In Project Tiger, veteran golf journalist Gavin Newsham uncovers the answers, providing a portrait of the greatest golfer ever as a young man, a rendering that refines and deepens our understanding of his character and legacy. Tiger’s mother Kultida nurtured him, keeping him focused, but no one was more instrumental in sculpting him as a golfer and as a man than his father. With Tiger swinging golf clubs before his first birthday, Earl Woods took the mantle as drill sergeant coach, coldly imposing his ‘Project Tiger’ goals to lead his son to sports stardom. Following these intense expectations, Tiger grew up with fear and obsession. Fear that any childhood injury could ruin his life, but obsessive fuel to be the best. Even at age six, Tiger lasted only fifteen minutes at the LA Open watching others play before he begged to leave and find somewhere he could practice. As he got older and impatient, he snuck onto golf courses, including the ultra-exclusive Cypress Point Golf Club, to play a few holes before being thrown off. By the time he made his pro debut at twenty years old, the chaotic crowd and media blitz engulfed him, and it included racism more hostile than any other living athlete has endured. And with Tiger’s rapid ascension also emerged entitlement and arrogance. He learned to ignore people who were no longer valuable to him, such as abruptly sacking his first agent soon after he signed deals worth $60 million.
