• Faith: Buddhist
• Career: Athlete
• Birthday:  December 30, 1975

Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods is a professional golfer. He’s tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men’s major championships, and holds numerous golf records. Woods is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers and is one of the most famous athletes in modern history. He’s an inductee of the World Golf Hall of Fame. After an outstanding junior, college, and amateur golf career, Woods turned professional in 1996 at 20 years old. By the end of April 1997, he’d won three PGA Tour events in addition to his first major, the 1997 Masters, which he won by 12 strokes in a record-breaking performance.

He reached number one in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in June 1997, less than a year after turning pro. Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, Woods was the dominant force in golf. He was the top-ranked golfer in the world from August 1999 to September 2004 and again from June 2005 to October 2010. During this time, he won 13 of golf’s major championships. The next decade of Woods’ career was marked by comebacks from personal problems and injuries. He took a self-imposed hiatus from professional golf from December 2009 to early April 2010 in an attempt to resolve marital issues with his wife at the time, Elin. Woods admitted to multiple marital infidelities, and the couple eventually divorced.

He fell to number 58 in the world rankings in November 2011 before ascending again to the number one ranking between March 2013 and May 2014. However, injuries led him to undergo four back surgeries between 2014 and 2017. He competed in only one tournament between August 2015 and January 2018, and he dropped off the list of the world’s top 1,000 golfers. On his return to regular competition, Woods made steady progress to the top of the game, winning his first tournament in five years at the Tour Championship in September 2018 and his first major in 11 years at the 2019 Masters. Woods has held numerous golf records and won 18 World Golf Championships. He was also part of the American winning team for the 1999 Ryder Cup.

In May 2019, Woods was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump, the fourth golfer to receive the honor. In 2021, he was hospitalized in serious but stable condition after a single-car collision and underwent emergency surgery to repair compound fractures sustained in his right leg, in addition to a shattered ankle. In an interview with Golf Digest in November 2021, he indicated that his full-time career as a professional golfer was over, although he would continue to play “a few events per year.” For the first time since the car accident, he returned to the PGA Tour at the 2022 Masters.

What religion is Tiger Woods?

Woods was raised as a Buddhist and actively practiced his faith from childhood until well into his adult professional golf career. In a 2000 article, Woods said he “believes in Buddhism, not every aspect, but most of it.” He’s attributed his deviations and infidelity to his losing track of Buddhism. Woods said, “Buddhism teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught.”