page_title: Professional golf career of Tiger Woods
section_title: 1996–1998: Early years and first major win
hierarchical_section_title: Professional golf career of Tiger Woods / 1996–1998: Early years and first major win
caption_attribution_description: 040303-N-5319A-009 Arabian Gulf (Mar. 3, 2004) – Sailors watch professional golfer Tiger Woods hit a few golf balls during a demonstration in the hanger bay of the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73). Tiger Woods accompanied by his fiancé Elin Nordegren, PGA player Mark O'Meara, and caddies Steve Williams and Greg Rita visited the Norfolk, Va. Based carrier in the Arabian Gulf before participating in the European PGA Tour's Dubai Desert Classic on Thursday. The George Washington Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and Carrier Air Wing Seven (CVW-7) are deployed to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Español: Tiger Woods dando una demostración
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: 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 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 strokes. The landmark victory made Woods the tournament's youngest-ever winner, as well as its first African-American winner (and its first Asian-American winner). Woods set 20 Masters records in 1997 and tied six others. He went on to win another three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997, in only his 42nd week as a professional, rose to number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, the fastest-ever ascent to world No. 1. At the conclusion of the 1997 season, Woods was named PGA Player of the Year, the first time a golfer had won the award in just his second year as a professional.
  While expectations for Woods were high, his play faded in the second half of 1997, and in 1998 he only won a single PGA Tour event. He answered critics of his "slump" and what seemed to be wavering form by maintaining he was undergoing extensive swing changes with his coach, Butch Harmon, and was hoping to do better in the future.
caption: Woods giving a driving demonstration aboard the USS George Washington.
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