Tiger Woods' Dad, Earl Woods Cheated on Tiger's Mom. Does Cheating Run in the Family?

More drama on Tiger Woods' private life was released this week. This new information reports that Earl Woods, Tiger's dad cheated on Tiger's mom. Maybe this fact was an influence on Tiger's behavior.

A former high school girl friend of Tiger's, Dina Parr reports, Tiger would call her crying, and saying "my father is with another woman." Ms. Parr says that Tiger was "tortured" over his father's infidelities. Why Tiger would repeat this behavior in his own marriage and destroy his reputation as a squeaky clean family man remains the big question. When Earl Woods died in 2006, Tiger described his dad as his "best friend and greatest role model."

But Ms. Parr says that Tiger never got over his father's infidelities. She is also at a loss as to the reasons behind Tiger's adulterous behavior. When Tiger got the news that his father had died of prostate cancer on May 3, 2006, Tiger was off cheating with one of his many girlfriends.

Earl Woods, Tiger's father was born on March 5, 1932. He was of Afro-American, Chinese and Native American ancestry .He was an athlete, served two tours of duty in Vietnam and was a professor of Military Science and Tactics at City College, N.Y.

He married Barbara Woods Gary in 1954 and had three children Earl Dennison, Kevin Dale, and Royce Renee. Earl Jr.'s daughter, Cheyenne Woods is also a competitive golfer.

Earl and his first wife divorced in 1968. He married his second wife, Tilda in 1969. Tilda is of Chinese and Dutch ancestry. She had Earl's fourth child Eldrick (Tiger) on December 30 1975. The nickname Tiger came from Earl's friendship with Colonel "Tiger" Phong of the Vietnamese army.

Tiger became a child prodigy at golf at the age of 3.His father was often criticized for putting so much pressure on Tiger and making him a champion. Both of Tiger's parents devoted all their energies toward making Tiger the athlete he became. Earl describes their life in his books Training a Tiger, and Straight Talk on Hard work: Big Dreams and Adventures with Tiger.

Little was known about Tiger's private life until recently. It has been reported that Tiger has always had an entourage including his parents, whose function was to protect Tiger's family man squeaky clean reputation. They even helped him with his extra marital affairs. His mom has been said to have looked the "other way."

It seems Tiger's mother tolerated her husband's infidelity throughout her own marriage. Divorce was not an option. Both parents were totally consumed with Tiger's career .When not working on golf tours, Tilda lived in her own house(s).

Tiger's wife, Elin Nordegren is not "looking the other way" like Tilda did. Tiger's disrespect for his wife and children (2 year old Samantha and 10 month old Charlie) has just about ended the marriage and seriously damaged Tiger's career. Elin is said to be furious that Tilda, her mother-in-law and her children's grandmother, turned a blind eye to Tiger's behavior. Elin likely will get a divorce. Apparently, "like father, like son" is no excuse.

Sources:

St. Pete Times

wikipedia