Tiger Woods is arguably one of the greatest golfers of our time. Born on 30th December 1979, he was an only child of an army officer who was African American. Tiger's mother hailed from Thailand. "Tiger" was a nickname given to him by his father who did so in honor of a colleague (A&E TV Networks, 2009).
Through training and mentoring by his father, Tiger learnt to play golf while still a child. In fact, as early as at the age of eight, he was very proficient at the game and this made him appear on television shows to show off his expertise. It was around this age that Tiger started showing hint of wanting to change the world. At the age of seven, he heard of the suffering of Ethiopian people due to hunger. This prompted him to give $20 bill that he had saved (Stewart, 2001).
Tiger's skills were not exclusive to him; there were other sports children who captured the interest of Americans. Tiger Woods case was however unique. This was due to the fact that being a child of color; he used to compete in a sport preserved for the white children. Such children had access to good facilities and training unlike Tiger Woods (Londino, 2006).
Tiger credits his fine hand control to years of video game playing. He also says that video games helped him overcome the fear of failure. This was because when one fails in a video game, he or she just gets away with it. There is no cost involved in failing in a video game (Stewart, 2001).
There were many national junior tournaments which Tiger would have participated in but he preferred the United States Junior Championships. These championships were hosted by United States Golfer Association. In the US, USGA is the major golfer association. This association has two functions; first, it writes rules and regulations in association with British Royal and ancient golf club and second, it conducts national championships at different levels (Londino, 2006).
At Stanford University where Tiger studied, he won several United States' amateur golf titles. He turned to professional golf in 1996. After a splendid win at the age of 21 in 1997, (Record score of 270), Tiger became famous in the US. This was because he was the youngest and the first African American to achieve this (A&E TV Networks 2009). In the following years, Tiger became more successful. He won the United States PGA titles (4), Open Championships (3), US Open (3) and US Master Wins (3) (A&E TV Networks, 2009).
In 2004, Tiger married his girlfriend, Elin Nordegren from Sweden. The following year, he won six championships. 2005 was the year that saw him voted the PGA tour player of the year for the seventh time in nine years. He however lost his father in 2006 and had this to say of him on his website, "My dad was my best friend and greatest role model and I will miss him deeply" (A&E TV Networks, 2009).
On June 18th 2007, the couple got its first child. Her name was Sam Alexis Woods. Woods took some time off the field to welcome the child and on returning, he won two championships; The United States PGA Championships and world Golf Championships (A&E TV Networks, 2009).
Tiger's wife gave birth to their second child on 8th February 2009. On his website, he said, "Elin is feeling great and we are both thrilled." On 25 February 2009, Woods lost four to two to South African Tim Clark. In June the same year, he competed in the US Open but fell out the contention after a four-over-par in round one
(A&E TV Networks, 2009).
It was in 2009 that his personal life started having problems. It was claimed that he had an affair with a night club manager though they both denied the allegations. However, there was much photographic evidence that supported the allegations (A&E TV Networks, 2009).
An incident that happened on November 27 brought the story into the limelight and attracted more media attention. The media announced that Tiger had "collided into a fire hydrant at 2.30 in the morning" (A&E TV Networks, 2009). His wife used a golf club to break the back window of his SUV in order to get him out of the car which had been locked. He was however not seriously injured and was released after a short time (A&E TV Networks, 2009).
After this accident, fans and media started suspecting Tiger Woods and were eager to know the details of his personal life. They demanded a statement from Woods but the golfer preferred to remain mum. By this time, he had pulled out of Chevron World challenge, his charity golf tournament, and said he would not attend any tournaments that year (A&E TV Networks, 2009).
The public and the media could not be satisfied with the golfer's performance in the field only. They desired to know the details about his personal life, which is a very common thing according to Kathy Keeley, a Talent Agent at the Jana Luker Agency of Los Angeles. Although she does not rep Tiger, she has high profile celebrity clients who have had similar issues with the media. Keeley stated "for a celebrity to be famous and newsworthy, it is the public that creates a need for such an individual. The media only satisfies that need. This explains why the public and the media had so much interest in the personal life of Tiger Woods."
Tiger started showing signs of apologizing on December 2, 2009. On this date, he offered an apology to his fans and family for transgressions that he could not name. But this did not quench the thirst for media for more explanation since more mistresses had emerged. At some point in time, photographers spotted his wife without a wedding ring. He however apologized to his fans on December 11, 2009, and admitted to infidelity this time round (Londino, 2006). In his video apology speech, Tiger stated that
"I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated," he said. "What I did was unacceptable. I have only myself to blame. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I thought that I had worked hard my entire life and deserve to enjoy all the temptations around me. I don't get to play by different rules," he said. I was wrong. I was foolish "(Karoliszyn & Siemaszko, 2010).
Despite such setbacks of life, Tiger Woods remains a great golfer and darling of the lovers of the game to this day. This is more so despite the many challenges he has faced both in his professional and personal life.
References
A & E Television Networks. Tiger Woods biography. Retrieved from
http://www.biography.com/articles/Tiger-Woods-9536492
Celebrifi. (2009, Dec. 2). Tiger Woods crash causes $ 3K in damages. Retrieved from
http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Tiger-Woods-Crash-Causes-3K-In-Damages-Photos-1220968.html
Karoliszyn, H. & Siemaszko, L. (2010, Feb.19). Tiger Woods speech today: Golfer says Elin Nordegren 'never hit me,' and 'deeply sorry' for cheating (video). Retrieved from
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/02/19/2010-02-19_tiger_woods_sex_scandal_apology_elin_nordegren_wont_be_there_michael_jordan_will.html
Londino, L. (2006). Tiger Woods: A biography. Westport: Greenwood press.
Stewart, M. (2001).Tiger Woods: Drive to greatness, Connecticut: Millbrook press
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