Tiger Woods is famous for playing professional golf. He became one of the sport’s most recognizable figures after dominating junior, amateur, collegiate, and professional competition.
Woods turned professional in August 1996 at age 20 after a remarkable amateur career that included three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur titles and three U.S. Amateur championships. He quickly made an impact, winning the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes and becoming the tournament’s youngest champion at the time.
Golf is sometimes confused with other club-and-ball sports, but Woods’s professional career is specifically in golf, a sport played over courses in which competitors try to complete holes in the fewest strokes. His achievements include 15 major championships and 82 PGA Tour victories, tying Sam Snead for the tour’s all-time wins record.
Woods also changed golf’s popular profile. His athletic style, television appeal, and global background helped attract new audiences, while his success made him one of the most commercially influential athletes in sports history.