"I am disappointed that I will not be able to compete at the Hero World Challenge this year, but I look forward to hosting the tournament."
ADVERTISEMENT
Tiger Woods, statements
With these words, on his social media channels, Tiger Woods announced that he will be forced to skip the unofficial PGA Tour tournament, organized by his foundation, scheduled for December 5-8 in Albany, Bahamas. The Californian, 15-time Major champion, also revealed the last three names of the protagonists in the field: Justin Thomas, his great friend and recent father, Jason Day and Nick Dunlap.
Eldrick Tront Woods was born to an African-American father, Earl, and a Thai mother, Kultida. Nicknamed "Tiger" by his father[8], he began playing golf practically from the time he could walk and was soon considered a sort of child prodigy of the specialty. In 1990, at fifteen years old, he was the youngest golfer to win the National Junior Championships, a success he repeated in the following two years. After having won three consecutive titles of US champion of the amateur circuit (1994, 1995 and 1996), he turned professional, winning two tournaments on the circuit in his first year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Winner of 15 major tournaments (second only to Jack Nicklaus, with 18) between 1997 and 2019, he has indelibly marked the history of this sport, bringing it into the spotlight after years in which such a dominant and charismatic figure was missing. Among the many moments that have gone down in golf history, we remember the incredible approach holed out at the 16th of the final round of the 2005 Masters, and the victory after a play-off hole against Rocco Mediate at the 2008 U.S. Open at the end of the four rounds played with a fractured tibia and a knee ligament that would be rebuilt a few days later. Historic rivalries with Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, among the only athletes capable of threatening, even if only at alternating periods, his dominance.
ADVERTISEMENT
Tiger Woods holds the incredible number of 54 victories and only 4 defeats in tournaments in which he was leading after three rounds, a record that has fueled the myth of the unbeatable "Sunday Tiger Woods", invariably dressed in a red shirt and black pants on the Sunday of the final round (his mother passed this little superstition on to him since he was a child). He holds the record for the fewest strokes in all 4 Major Tournaments, is the only player with Jack Nicklaus to have won the "Career Grand Slam" three times, and the only golfer in history to have won more than one Major Tournament for 2 consecutive years (2005-2006)
Woods won the Masters in 1997 at 21 years and 3 months, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the tournament (a record now held by Jordan Spieth). He won all 4 Major tournaments consecutively: from the 2000 U.S. Open to the 2001 Masters; this feat was called the "Tiger Slam", and not the "Grand Slam" because it was not accomplished in the same calendar year. However, he remains the only golfer in the history of the sport to have accomplished this feat.
ADVERTISEMENT
He has always said he wanted to beat Jack Nicklaus's record of Majors won (18), and for now he is at 15, having won the 2019 Masters as his last title.
At the end of 2006 he renewed his contract with Nike. The famous sportswear brand has sponsored Woods since 1996, the year in which he became a professional player (for a total gross figure of over 150 million dollars). The new contract provides for a compensation of over 25 million dollars per year, including royalties. Woods has also signed a contract with PepsiCo, to advertise Gatorade, for 100 million dollars, the highest compensation ever paid to an athlete to advertise drinks. In 2007 he was the highest paid athlete in the world with over 122 million dollars. He has also advertised the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game series, a very successful series that also features him as a character.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to Forbes magazine, in 2012 Woods was the highest paid athlete in the world with earnings of 83.1 million dollars,[9] while in 2014 he dropped to 9th place in this special ranking (earnings of 50.6 million dollars).[10] As of 2016 his net worth is estimated at around 740 million dollars.
