This article first appeared in the Nov 2009 (pre-launch) issue of World Gaming magazine.
On 30 December 1975 a very special man was born. Eldrick Tont Woods was born in Cypress, California to an African American father named Earl and a Thai mother, Kultida. Earl nicknamed his son ‘Tiger’ in honour of a fellow soldier and good friend, and the legend was born.
Earl began teaching his young son golf from the time he could walk. He had extraordinary natural ability and at the age of eight, Tiger appeared on Good Morning America to show off his proficiency at the game. Anyone watching that morning could never have dreamed the impact that the young eight year old would have on the game in the years to come.
Tiger studied at Stanford University in San Francisco and after a short amateur career turned professional in 1996. At 21, Woods was already a young man with immeasurable talent and many who saw him play could see he was going to be something special. It wasn’t a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’ the young American would take the golfing world by storm.
It was with all this promise that the fresh faced Tiger headed to the 1997 Masters at Augusta. The Masters is the biggest tournament held every year and the sacred grass of Georgia is where golfing legends are made and broken. The golfing fraternity held its breath as Tiger teed off, and then spent the rest of the tournament shaking their heads in amazement. Not only did he win the tournament he also broke the course record of 270 shots over the 72 holes. The youngest winner of the Masters had arrived and golf would never be the same.
The game had its champions before Tiger and it will have them after Tiger, but it is hard to imagine anyone else will ever make such an impact. People often ask, “just how good is Tiger?” The answer is that he is already one of the greatest sportsmen to have ever lived. Jack Nicklaus the ‘Golden Bear’ won 20 golfing majors which was an unbelievable figure that many believed would never be equalled. Tiger already has 14 and will certainly cruise past the mark unless injury or motivation gets in the way. Tiger has also achieved his feats in a far more competitive era than Nicolas played in making his achievements even more impressive.
Golf used to be a sport where the very best won only sometimes. The best golfers in the world would start important tournaments at around 10/1 if they were in exceptional form. If your bookmaker was offering single figure odds on any runner in a golf tournament you would be looking for a new bookie. Now consider that Tiger Woods often starts against the world’s best as short as 6/4 with the next best runners over 20/1. The equally crazy thing is that if you had simply backed Tiger Woods in every tournament he had ever played you would be a mile in front. Although the bookies continue to wind in his price he still keeps representing value for the discerning punter.
On top of all this Tiger Woods is a genuine, down to earth man who people warm to. He is a man who carries the world on his shoulders and the way in which he conducts himself day in and day out is nothing short of inspirational. He is the perfect role model for any young sportsmen, a true American hero and an iconic figure in the African American community. Outside of that he is just one hell of a golfer and we are blessed to be able to watch him play.
