Tiger Woods: A timeline of significant moments on and off the golf course
By The Associated Press (AP) — August 1996: Woods wins third straight U.S. Amateur and turns professional the following week.
October 1996: Woods wins the Las Vegas Invitational for his first PGA Tour victory in his fifth professional start.
April 1997: Woods wins the Masters at age 21 with a record score (270) and a record margin of victory (12 shots) to become its youngest champion.
June 2000: Woods wins the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by 15 shots, the largest margin in major championship history.
April 2001: Woods wins the Masters to become the only player to hold all four professional majors at the same time.
October 2004: Woods marries Elin Nordegren.
June 2007: His wife gives birth to their first child, a daughter Samantha, a day after Woods finishes runner-up in the U.S. Open.
June 2008: Woods wins the U.S. Open in a playoff at Torrey Pines for his 14th major, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus. A week later, he has reconstructive surgery on his left knee to repair the ACL and is out for eight months.
February 2009: His wife gives birth to their son, Charlie.
November 2009: Woods crashes his SUV into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his Windermere, Florida, home. The next few weeks his personal life unravels with reports of multiple extramarital affairs. He loses major sponsorship endorsements. He spends 45 days in a clinic and does not return to golf until the 2010 Masters.
August 2010: His divorce from Elin Nordegren is finalized.
March 31, 2014: Woods has back surgery a week before the Masters and misses Augusta National for the first time.
Sept. 16, 2015: Has a second back surgery.
Oct. 28, 2015: Has a third procedure on his back.
April 19, 2017: Has a fourth surgery, this one to fuse his lower back.
May 30, 2017: Woods is arrested and briefly jailed in Jupiter, Florida, on suspicion of DUI. Police found him asleep behind the wheel of his car in the early morning with the engine running. He attributes it to a bad combination of pain medication.
Oct. 27, 2017: Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving and agrees to enter a diversion program. Prosecutors drop the DUI charge under the plea agreement.
Sept. 23, 2018: Wins the Tour Championship for his 80th career victory on the PGA Tour.
April 14, 2019: Wins the Masters for his 15th major, and first major title in 11 years.
Oct. 28, 2019: Wins the Zozo Championship for his 82nd career PGA Tour title, tied with Sam Snead for the record
Jan. 19, 2021: Woods announces he has undergone a fifth surgery on his back
Feb. 23, 2021: Woods is involved in a single-vehicle rollover crash outside of Los Angeles. Authorities say he was going between 84 mph and 87 mph on a 45 mph coast road. Doctors say he suffered comminuted open fractures to the upper and lower sections of his right leg, as well as significant trauma to his right ankle. Doctors needed to insert a rod, screws and pins to stabilize Woods’ leg.
April 19, 2023: Woods has a subtalar fusion procedure in his right ankle to “address his post-traumatic arthritis from his previous talus fracture.”
Sept. 13, 2024: Woods announces he had surgery on his lower back, which he described as a microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement in the lower back.
March 11, 2025: Woods has surgery after rupturing his left Achilles tendon while increasing his workouts to get ready for the Masters.
Oct. 11, 2025: Woods has a seventh back surgery to replace a disk in his lower back.
March 27, 2026: Woods is arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence near his home in Florida after his Land Rover clipped the back of a truck and rolled on its side. He was not injured. Authorities say he was impaired by medication, not alcohol, and was arrested after refusing to take a urine test.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf