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Tiger Woods has always been a favorite face in Las Vegas. He has played many of the world-famous Las Vegas golf courses here. But what really gets locals excited about Tiger Woods is his yearly charity concert series Tiger Jam. For the past eight years Tiger Woods has hosted Tiger Jam at Mandalay Bay. The concert usually features several artists and all the proceeds are donated to Tiger Woods many children’s charities as well as VH1’s Save the Music. Stars are always in attendance at this event and tickets are often hard to come by. Visiting Las Vegas during Tiger Jam is also lots of fun because so many celebrities are in town for the concert.
Tiger Woods is an accomplished athlete. He is credited as being the world’s highest paid athlete in 2006 when he brought in an estimated $100 million in both earnings and endorsement money. He also has more career major wins and more PGA tour wins than any other golfer still playing today. He has won PGA Player of the Year nine times, beating the record of any other player in the game. Tiger Woods has also been credited with sparking a new found interest in the game.
Woods was born December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California. Woods is of mixed African American, Chinese, Indian, and Tai decent. He is Buddhist and he has said that his religion has helped him gain control in a game that takes much patience. Woods starting playing golf when he was as young as two years old. In 1978, at the age of 3 he putted against comedian Bob Hope at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California. When he was 5, he appeared in Golf Digest. At the age of 8 he was allowed to play in the 9-10 year-old boys’ event at the Junior World Golf Championships, he won the tournament six years in a row. He went on to compete in amateur events and won the Amateur Player of the Year Award several years in a row throughout high school. After high school, Woods enrolled at Stanford University, where he majored in Economics and won his first collegiate event. After two year of competing, Woods left college and turned professional. In 1996, Woods became a professional golfer and signed a $40 million deal with Nike. That same year he won his first Masters tournament and became the youngest winner ever, as well as the first African-American or Asian to win the tournament.
He has been named Player of the Year more times than any other player in the game and has won countless professional tournaments. Woods married model, Elin Nordegren in 2003. They recently purchased a $39 million residence in Jupiter Island, Florida. They have several homes throughout the world, but this will be their primary residence. Their only child, Sam Alexis Woods was born in June of 2007. Shortly after his father’s death in 2006, Woods won his 50th professional tournament and he became the youngest person ever to do so.
Woods hosted his first Tiger Jam charity event in 1998 and for the past nine years he has been holding the event right here in Las Vegas. The Mandalay Bay is the official host of the concert and Woods invites several celebrities to perform as well as just make an appearance at the event every year. Now, a prominent figure in the Las Vegas community, Tiger Woods is even immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds at the Venetian.
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