Tiger Woods’ parents, Kultida Woods and Earl Woods, met on a Bangkok U.S. Army base in the late 1960s

PHOTO: DAVID CANNON/ALLSPORT/GETTY

Tiger Woods has amassed millions of fans throughout his illustrious career, but there’s two supporters who have been there for the pro golfer through it all: his parents Earl and Kultida Woods.

Earl and Kultida first met in the 1960s amid the Vietnam War. As a soldier in the U.S. Army Special Forces, Earl was deployed to the same base in Thailand where Kultida, née Punsawad, worked as a secretary.

The pair quickly fell in love, and, smitten with the Green Beret, Kultida followed Earl back to New York, where they married before settling down and starting a family in Cypress, California. In 1975, they welcomed their son, future golf superstar Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods. Earl and Kultida were married for 37 years until Earl died in May 2006 at their home in Cypress.

Fans looked intimately at the golfer’s upbringing in HBO’s Tiger in 2021. The two-part documentary featured home videos and archived audio, including one of Earl recalling the first time he saw Tiger putt a ball. “When Tiger was 10 months old, I unstrapped him out of his high chair one day and he walked over and hit the ball,” Earl recalled. “I said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got something special.’ “

Despite growing up with a soldier for a father, Tiger has said it was his mother he was “deathly afraid of” as a child. “My dad was always the person who would plant seeds and give me encouragement but also would say things that would fester inside me that wouldn’t come to fruition for a while. He was very worldly and deep in his thinking,” he told USA Today in 2017.

Kultida, on the other hand, was an “enforcer,” Tiger said. “My dad may have been in the Special Forces, but I was never afraid of him. My mom’s still here and I’m still deathly afraid of her. She’s a very tough, tough old lady, very demanding. … I love her so much, but she was tough.”

Nevertheless, Kultida never misses an opportunity to support her son both on and off the golf course. She joined her grandkids, Sam Alexis and Charlie Axel, at Tiger’s induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. Kultida is often seen on the fairway cheering on Tiger and sporting her signature oversized black glasses and visor.

Here’s everything to know about Tiger Woods’ parents, Kultida Woods and Earl Woods.

 

Kultida moved to the U.S. after falling in love with Earl in Thailand

ROBERT BECK/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED/GETTY

Kultida was a civilian working as a receptionist in the U.S. Army’s Bangkok office when her path first crossed with Earl’s, per ESPN. Following his impressive career as a collegiate baseball player — the first Black man to play in the Big Eight Conference — Earl joined the U.S. Army.

He rose through the ranks, eventually landing a position as a Green Beret. During his second tour during the Vietnam War, while stationed in Thailand, he struck up a romance with their office’s secretary. Kultida, who had never traveled outside of Thailand before, followed Earl back to Brooklyn, New York, where they married in 1969, according to Sports Illustrated.

 

Earl named Tiger after an old friend of his from the Army

JON LEVY/AFP/GETTY

The couple turned into a family of three when Tiger was born on Dec. 30, 1975. In Vietnam, Earl had bestowed the nickname “Tiger” on his combat partner, Lt. Col. Nguyen Phong, for his courage and bravery. Earl decided he would give his son the same nickname.

Tiger, in his own way, carried on the nickname tradition with his own family. The pro golfer gave his first child another nickname his father called him growing up: Sam. “We wanted to have a name that would be meaningful to either side of the family, my side or Elin’s side, because she was born [the day after] Father’s Day. It just happened to fit,” Tiger told PEOPLE of his daughter’s first name.

He explained: “My father had always called me Sam since the day I was born. He rarely ever called me Tiger. I would ask him, ‘Why don’t you ever call me Tiger?’ He says, ‘Well, you look more like a Sam.’ “

 

Kultida and Earl took out a second mortgage to put Tiger through junior golf

RICK DOLE/GETTY

By age 14, Tiger was already teeing up for a collegiate golf scholarship. But in order to compete at the American Junior Golf Association Tour, which would garner him access to premier tournaments and college scouts, his parents had to make some major financial decisions.

“My family made a tough decision, and at the age of 14 and a half, we took out a second mortgage so I could go out and play the AJGA Tour. Mom stayed at home. Dad traveled. And I went out and played the AJGA Tour on our second mortgage,” Tiger recalled during his 2022 World Golf Hall of Fame induction speech, according to the PGA Tour.

“That defined my upbringing,” Tiger said, from witnessing his mother’s endless sacrifices to his father’s work ethic. Of the many lessons ingrained in him by his dad, one stuck out: “If you don’t go out there and put in the work, you don’t go out and put in the effort, one, you’re not going to get the results, but two, and more importantly, you don’t deserve it. You need to earn it.”

 

Kultida is behind Tiger’s iconic red shirt

ANDREW REDINGTON/GETTY

Fans know when Tiger shows up to the fairway sporting a red polo that, he means serious business. The iconic look, which has stuck with him since his junior golf days, was largely influenced by his mother. Speaking to ESPN’s Marty Smith, the five-time Masters Tournament champion recalled how his famous uniform came to be.

“It goes back to my mom,” he told Smith, per his book Never Settle: Sports, Family, and the American Soul. “My mom says that my power color is red. And so, in junior golf I won a golf tournament wearing red. She said, ‘See I told you, red.’ “

Testing the waters, Tiger wore a blue shirt to the next tournament and won. “I just kind of made fun of it,” he said of his mom’s superstition. “Poked at her a little bit.” Against Kultida’s advice, Tiger wore blue to the next two tournaments and lost. “[I] switched to red and I went on a hot streak. And, well, I kept it,” he quipped.

In 2009, Tiger doubled down on his mom’s instincts on his website, noting, “You should always listen to your mom.”

 

Earl is a published author

SCOTT CLARKE/WIREIMAGE

Earl published his first book, Training a Tiger: Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life, in 1997 — the same year Tiger won his first Masters Tournament. The book is a how-to manual for aspiring golfers with tips and tricks for swinging, posture, balance and mental toughness. Earl also dedicated a portion of the book to sharing his firsthand advice with fellow golf parents. “The saddest thing in competitive athletics is to see an athlete competing because he or she is required to compete, not because they desire to compete,” Earl told Golf Digest in 2001.

He also had the privilege of his son writing the foreword. “The best thing about those practices was that my father always kept it fun,” Tiger wrote. “It is amazing how much you can learn when you truly enjoy doing something. Golf for me has always been a labor of love and pleasure.”

In 1998, Earl released his second book: Playing Through: Straight Talk on Hard Work, Big Dreams, and Adventures with Tiger.

 

Kultida was married to Earl for 37 years until his death in 2006

KEN LEVINE/GETTY

Earl died on May 3, 2006, from prostate cancer. The announcement came from Tiger himself, who wrote on his website that he “was saddened to share the news” of his father’s death at age 74. Earl was first diagnosed with the illness in 1998.

“My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply. I’m overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life,” Tiger said in the post. “He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend.”

He added, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him, and I’m honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring.”