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.

He has won 15 professional major golf championships (trailing only Jack Nicklaus, who leads with 18) and 82 PGA Tour events (tied for first all time with Sam Snead).

[15] On February 23, 2021, Woods 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.

[16] In an interview with Golf Digest in November 2021, Woods indicated that his full-time career as a professional golfer was over, although he would continue to play "a few events per year".

[65] Woods turned professional at age 20 in August 1996 and immediately signed advertising deals with Nike, Inc. and Titleist that ranked as the most lucrative endorsement contracts in golf history at that time.

[80] Woods rebounded in 2005, winning six PGA Tour events and reclaiming the top spot in July after swapping it back and forth with Singh over the first half of the year.

[82] Following the death of his father in May, Woods took some time off from the tour and appeared rusty upon his return at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club, where he missed the cut.

[89] After his marital infidelities came to light and received massive media coverage at the end of 2009 (see further details below), Woods announced in December that he would be taking an indefinite break from competitive golf.

In July, he fired his longtime caddie Steve Williams (who was shocked by the dismissal), and replaced him on an interim basis with friend Bryon Bell until he hired Joe LaCava.

50 in mid-November after a third-place finish at the Emirates Australian Open, and broke his winless streak with a victory at December's Chevron World Challenge.

[8][96][97] Woods began his 2012 season with two tournaments (the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) where he started off well but struggled on the final rounds.

Following the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he was knocked out in the second round by missing a 5-foot putt,[98] Woods revised his putting technique and tied for second at The Honda Classic, with the lowest final-round score in his PGA Tour career.

After a short time off due to another leg injury, Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first win on the PGA Tour since the BMW Championship in September 2009.

[104] During the 2013 Masters, Woods faced disqualification after unwittingly admitting in a post-round interview with ESPN that he took an illegal drop on the par-5 15th hole when his third shot bounced off the pin and into the water.

He was forced to skip the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the end of March 2014,[107] and after undergoing back surgery, he announced on April 1 that he would miss the Masters for the first time since 1994.

[132] In August 2019, Woods announced via social media that he underwent knee surgery to repair minor cartilage damage and that he had an arthroscopic procedure during the Tour Championship.

Woods, who played a highly publicized skins game earlier in the week at the same course as the Championship, held at least a share of the lead after every round of the rain-delayed tournament, giving him a three stroke victory over Hideki Matsuyama.

[138] In August 2022, Woods, Rory McIlroy, Mike McCarley, and the PGA Tour announced the formation of TGL, a six-team virtual golfing league.

[161] In 1997, Woods and fellow golfer Arnold Palmer initiated a civil case against Bruce Matthews (the owner of Gotta Have It Golf, Inc.) and others in the effort to stop the unauthorized sale of their images and alleged signatures in the memorabilia market.

[174] The same year, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $600 million, making him the second richest person of color in the United States, behind only Oprah Winfrey.

[179] At first, some pundits feared that Woods would drive the spirit of competition out of the game of golf by making existing courses obsolete and relegating opponents to simply competing for second place each week.

A related effect was measured by University of California economist Jennifer Brown, who found that other golfers scored worse when competing against Woods than when he was not in the tournament.

[180] Many courses in the PGA Tour rotation (including major championship sites like Augusta National) have added yardage to their tees in an effort to reduce the advantage of long hitters like Woods, in a strategy that became known as "Tiger-proofing".

1Cancelled due to 9/11 QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play WD = withdrew NT = No tournament "T" = tied Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

*As of 2024 season When Woods first joined the PGA Tour in 1996, his long drives had a large impact on the world of golf,[188] but he did not upgrade his equipment in the following years.

He insisted upon the use of True Temper Dynamic Gold steel-shafted clubs and smaller steel clubheads that promoted accuracy over distance.

[212] These projects have encountered problems that have been attributed to factors that include overly optimistic estimates of their value, declines throughout the global economy (particularly the U.S. crash in home prices), and the decreased appeal and marketability of Woods following his 2009 infidelity scandal.

[230] Two days later, around 2:30 a.m. on November 27, Woods was driving from his Florida mansion in his Cadillac Escalade SUV when he collided with a fire hydrant, a tree, and several hedges near his home.

Herman claimed that she was owed $30 million after an oral agreement was breached when Woods' trust's employees "locked her out of the Residence, removed her personal belongings, and informed her she could not return.

[259][255] The incident was under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which said the car "sustained major damage," and that Woods was driving over 80 miles per hour (129 km/h), nearly twice the speed limit, before he crashed.