What It Cost to Become Tiger Woods

The first 150 pages of Tiger Woods, an exhaustively researched biography of golf’s biggest star, could be plucked out of a heartwarming children’s movie: A young man of modest means, and a person of color as well, conquers the elite world of golf through hard work and steadfast vision. At 21 he wins his first professional major tournament, the 1997 Masters, by a record-shattering 12 strokes. On the final green at Augusta National Golf Club, our hero’s father, Earl, embraces him and whispers, “I love you, son, and I’m so proud of you.”

Cue the swelling violins as words crawl across the screen: Tiger Woods would go on to win 79 PGA tournaments, including 14 major championships, as the greatest golfer of all time.