00:00Tiger Woods is one of the greatest golfers the game has ever produced.
00:03He has transcended the sport since he turned pro in 1996
00:07and is probably the most recognisable face for non-golf fans.
00:11Despite this, we think there's lots of interesting facts that you may not know about Tiger Woods.
00:15So let's get stuck in.
00:17His full name is Eldrick Taunt Woods.
00:20Eldrick because it has his father's initial at the start and his mother's initial at the end
00:25and Taunt is a traditional Thai name.
00:28His father was in the army and named his son Tiger
00:30because his fellow soldier and friend Colonel Vuong Dang Fong was also known as Tiger.
00:35Sticking with his family and heritage, Tiger's mum, Katilda, is Thai
00:39while his father, Earl, was African American.
00:42Tiger's interest in the game began when watching his father hit golf balls in the garage.
00:46Tiger was just six months old when he would sit in his high chair
00:49and routinely watch Earl hit golf balls.
00:52Tiger made his first TV appearance on The Mike Douglas Show just before his third birthday.
00:58Tiger attended Stanford University on a golf scholarship.
01:01However, he never graduated from college as he dropped out to pursue his professional career.
01:05Other famous graduates from Stanford include Tom Watson and Nota Begay.
01:09Did you know that Tiger had a stutter as a child?
01:12To overcome this, he took speech classes at school
01:14and he also spoke to his dog at night to practice confident speech.
01:18Tiger Woods broke 80 for the first time at the age of just eight
01:21and at the age of 12, he broke 70 for the first time.
01:24Tiger Woods is a Buddhist.
01:26He told Sports Illustrated in 1996 that,
01:29I believe in Buddhism, not every aspect, but most of it.
01:32So I've taken bits and pieces.
01:34I don't believe that human beings can achieve ultimate enlightenment
01:37because humans have flaws.
01:39Tiger became the first billion-dollar athlete.
01:41He cracked the $1 billion career earnings mark way back in 2009.
01:45Going some way to help him win this money are his 109 professional wins
01:49and 15 major championships.
01:51His sponsorship deal with Nike is also one of the most lucrative deals in the world of sport.
01:55Speaking of wins on tour,
01:57Tiger is tied third all time for victories on the European tour.
02:00This seems like an obvious fact,
02:02but it becomes more interesting when you find out that Tiger
02:04has never played a full season on the European tour.
02:07Tiger has broken countless records in his career.
02:10Probably the most striking is the fact that he spent 683 weeks
02:14at number one in the official World Golf rankings.
02:17To put some context to that, this is more than double than Greg Norman,
02:20who has spent the second longest amount of time as men's world number one.
02:23Tiger won the US Amateur and NCAA Championship titles both in 1996.
02:29Only five men have ever achieved that feat.
02:31They are Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore, and Jack Nicklaus.
02:36So there you have it.
02:37Some facts on the greatest golfer of all time, that is Tiger Woods.
02:41I hope there were some there that you didn't know
02:43and you learned a lot about the greatest golfer of all time.
02:46For more facts and statistics on some of your favourite golfers,
02:50head to the tour section on the Golf Monthly website.
Comments