Professional golf career of Tiger Woods Professional golf career of Tiger Woods American professional golfer Tiger Woods has enjoyed one of the most successful golfing careers of all time. After competing in amateur events since he was a toddler and representing Stanford University on a golf scholarship, Woods left college after two years to turn professional at the age of 20. With the announcement "Hello world," Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996 and signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike, Inc. and $20 million from Titleist. These endorsement contracts were the highest in golf history up to that point. He played his
Earl Woods Tiger, comes from Earl Woods' wartime friendship with Colonel Vuong Dang "Tiger" Phong, a courageous pilot who flew in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. In 1972, Woods was stationed at Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton, and learned to play golf, starting at age 42, at the Dyker Beach Golf Course in Dyker Heights. From his first experience with golf, Earl Woods was captivated by it, and played a great deal for the remainder of his life. He eventually became a good standard amateur golfer, often scoring in the 70s for 18 holes. Earl claimed to be playing close to scratch