Tiger Woods has been the face of professional golf since he first exploded onto the scene in 1997, winning the US Masters with a record score at the tender age of 21.
Now 17 years into his professional career, Woods finds himself in the midst of a career and public resurrection following a dramatic fall from grace both on and off the golf course.
The Californian’s greatness in the sport is known the world over, as he has accounted for the second-most PGA Tour wins of all time with 77, as well as the third most European Tour victories in history with 39.
But the accolades don’t end there. The Associated Press named Woods the Athlete of the Decade in 2009; he holds a record-tying four AP Male Athlete of the Year awards; and is the only athlete to have won Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year more than once.
Woods is often labelled as the man who will go down in history as the greatest golfer of all time. With 14 career Major victories, he trails only Jack Nicklaus (18) for the all-time lead. Matching, and surpassing, the record will surely grant Woods his place in the hall of fame as the best of the best.
Yet the near storybook career that Woods has provided his fans suffered a catastrophic blow in 2009. Once thought to be the golden boy of the ‘gentleman’s game’, Woods was caught in a cheating scandal off the course. It emerged that he had been unfaithful to his wife with over a dozen women, all of them breaking the news to public media sources.
His once-perfect public image was quickly forgotten. Meanwhile, his performance on the course greatly diminished in light of the public shame he was forced to endure.
Four years on from that tumultuous year, Woods has steadily risen to the top of the game’s elite and is once again the number one player in the world. He has already managed an impressive three PGA Tour victories this year and is showing certain signs that his dominance in the game has returned in full effect.
Ranked as favourite to win the 2013 Masters at Augusta – widely considered the world’s most prestigious tournament – Woods tied for fourth place four shots off the lead in what was a respectable finish that, while maybe not certifying his return to glory and instilling fearing fear in his opponents, still serves as a statement that his return to dominance is only a matter of time.
Arnold Palmer, another of golf’s greatest ever players, said of Woods: “The way he’s playing right now tells me his game is as good as it ever was – if not better.”
Off the course, meanwhile, Woods is known to have been dating professional alpine skier Lindsey Vonn for the past few weeks. He continues to promote golf to inner-city children through the Tiger Woods Foundation, which he and his father established in 1996. And he has released a best-selling instructional book, How I Play Golf.
True to his roots and own values, Woods has said: “One of the things my parents taught me is never listening to other people’s expectations. You should live your own life and live up to your own expectations, and those are the only things I really care about.”
Such advice has done well for Woods, as he finds himself once again a force in a game filled with legends.
