HAVE WE SEEN THE LAST OF TIGER WOODS

BY GODWIN EIGBE

The world's history is fraught with the rising and falling of great men. Many left the centre stage gallantly while others in the agony of a mighty fall.

Some children are born with silver spoons but one child came with a golf club in his hand which since his teenage years has amassed a fortune for him. He is Eldrick Tont ‘Tiger’ Woods an American professional golfer born 34 years ago to Earl and Kultida Woods on December 30, 1975. He ranks among the most successful golfers of all time. But how and where did it all begin for the Tiger?

Eldrick Tont Woods acquired the nick name ‘Tiger’ from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, who was attracted to the young man’s tenacity to golf and his undying enthusiasm and vigour at getting it right at a tender age.

Tiger Woods in his childhood was an exceptional child prodigy. He was reported to watch his father keenly at six months while Earl was playing golf and started playing at the age of two. In 1978, Tiger putted against a popular American comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. From there his enthusiasm for golf grew tremendously and at the age of three, he shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, a great feat for a child of his age and was highly commended by pros in the golf world. But for young Tiger, it was just the beginning for the golf club never left his hand.

The development of the child Tiger on the golf course continued to amaze the world for at age five; he was featured in Golf Digest a specialized golf magazine in the United States of America and on an ABC Channel programme called That’s Incredible. In 1984 at the age of nine he won the 9-10 boys’ event which was the youngest age category available at the Junior World Golf Championships.

Tiger Woods was greatly inspired by his father who mentored him in the early years of his career and while growing up under his tutelage in Orange County California, Tiger went on to win the Junior World Championships six times picking it consecutively from 1988 to 1991. From this point onward, his nickname Tiger gained popularity and soon Eldrick and Tont, his American and Thai names respectively were forgotten. At the age of 15 in 1991 while attending Western High School in Anaheim, Woods became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion, Southern California Amateur Player of the year for the second conservative time and Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player. Same year, he competed in his first Play Golf America (PGA) Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the year, Golf World Player of the year and Golf Week National Amateur of the year. Woods’ string of success was greatly hailed all over the world for he was simply amazing. He had no joy in tying previous records he simply broke them.

Woods won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in 1993 and remains the event youngest ever and only multiple winner. By 1994 when he graduated from Western High School in Anaheim, Woods became the youngest ever winner of the US Amateur Championship a record that stood till 2008 when it was broken by Danny Lee. That same year Woods was a member of the American Team at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships and the 1995 Walker Cup. Later that year he enrolled at Stanford University to study Economics and there he won his first collegiate event; the William Tucker Invitational. Wherever he went, Woods was a winner. In 1995 he defended his U.S Amateur title and was voted Pac 10 Player of the year. At age 20 in 1996, he became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles and won the NCAA individual golf championship. After two years he left college and turned professional, but his sun was only just rising.

In August of 1996, Woods signed an endorsement worth $40 million with Nike and another $20million with Titlist and entered the world of professional golf when he played at the Greater Milwaukee Open and tied for 60^th place. He however went on to win two events in the next three months to qualify for the four championships, which were the U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship and the Masters Tournament. For his efforts that year, Woods was named Sportsman of the year by Sports Illustrated and also won the PGA Tour Rookie of the year. It was on this tour in 1996 he began his tradition of wearing a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, a colour he believes symbolises aggressiveness and assertiveness. Between 1996 and 1998, Woods set a total of 20 Master’s records and tied 6 others. On June 15, 1997 in his 42^nd week as a professional, Woods rose to number one in the official world  golf rankings which is the fastest-ever ascent to World N0. 1. He was named PGA Player of the year 1997 thereby becoming the first golfer to win the award the year following his rookie season.

At 24 he became the youngest golfer to achieve a Career Grand Slam. Of the twenty events he entered in 2000, Woods finished in the top three fourteen times and his scoring average of 68:17 was the lowest in PGA Tour history surpassing the 68.33 average records set by Byron Nelson in 1945. His 2000/2001 Masters victories marked the only time within the era of modern Grand Slam that any player has been the holder of all four major championship titles( U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship and the Masters Tournament) at the same time. This feat is now known as the “Tiger Slam”.

In 2000, he signed a contract extension deal with Nike for $105 million and another $40 million deal with Buick. However, in 2003/2004 season the Tiger of the golf course lost his dominating edge, first he did not win a major in 2003 or 2004 and he fell to second place in PGA Tour money list in 2003 and fourth in 2004. Then in September 2004 his record streak of 264 consecutive weeks (5yrs 4days) as the world‘s No. 1 golfer came to an end momentarily at the Deutsche Bank Championship when Vijay Singh won the championship and overtook Woods in the official world golf rankings. This period is today regarded as the “Woods’ Slump” and it is believed by many commentators and fans that it was because he was working on charging his swing as his former style was causing serious wear and tear on his left knee a condition which  later made him to go for several surgical operations. However the supposed slump was glorious and fulfilling for Woods who has always talked about raising a family, for in November 2003 he became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model and on October 5, 2004 they got married at the Sandy Lane Resort on the Caribbean Island of Barbados.

The 2005 season marked the Woods resurgence and he established his presence by winning the Buick Invitational in January and in March he outplayed Phil Mickelson to win the Ford Championship at Doral. In April he regained his N0. 1. Spot in the world rankings by winning the 2005 Masters Tournaments in a playoff. Vijay Singh and Woods toppled each other several times for the next couple of months for the N0. 1. Position but by his victory at the 2005 Open championship which gave him his 10^th major, Woods secured firmly his No. 1. Position. He also won six official money events on the PGA Tour and again topped the money list for the sixth time in his career.

Tragedy again struck when on May 3, 2006 Woods’ father, mentor and inspiration, Earl Woods died after a long battle with prostate cancer. Woods took nine-week off from the PGA Tour to be with his family. When he returned for the 2006 U.S. Open, the Tiger was out of the woods and he missed his cut at Winged Foot, marking the first time he had missed the cut at a major as a professional. This disappointing return ended his record tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at majors. However at the Open Championship same year, Woods returned with dramatic victory with perfect touches to his course management, putting and accuracy with clubs. He surpassed existing records even those set by him in the event. The victory was so emotional for Woods and at the end; he dedicated his play to his father’s memory. In August of 2006 at age 30 he won his 50^th professional tournament at the Buick Open becoming the youngest to do so in golf history. He ended the season by winning six consecutive PGA Tour events and the three most prestigious awards given by the PGA Tour which are the Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Byron Nelson Awards for a 7^th time record. With these victories, Woods closed his first eleven seasons with 54 Professional winnings and 12 major wins, a record which surpassed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record set by Byron Nelson and a total of 11 Majors record set by Jack Nicklaus. This record breaks earned him Associates Press Male Athlete of the Year for a record tying fourth Time.

Woods began his 2007 campaign with a two-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational and this was his third straight win at the event. He became the third man after Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead to win at least five times in three different events on the PGA Tour. The other two events were the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational where he won his record 14^th World Golf Championships and the WGC-CA Championship. He became the first golfer to win same invent three straight times on two different occasions (1999-2001) and (2005-2007).

His dominance and winning streak continued till early part of 2008 season when he went for a third arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and missed two months on PGA Tour. Woods returned for the 2008 U.S Open and beat Rocco Mediate in the final. Woods was hailed to have beaten everybody on one leg. Unfortunately a few days after winning the U.S Open he went for a reconstructive surgery to set the Anterior Cruciate Ligament on his left knee and missed the remainder of 2008 golf season.

After an eight months layoff, The Tiger of the golf course came back to the game and at the Arnold Palmer invitational he defeated O’Hair by one stroke.

He has spent over 10 years as World Number One in his 13 year career. He has been adjudged the highest paid professional athlete in 2007 with estimated earnings of Seven Hundred and Sixty-Nine Million, Four Hundred and Forty Thousand, Seven Hundred and Nine Dollars ($769, 440,709) from 2006 to 2007. He holds a total of 90 titles presently with 68 of them official PGA titles and 22 other Major titles.

On December 5, 2007 Woods was inducted into the California Hall of Fame by California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver Schwarzenegger at the California Museum for History. Eldrick Tiger Woods marriage with Elin Nordegren has produced two younger woods. The first a girl is Sam Alexis Woods born in Orlando on June 18, 2007 and Charlie Axel Woods a boy born on February 8, 2009. The Woods lived in Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. That was all before the books of revelations and lamentations. My next article explores the new Tiger struggling in the Woods.

The original form of this article without the very last sentence, as written by Godwin Eigbe was first published in EXECUTIVE TRAVELS NIGERIA MAGAZINE, ISSUE NO. 19, 2010.