Tiger Woods   [1975]

Seeing Tiger Woods being described as one of the prominent Dutch Americans is going to be a surprise for many of the readers. But he is and is proudly so. Granted he is only one eighth Dutch, but that is still more than 10 percent, the figure that is used to determine whether one should be included in this listing or not. To be exact, Tiger Woods is one quarter Chinese, one quarter Thai, one quarter African American, one eighth American Indian and one eighth Dutch. His Dutch connection comes through his great grand father on his mother’s side who was a Dutchman. To be more precise, Tiger Woods’ father is of mixed African American, Chinese and Native American ancestry. His mother is of mixed Thai, Chinese and Dutch ancestry.

Tiger Woods’ birth name was Eldrick Tonter Woods. He acquired the name Tiger from his father’s war comrade in the Viet Nam war whose name was Tiger, and who saved Tiger Woods’ father from certain death in one of the Viet Nam War’s military confrontations. The name Tiger has stuck over the years, and the other given names are not used any more, except possibly on his passport.

Tiger has been a performer ever since his early childhood. As a three year old he played golf with Bob Hope, and appeared on television with Hope. As an eight year old he won the world junior championship for 9 and 10 year olds. There was no 8 year old age category so he competed with the older kids and won. At age 18 he became the youngest player ever to have won the U. S. Amateur Golf Championship. He also is the only player to have won both the U. S. Junior and the U. S. Amateur Golf Championship three years in a row.

Tiger Woods has benefited enormously from his father’s tutelage during his developmental years as a golfer. His father was an athlete and knew how important preparation and training are for a successful sports career. His father was the first black baseball player at Kansas State, and also was a good golfer. His father was also a military professional who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Green Berets.

Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996 at the Greater Milwaukee Open. He won two events during the following three months. The following year, in April 1997, Tiger won the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, by a record 12 strokes. The same year, in June 1997, Woods rose to the number one spot in world golf rankings for the first time. For the next two years Woods’ golf game languished. You could call it a bit of a breather, a sort of coming down to earth. But in June 1999, Woods won the Memorial Tournament, and that was the beginning of a long streak of phenomenal golf. In the British Open Golf Tournament in 2000 at St. Andrews Scotland, Woods set the record for the lowest score to par [-19] in any major tournament. In 2001 Woods again won the Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia. And he has continued to dominate golf ever since.

Tiger Woods married Elin Nordegren, a Swedish Model on October 5, 2004. After their marriage they lived at Isleworth, an exclusive community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. In early 2006, the couple purchased a $38 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, which is to become their primary residence. The couple also has homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California and Sweden.

The above description seems short for a dominating figure such as Tiger Woods, who is now considered to be the highest paid athlete ever. But the fact that he is so dominating precludes one from devoting too much space to him. He is still at the beginning of a career. And anything reported here is soon out of date. So we will leave the description of Tiger Woods’ accomplishments at what we have noted above.

 

REFERENCES

Tiger Woods, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Woods

Earning His Stripes

 

E-BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON; GOOGLE: Kindle Store Pegels

 

PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS, CURRENT AND HISTORIC

EIGHT PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICAN FAMILIES: THE ROOSEVELTS, VANDERBILTS AND OTHERS, 2015

FIFTEEN PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICAN FAMILIES: THE VAN BURENS, KOCH BROTHERS, VOORHEES AND OTHERS, 2015

PROMINENT DUTCH AMERICANS IN U.S. GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS, 2015

 

DUTCH PEGELS INVOLVED IN WARS

ALLIED EUROPE CAMPAIGN—1944/1945: TACTICAL MISTAKES, 2017

THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS: MEMOIRS, 2017

FRENCH REVOLUTION, NAPOLEON AND RUSSIAN WAR OF 1812, 2015