Portal:Sports/Selected article/November 2007

Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, Woods was the highest paid professional athlete in 2006, having earned an estimated $100 million from winnings and endorsements. In 2006, at the age of 30, he won his eleventh and twelfth professional major golf championships and has more wins on the PGA Tour than any other active golfer. He is the only active golfer in the top 10 in career major wins and career PGA Tour wins.

Among his achievements, Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Tour Player of the Year a record eight times, and he has led the money list seven times (one behind Jack Nicklaus' record). He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year four times, a record he shares with Lance Armstrong.

With the announcement, "Hello World," Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike and $20 million from Titleist. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open tying for 60th place, but went on to win two events in the next three months, and qualify for the Tour Championship. Woods was named Sports Illustrated's' 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Rookie of the Year.

The following April, Woods won his first golf major, The Masters, by a record margin of 12 strokes, became the youngest Masters winner, and the first winner of African or Asian descent. He set a total of 20 Masters records and tied 6 others. He won another three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997, in only his 42nd week as a professional, rose to number one in the Official World Golf Rankings, the fastest ever ascent to world No. 1. He was named PGA Player of the Year, the first golfer to win the award the year following his rookie season.

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