orig. Eldrick Woods
born Dec. 30, 1975, Cypress, Calif., U.S.
U.S. golfer.
The child of a Thai mother and an African American father, Woods was a golf prodigy and won the first of three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championships (1991–93) when he was 15 years old. In 1994 (at age 18) he became the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur competition, which he also won in 1995 and 1996. In 1997 Woods (age 21) became the youngest player and the first of African or Asian descent ever to win the Masters Tournament , winning by a record margin of 12 strokes. Winner of five other PGA tournaments in 1997, Woods became the youngest player ever ranked first in world golf competition. On July 23, 2000, Woods became the fifth player
after Gene Sarazen, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, and Gary Player
in golf history, and the youngest, to complete the career grand slam of the four major championships. (The modern grand slam comprises the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship.)