Professional golf career of Tiger Woods first professional golf event at the Greater Milwaukee Open, tying for 60th place, recorded a hole-in-one, and would win two events in the next three months to qualify for the Tour Championship. For his efforts, Woods was named "Sports Illustrated"'s 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He began his tradition of wearing a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, which was a link to his college days at Stanford. The following April, Woods won his first major, The Masters, with a record score of 18-under-par 270, by a record margin of 12
Professional golf career of Tiger Woods next tournament was the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. Woods battled to win his first round match against Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, 1-up, and then played Nick Watney in the second round. On the 18th hole, Woods had to make birdie to extend the match, however his 5-foot putt missed and he was knocked out of the tournament. Woods commented that his putting was hindered technically and required some work after battling with it throughout the round. The following week Woods teed off at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Woods commented that he had referred back to putting