Tiger Woods' mother, Kultida Woods, sadly passed away on Tuesday (Feb. 4). The golf legend announced the tragic news on his social media.
Kultida Woods was a Thailand native and worked as a receptionist in the US Army's Bangkok office when she met Earl Woods, who was deployed there during the Vietnam War. The couple moved to Brooklyn, New York where they got married in 1969. Tiger Woods was born in 1975.
The family resided in Cypress, California. Despite his father being in the Special Forces, it was actually his mother who scared the ace golfer. He had once said via People:
"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."
In 2022, she attended Woods' induction ceremony into the World Golf Hall of Fame along with her grandchildren, Sam and Charlie. Kultida Woods even attended the US golfer's first match on his and Rory McIlroy's TGL.
"My mom says that my power color is red" - Tiger Woods on how his mother, Kultida Woods, inspired his final round red outfits
Tiger Woods is known for wearing his signature red shirts in the final rounds of tournaments. This belief came to him from his mother, Kultida Woods.
"It goes back to my mom. 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'," he reportedly said via People.
However, he did not believe it initially, wearing a blue shirt at the next tournament and he happened to win. He "poked her a little bit" and "made fun" of the belief. Woods continued wearing blue at two other tournaments and lost.
"(I) switched to red and I went on a hot streak. And, well, I kept it," he said.
The ace golfer had further added on his website in 2009:
"You should always listen to your mom."
Kultida Woods and Earl Woods were married for 37 years until Earl passed away in May 2006.