Background and family
Woods was born in Cypress, California, to Earl (1932–2006) and Kultida (Tida) Woods (born 1944). He is the only child of their marriage; however, he does have two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957), and a half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray.[16]
Kultida (née Punsawad), originally from Thailand (where Earl had met her on a tour of duty in 1968), is of mixed Thai, Chinese, and Dutch ancestry.[17][dead link] Earl, a retired lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran, was of mostly African American and traces of European descent. Earl's mother Maude Carter was of light skin. Some suggest possible Native American and Chinese ancestry.[18] Tiger refers to his ethnic make-up as "Cablinasian" (a syllabic abbreviation he coined from Caucasian,Black, American Indian, and Asian).[19]