woods continued to dominate the tour, Woods' career hit a "slump".[6][12] He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004. In September 2004, Vijay Singh overtook Woods in the Official World Golf Rankings, breaking Woods' record streak of 264 weeks at #1.[13] Woods rebounded in 2005, winning six official PGA Tour money events and reclaiming the top spot in July after swapping it back and forth with Singh over the first half of the year.[14]

In 2006, Woods began dominantly, winning his first two PGA tournaments but failing to capture his fifth Masters championship in April.[15][16] Following the death of his father in May, Woods took a nine-week hiatus from the tour and appeared rusty upon his return at the U.S. Open, missing the cut at Winged Foot.[17] However, he quickly returned to form and ended the year by winning six consecutive tour events. At the season's close, with 54 wins and 12 majors wins, Woods had broken the tour records for both total wins and total majors wins over eleven seasons.[18]

He continued to excel in 2007 and the first part of 2008. In April 2008, he underwent knee surgery and missed the next two months on the tour.[19] Woods returned for the 2008 U.S. Open, where he struggled the first day but ultimately claimed a dramatic victory over Rocco Mediate, after which Mediate said, "This guy does things that are just not normal by any stretch of the imagination," and Kenny Perry added, "He beat everybody on one leg."[20][21][22] Two days later, Woods announced that he would miss the remainder of the season due to further knee surgery, and that his knee was more severely damaged than previously revealed, prompting even greater praise for his U.S. Open performance. Woods called it "my greatest ever championship."[23][24][25] In Woods' absence, TV ratings for the remainder of the season suffered a huge decline from 2007.[26]

Upon Woods' much-anticipated return in 2009, he performed well, including a spectacular performance at the 2009 Presidents' Cup, but failed to win a major, the first year since 2004 that he failed to do so.[27][28][29] After his marital infidelities came to light at the end of 2009 and received massive media coverage, Woods announced in December that he would be taking an indefinite break from competitive golf. In February 2010, he delivered a televised apology for his behavior. During this period, several companies ended their endorsement deals with Woods.

He returned to competition in April at the 2010 Masters Tournament, where he finished in a tie for fourth place.[30] He followed the Masters with poor showings at the Quail Hollow Championship and the Players Championship, where he withdrew in the fourth round citing injury.[31] Shortly afterward, Woods' coach since 2003, Hank Haney, resigned the position; he was replaced in August by Sean Foley. The rest of the season went badly for Woods, who failed to win a single event for the first time since turning professional, while nevertheless finishing the season ranked #2 in the world.

Woods' performance continued to suffer in 2011, taking its toll on his ranking. After falling to #7 in March, he rebounded to #5 with a strong showing at the 2011 Masters Tournament, where he tied for fourth place.[32][33][34] Due to leg injuries incurred at the Masters, he missed several summer events; in July he fired his longtime caddy Steve Williams, replacing him temporarily with friend Bryon Bell.[35][36] After returning to tournament play in August, Woods continued to falter, and his ranking gradually fell to a low of #58.[37] He rose to #50 in mid-November after a third-place win at the Emirates Australian Open, and broke his winless streak with a victory at December's Chevron World Challenge.[38][39]

  1. ^ Ron Sirak. "10 Years of Tiger Woods Part 1". Golf Digest. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
  2. ^ Ron Sirak. "Golf's first Billion-Dollar Man". Golf Digest. Archived from the original on May 13, 2007. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
  3. ^ Rick Reilly (December 23, 1996). "1996: Tiger Woods". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 13, 2007.
  4. ^ Ron Sirak. "10 Years of Tiger Woods Part 2". Golf Digest. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
  5. ^ "Woods scoops world rankings award". London: BBC Sport. March 15, 2006. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
  6. ^ a b Jaime Diaz. "The Truth about Tiger". Golf Digest. Archived from the original on April 15, 2007. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
  7. ^ "Woods is PGA Tour player of year". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Associated Press. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
  8. ^ John Garrity (June 26, 2000). "Open and Shut". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
  9. ^ Ron Sirak. "10 Years of Tiger Woods Part 3". Golf Digest. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
  10. ^ S.L.Price (April 3, 2000). "Tunnel Vision". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 13, 2007.
  11. ^ Yocom, Guy (2000). "50 Greatest Golfers of All Time: And What They Taught Us". Golf Digest. Retrieved December 5, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Dave Shedloski (July 27, 2006). "Woods is starting to own his swing". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
  13. ^ "Hard labor pays off for Singh". Sports Illustrated. Reuters. September 7, 2004. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
  14. ^ Bob Verdi. "A Rivalry is Reborn". Golf World. Archived from the original on May 14, 2007. Retrieved May 21, 2007.
  15. ^ Morfit, Cameron (March 6, 2006). "Tiger Woods's Rivals Will Be Back. Eventually". Golf Magazine. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  16. ^ Hack, Damon (April 10, 2006). "Golf: Notebook; Trouble on Greens Keeps Woods From His Fifth Green Jacket". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  17. ^ Litsky, Frank (May 4, 2006). "Earl Woods, 74, Father of Tiger Woods, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
  18. ^ "Man of the Year". PGA. Associated Press. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  19. ^ "Tiger Woods undergoes knee surgery". Agence France-Presse. April 15, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
  20. ^ "Tiger puts away Mediate on 91st hole to win U.S. Open". ESPN. Associated Press. June 16, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
  21. ^ Savage, Brendan (June 25, 2008). "Rocco Mediate still riding U.S. Open high into Buick Open". Flint Journal. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  22. ^ Larry Lage (June 26, 2008). "Mediate makes the most of his brush with Tiger". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  23. ^ Mark Steinberg (June 18, 2008). "Tiger Woods to Undergo Reconstructive Knee Surgery and Miss Remainder of 2008 Season". TigerWoods.com. Retrieved June 18, 2008. [dead link]
  24. ^ Dorman, Larry (June 19, 2008). "Woods to Have Knee Surgery, Ending His Season". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
  25. ^ Lawrence Donegan (June 17, 2008). "Woods savours 'greatest triumph' after epic duel with brave Mediate". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved June 30, 2008.
  26. ^ "Tiger's Return Expected To Make PGA Ratings Roar". The Nielsen Company 2009. February 25, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  27. ^ Dahlberg, Tim (March 1, 2009). "Anything can happen: It did in Tiger's return". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  28. ^ Ferguson, Doug (October 12, 2009). "Americans win the Presidents Cup". Cumberland Times-News. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
  29. ^ Barber, Phil (October 11, 2009). "Americans win the Presidents Cup". The Press Democrat. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
  30. ^ "Mickelson wins Masters; Tiger 5 back". ESPN. April 11, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
  31. ^ Harig, Bob (May 1, 2010). "Woods misses sixth PGA Tour cut". ESPN. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  32. ^ pgatour.com, Official World Golf Ranking for March 27, 2011
  33. ^ pgatour.com, Official World Golf Ranking for April 11, 2011
  34. ^ pgatour.com, 2011 Masters tournament data
  35. ^ www.tigerwoods.com, June 7, 2011
  36. ^ Howard Sounes: The Wicked Game
  37. ^ pgatour.com, Official World Golf Ranking for June 6, 2011
  38. ^ "Tiger Woods moves to 50th in rankings". ESPN. November 13, 2011. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  39. ^ pgatour.com, December 4, 2011, Tiger ends two-year winless streak
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