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
Tiger Woods was ranked by Golf Digest magazine as the twelfth-best golfer of all time. When Woods won the 2001 Masters, he became the only player to win four consecutive major professional golf titles, although not in the same calendar year. Following a stellar 2001 and 2002 in which Woods continued to dominate the tour, Woods' career hit a slump. He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004. In September 2004, Vijay Singh overtook Woods in the Official World Golf Rankings, ending Woods' record streak of 264 weeks at #1. Woods rebounded in 2005, winning six official PGA Tour money