A life of Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, who turns 50 today, was one of the most talented and famous golfers ever, one of the most talked about and discussed sportsmen: for his extraordinary career, for his controversial private life, for his uncommon competitiveness and for his obsessive obsession with his sport. His life has often been told by the media through a much appreciated narrative scheme: that of the “child prodigy” who becomes very strong, retires due to great personal difficulties and then returns to win, in a sort of final “redemption”. In a way, Woods’ life really was like that. Other times, however, this narrative has been forced to such an extent that it becomes inadequate, misleading, or even problematic.

Tiger Woods, whose real name is Eldrick Tont Woods, was indeed a precocious talent. He was born in 1975 and began playing golf at just two years old by choice of his father Earl Woods, a Vietnam War veteran and a great golf enthusiast. His father gave him the nickname “Tiger”, inspired by the nickname of a Vietnamese soldier he met during the war. Tiger Woods was so good that he ended up on television, and when he was five years old, Golf Digest (the most important golf magazine) published an article about him.

Tiger Woods on television at two years old: he himself defined it as the first memory he has of golf

With that start, it was hard not to have huge expectations. Also because both in high school and university Woods proved to be a very promising golfer and set numerous records. To understand the extent of the expectations that were placed on the very young Woods, as soon as he became a professional Nike signed a 5-year agreement with him for 40 million dollars. It was 1996 and it was a gamble for the company, because Woods had played very few professional competitions and without particularly good results: something understandable, given that golf competitions are often psychologically very trying, especially for such an inexperienced boy.

However, Nike was right. Not even a year later Woods won the Augusta Masters, one of the four Majors, the most important tournaments in professional golf. At 21 he became the youngest winner of the competition (he still is), and the 12-stroke margin by which he won is still unmatched. He was also the first non-white player to win the Masters, one of golf’s most traditional and glossy tournaments.

Il New York Times He wrote of that tournament that it was the “four days that changed golf.” The victory of such a young, non-white boy with such a catchy name gave greater visibility to the sport, as well as the hope (later diminished) that golf would be more inclusive.

But more than golf it was Tiger Woods who became mainstream, popular and known beyond golf. Just a few months after his victory at the Masters, P. Diddy – one of the many stage names of Sean Combs, then among the most famous rappers and producers in the world – dedicated to him the video for the song “Mo Money Mo Problems” (by the rapper Notorious B.I.G. but published posthumously by Combs). In the video P. Diddy plays a golfer called Puffy Woods.

Between 1997 and 2008 Woods had the best years of his career. He won 14 Majors and remained first in the world rankings for a long time. He is only one of six players to have won all majors in his career (that is, to have completed the “Career Grand Slam”) and the only one to have won all four consecutively. He made it between 2000 and 2001 and was considered such a unique event that it was renamed by the media Tiger Slam.

According to those who played against him, Woods’ golf was flawless: he could do everything (from long, explosive shots to short, precise ones), he had an extraordinary work ethic and, above all, unparalleled confidence. This is demonstrated by the fact that between 2002 and 2005 Woods only made 3 mistakes putt out of 1,543 shot within one metre. THE putt they are the decisive shots, the ones that they must enter the hole; and getting so few wrong is truly out of the ordinary.

Due to his personal history, playing style and charisma, Woods became one of the most famous, appreciated and paid sportsmen in the world, but a series of injuries, scandals and accidents put an end to this period of great success. In 2008 he missed some tournaments due to a knee injury and in 2009 his numerous marital affairs emerged, for which he publicly apologized, before retiring from competitions for a few months.

Upon his return Woods, no longer idolized and often criticized by the media, was unable to return to his previous levels and in the following nine years he did not win any Majors. To try to put an end to his back pain he underwent spinal surgery several times and when he played there were blows after which he could no longer stand.

In 2017 he was then arrested for allegedly drunk driving (eventually it was discovered that he was taking too many painkillers) and it seemed that his career was now over. But he came back again – again at a high level in 2018, winning the Augusta Masters in 2019. This latest victory is rightly described as one of the most exceptional comebacks in the history of sport.

Even in the face of this exceptional victory, Woods’ ten years without a trophy (between 2008 and 2019) have often been fictionalized, following a pattern that is widespread in sports journalism. Brian Phillips by The Ringer sums it up very well:

The pressures of fame expose hidden flaws in the genius’ psyche, and the very traits that had helped him emerge now fuel his slide to point C, disgrace and humiliation: Tiger’s numerous extramarital affairs turn into a media cyclone, his marriage collapses, and his game abandons him, leading to a long decline in the rankings and a taint of scandal that threatens to overshadow the rest of his career.

Only when the genius refocuses on what really matters is he able to rise to the heights of point D, perhaps not exactly as high as point B, but still far, far above point C: Tiger dedicates himself to children, does not give up golf, regains the trust of his fans and in the end manages to rise again by winning another Masters.

It’s a “movie” type of story that works a lot in sports journalism. You can see it well with Tiger (2021), HBO’s acclaimed documentary about Woods’ life. Among other things, the documentary tells how, after his father’s death in 2006, Woods began training with and as the Navy SEALs, the elite group of the US Navy. For Woods, it was a way to cope with grief, given the deep relationship he had with his father and the admiration he had for the military as a result.

According to Phillips, watching the documentary it seems that it was precisely this choice by Woods that contributed to his numerous injuries and pain and therefore pushed him towards a “series of anesthetizing sexual relationships”.

From the trailer you can already glimpse something

Simplifications of this type, however, are evidently forced: they reduce the complexity to something easier to describe, and try to standardize Woods’ life with that of other great sportsmen: the basketball player Michael Jordan, for example, retired after losing his father, and then returned to play. Stories of this type generally end up explaining Woods’ physical decline through his presumed moral decline, which in some cases takes very little into consideration the media component of the story.

In reality, Woods’ precociousness, his style of play and his obsession with perfecting it were the main causes of his injuries and failures. When he hit the ball, for example, Woods rotated his back a lot, making an effort that, in the long run, caused him damage.

It must also be said that Woods’ career did not end with “redemption” at all. He hasn’t officially retired yet, but he’s done very little in golf since his 2019 Masters win; indeed, he once again risked having to stop: in 2021, after a serious car accident, he risked having his right leg amputated. He returned to play in 2022, but sporadically and without significant results. He hasn’t played a professional tournament since last July and in 2025 he underwent surgery twice: on his Achilles tendon and, for the seventh time, on his back. At the moment it is not clear if and when he will return to play: not even he knows.