Tiger Woods is the winner of 12 of golf's major championships and is the sport's biggest superstar since Jack Nicklaus. Woods won three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles (1994-96), and in 1996 turned pro with a $40 million contract from Nike and a fame usually reserved for movie stars.

Woods made good on the hype, winning 46 PGA tournaments in his first ten seasons on the tour. He won the 1997 Masters in his first attempt as a pro and later won the PGA Championship (1999), the British Open (2000) and the U.S. Open (2000) to become one of the few golfers to win all four major tournaments during their careers. In 1999-2000 Woods won six consecutive tournaments, making him the first man to do so since Ben Hogan in 1948. Cementing his reputation as Nicklaus's heir, Woods won the British Open in 2005, the year of Nicklaus's final appearance at the competition.