Tiger Woods wins his first Masters
Tiger Woods whose father is African-American and mother is Thai becomes the first person of color to win the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club which admitted its first black member in 1990.Eldrick Tiger Woods was born December 30 1975 in Cypress California.A golf prodigy Woods began swinging a club at age two and went on to win three U.S.Junior Amateurs followed by three straight U.S.
Amateur championships.After playing for Stanford University he turned pro in August 1996 and that season was named the PGA Rookie of the Year.On April 13 1997 Woods then 21 won his first major tournament the Masters at Augusta National in Georgia.
Woods 72-hole score an amazing 18-under-par 270 was the lowest in the tournament history and shattered a record of 271 shared by Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd.Additionally Woods who defeated Tom Kite by a record-setting margin of 12 strokes became the youngest person to don the green sport coat given to each years Masters victor as well as the first winner of African or Asian descent.Augusta National opened in 1933 and hosted the first Masters tournament one of pro golfs four major championships in 1934.In 1975 Lee Elder became the first black golfer to compete in the Masters.
The club had no African-American members until 1990 and today still has no female members although women can play at Augusta as the guest of a member.Today Tiger Woods who went on to win the Masters again in 2001 2002 and 2005 is considered one of the greatest golfers in the history of the sport and he is extraordinarily well-compensated for his work In 2006 he was the highest paid athlete in all professional sports.At the end of the decade Woods performance fluctuated as he struggled with a torn ACL and personal problems that garnered substantial media attention In late 2009 in the wake of events surrounding a car accident outside his Florida home several women came forward claiming to have had affairs with the famous golfer.Woods wife of six years Elin Nordegren divorced him in August 2010 just as he began his first winless season in his career.
