Tiger Woods War veteran who was mostly African American with traces of European descent. Earl's mother Maude Carter was light skinned. Some people suggested that she had Native American and Chinese ancestry. Tiger refers to his ethnic make-up as ""Cablinasian"" (a syllabic abbreviation he coined from Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian). Woods' first name—Eldrick—was coined by his mother because it began with "E" (for Earl) and ended with "K" (for Kultida). His middle name Tont is a traditional Thai name. He was nicknamed Tiger in honor of his father's friend Col. Vuong Dang Phong, who had also been known as Tiger.
Tiger Woods Woods' niece, Cheyenne Woods, played for the Wake Forest University golf team and turned professional in 2012, when she made her pro debut in the LPGA Championship. Woods grew up in Orange County, California. He was a child prodigy who was introduced to golf before the age of two by his athletic father, Earl Woods. Earl was a single-digit handicap amateur golfer who also was one of the earliest African-American college baseball players at Kansas State University. Tiger's father was a member of the military and had playing privileges at the Navy golf course beside the Joint Forces Training Base