Player Profile - Tiger Woods

This week's player profile features former world number one Tiger Woods and his recent return to form after two years without a victory. Born in 1975 in the town of Cypress, California, Woods became a household name in the 1990s when he began a winning streak in the world of professional golf that resulted in his winning 14 majors to date.

Raised in an athletic family, Tiger Woods was introduced to the game of golf at age two by his father, former professional baseball player Earl Woods. When he was just four years old, the young Tiger had broken 48 over nine holes at his home course, and the following year the child prodigy featured in Golf Digest. Woods won the Junior World Championship six times, and by the time he was eleven he had beaten his father's score during a round of golf - no mean feat considering that Earl Woods was a single-digit handicap. From then on, Tiger never lost another round to his father again.

In 1994, at the age of eighteen, Woods enrolled at the prestigious Stanford University after having won a golf scholarship. After two years of studying economics, Woods turned his attention to professional golf and made his debut in 1996. Upon turning professional, Woods signed endorsement deals with Nike and golf equipment manufacturer Titleist worth a total of $60 Million - a record at the time.

Since his professional debut, Tiger Woods has won all four major tournaments which make up the Grand Slam of golf. With four wins each at the Masters and PGA Championship, and three each at the Open Championship and US Open, his record is close to that of Jack Nicklaus.

Throughout his career, Tiger has seen periods of great success followed by consolidation periods. The re-adjustment of his swing in 2001, the death of his father in 2006, and the personal turmoil in his private life in 2009 all contributed to these. In the past two years, Woods saw his ranking fall from world number one to below fifty over the past two years - his greatest slump ever.

On Sunday, Tiger Woods showed golf fans that he is getting his old form back when he won the Chevron World Championship. For Tiger fans the prospect of a comeback is exciting, with their hero poised to return as a serious contender in 2012.

Golfweather Editorial