Tiger Woods Biography

Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman was suspended for two weeks Wednesday (Jan. 9, 2008) for saying young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley."

Tilghman laughed during the exchange Jan. 4 with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Civil rights activist The Reverend Al Sharpton demanded she be fired immediately.

"Lynching is not murder in general, it's not assault in general," Sharpton said. "It's a specific racial term that this woman should be held accountable for."

Faldo and Tilghman were discussing young players who could challenge the world's No. 1 player toward the end of a broadcast when Faldo suggested that "to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up for a while."

"Lynch him in a back alley," Tilghman replied.

The Golf Channel originally said there would be no punishment, but changed its position less than three hours after Sharpton's remarks.

"While we believe that Kelly's choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate," Golf Channel said in its statement. "Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately."

"On Friday during our golf broadcast, Nick Faldo and I were discussing Tiger's dominance in the golf world and I used some poorly chosen words,” Tilghman said in a statement. “I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments."

"This story is a non-issue,” said Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg of IMG. “Tiger and Kelly are friends and Tiger has a great deal of respect for Kelly. Regardless of the choice of words used, we know unequivocally that there was no ill intent in her comments. This story is a non-issue in our eyes."

But Sharpton said the fact Woods did not call for punishment of Tilghman does not mean the comment was not offensive to African-Americans.

Woods started as a young golf wunderkind who grew up to become a master player. The son of an African American Army officer father and a Thai mother, he learned to play as a child. His father, Earl, served as his teacher and mentor. Around the age of eight, Woods showed off his skills on such television shows as Good Morning America.
He studied at Stanford University and won a number of amateur U.S. golf titles before turning professional in 1996. Woods shot to fame after winning the U.S. Masters at Augusta in 1997—with a record score of 270—at the age of 21. Woods was the first African American to do so, as well as the youngest.

In his first appearance at the British Open later that year, Woods equaled the course record of 64. The next few years brought even more successes, including the 1999 and 2000 US PGA title and wins at the U.S. Open in 2000 and 2002, the Open Championship in 2000, and the U.S. Masters in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, among Woods’ five wins were the Buick Invitational and the Western Open.

Background and family

Eldrick "Tiger" Woods was born on December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California to Earl (1932-2006) and Kultida Woods (from Thailand). He is the only child of their marriage but has two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957), and one half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran was of mixed African American (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. Kultida (nee Punsawad), originally from Thailand, is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one-quarter Chinese, one quarter Thai, one quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. He refers to his ethnic make-up as “Cablinasian” (a portmanteau term he coined from Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian). Woods is a Buddhist. He has said that his faith was acquired from his mother and that it helps control both his stubbornness and impatience.

Tiger got his nickname from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given the Tiger nickname. Woods became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf was simply known as "Tiger Woods." On his twenty-first birthday, Woods legally changed his name from Eldrick to Tiger.[9] He grew up in Orange County, attending high school at Western High in Anaheim.



Marriage

In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. They were introduced during The Open Championship in 2001 by Swedish golf star Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as a nanny. They married on October 5, 2004 at the Sandy Lane resort on the Caribbean island of Barbados and live at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden. In January 2006, Woods and his wife purchased a US$39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, which they intend to make their primary residence. Woods' Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson. In 2007, a guest house on the Jupiter Island estate was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning.

Early in the morning of June 18, 2007, Elin gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, in Orlando, Florida.[12] The birth occurred just one day after Woods finished tied for second in the 2007 U.S. Open.[13] Tiger chose to name his daughter Sam because his father said that Tiger looked more like a Sam.[14][

The next year, Woods won only one official PGA Tour championship. While he may have had some challenges on the course, his personal life was running smoothly.

Woods married his longtime girlfriend, Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model and former nanny, in October. Returning to dominate the sport, he won six championships in 2005 and was voted the PGA Tour Player of Year for the seventh time in nine years.

Woods experienced a great personal loss in 2006. His father died in May after battling prostate cancer. Woods remarked on his website at the time, “My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply.” Despite his grief, Woods returned to golf and won several events, including the PGA championship and the British Open.

The next season was marked by many wins personally and professionally. His wife gave birth to the couple’s first child, Sam Alexis Woods, on June 18, 2007. After taking some time off to welcome his daughter, he won the World Golf Championship and US PGA Championship in August 2007.

The next month, Woods’ winning ways continued, garnering the top spot at the BMW Championship and The Tour Championship. He was named Player of the Year by the other participants in the PGA Tour and won his eighth Arnold Palmer Award for being the lead money earner on the tour.

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