About Tiger Woods

This is the Tiger year.

But will it be the Tiger Woods year?

Read all about the iconic American golfer who recently displayed a whole new side of himself.

Thanks Wikipedia.

Eldrick Tont Woods (born December 30, 1975), better known as Tiger Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers. Currently the World No. 1, he was the highest-paid professional athlete in 2008, having earned an estimated US$110 million from winnings and endorsements.

Woods has won 14 major golf championships, the second highest of any male player and 71 PGA Tour events, the third highest of any male player. He has more major wins and PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. Additionally, Woods is the second golfer, after Jack Nicklaus, to have achieved a career grand slam three times. Woods has won 16 World Golf Championships and has won at least one of those events each of the 11 years they have been in existence.

Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player Of The Year a record 10 times.

On December 11, 2009, Woods announced he would take an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage after he admitted infidelity. His multiple infidelities were revealed by over a dozen mistresses, through many worldwide media sources.

Woods was born in Cypress, California, to Earl (1932–2006) and Kultida (Tida) Woods (born 1944). He is the only child of their marriage but has two half-brothers, Earl Jr (born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957) and one half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife Barbara Gray. Earl, a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran was of mixed African American, Chinese and Native American ancestry. Kultida Punsawad, originally from Thailand, is of mixed Thai, Chinese and Dutch ancestry.

At birth, Woods was given 'Eldrick' and 'Tont' as first and middle names. Tont is a traditional Thai name. He got his nickname from a Vietnamese American soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given the Tiger nickname. He became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf, he was simply known as 'Tiger' Woods.

Woods grew up in Orange County, California. He was a prodigy, introduced to golf before the age of two, by his athletic father Earl, who was a good standard amateur golfer and a college baseball player at Kansas State University. In 1978, Tiger putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, he shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible. In 1984 at the age of eight, he won the 9–10 boys' event, the youngest age group available at the Junior World Golf Championships. He went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991.

While attending Western High School in Anaheim at the age of 15, Woods became the youngest ever US Junior Amateur Champion, was voted Southern California Amateur Player Of The Year for the second consecutive year and Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player Of The Year 1991. In 1992, he defended his title at the US Junior Amateur Championship, becoming the first multiple winner, competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player Of The Year, Golf World Player Of The Year and Golfweek National Amateur Of The Year.

The following year, Woods won his third consecutive US Junior Amateur Championship and remains the event's youngest and only multiple winner. In 1994, he became the youngest winner of the US Amateur Championship, a record that stood until 2008 when it was broken by Danny Lee. He was a member of the American team at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships (winning) and the 1995 Walker Cup (losing).

Woods graduated from Western High School in 1994 at age 18.

Woods obtained a golf scholarship and enrolled at Stanford in 1994. He won his first collegiate event, the 40th Annual William H. Tucker Invitational in September. He declared a major in economics. In 1995, he defended his US Amateur title and was voted Stanford's Freshman Of The Year (an award that encompasses all sports). At age 20 in 1996, he became the first golfer to win three consecutive US Amateur titles, and won the NCAA individual golf championship.

Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996 and signed endorsement deals worth US$40 million from Nike and US$20 million from Titleist. These endorsement contracts were the highest in golf history then. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open, tying for 60th place, but went on to win two events in the next three months to qualify for the Tour Championship. For his efforts, Woods was named Sports Illustrated's 1996 Sportsman Of The Year and PGA Tour Rookie Of The Year. He began his tradition of wearing a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, a link to his college days at Stanford and a colour he believes symbolises aggression and assertiveness.

On May 3, 2006, Woods's father, mentor and inspiration, Earl, died after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Woods and tennis star Roger Federer, who share a major sponsor, first met at the 2006 US Open tennis final. Since then, they have attended each other's events and have voiced their mutual appreciation for each other's talents.

Woods has established several charitable and youth projects. The Tiger Woods Foundation was established in 1996 by Woods and his father Earl. It focuses on projects for children. Initially these comprised golf clinics (aimed especially at disadvantaged children) and a grant programme. Further activities added since then include university scholarships, an association with Target House at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, the Start Something character development programme, which reached one million participants by 2003 and the Tiger Woods Learning Centre.

The Tiger Jam is an annual fundraising concert which has raised over US$10 million for the Tiger Woods Foundation. Past performers at Tiger Jam include Sting, Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder.

Woods has written a golf instruction column for Golf Digest magazine since 1997 and in 2001 wrote a best-selling golf instruction book, How I Play Golf, which had the largest print run of any golf book for its first edition, 1.5 million copies.

Woods announced on December 3, 2006 that he would develop his first golf course in the United Arab Emirates through his golf course design company, Tiger Woods Design. On August 14, 2007, Woods announced his first course to be designed in the US, The Cliffs at High Carolina.

Shortly after his 21st birthday in 1996, he began signing endorsement deals with numerous companies, including General Motors, Titleist, General Mills, American Express, Accenture and Nike.

Woods collaborated closely with TAG Heuer to develop the world's first professional golf watch, released in April 2005.

On August 20, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that Woods would be inducted into the California Hall Of Fame.

He has been named "Athlete Of The Decade" by the Associated Press. He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete Of The Year a record four times and is the only person to be named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman Of The Year more than once.

Woods is a big fan of Barack Obama.

On October 5, 2004, Woods wed Elin Nordegren, a former Swedish model and daughter of former minister of migration Barbro Holmberg and radio journalist Thomas Nordegren. They were introduced during The Open Championship in 2001 by Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as an au pair. Their first child Sam Alexis was born on June 18, 2007. Their second child Charles Axel came on February 8, 2009.

On November 25, 2009, supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer published a story claiming that Woods had an extramarital affair with nightclub manager Rachel Uchitel, a claim she denied. The story began to attract media attention when Woods had a car accident a day later. He was leaving his home around 2.30am in his SUV when he collided with a tree. Woods refused to speak to the police and the accident fanned intense speculation for two days until he released a statement on his website. He took blame for the crash but said it was a private matter. He also praised his wife Elin for getting him out of the car.

In the next few days, over a dozen women claimed in various media outlets that Woods had affairs with them. Woods subsequently apologised for his misconduct and requested privacy.

As a result of his infidelity, Woods lost several corporate endorsements most notably Gillette and Nielsen.

Tiger Woods donated US$3,000,000 to the 2010 Haitian earthquake victims.

He is both Christian and Buddhist, and endorses legendary boxer Muhammad Ali’s famous statement in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks that all faiths are equally good and lead to the same destination.

Alexander Wang Leehom – Taiwanese Pop Icon

Thanks, Wikipedia.

Alexander Wang Leehom (born May 17, 1976) is a American Chinese singer-songwriter, producer and actor.

Formally trained at the Eastman and Berklee Colleges Of Music in the United States, he fuses traditional Chinese elements (such as Chinese opera and the music of China’s Indochinese/Indonesian aborigines) with Western music.

Wang has been active since 1995 and has 25 albums to his credit.

He won Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards four times.

Wang is also an actor who starred in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution and Jackie Chan’s Little Big Soldier.

Wang was a torch-bearer in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. He also sang at the Olympics’ closing ceremony.

He has been named as one of the 100 most inspiring Asian Americans by the magazine Goldsea Asian American Daily.

Born in Rochester, New York, Wang is the second of three sons. His parents are from Taiwan. His father is a doctor and his mother is a music teacher.

Influenced by his elder brother, a violinist, he learnt the instrument when he was three.

Wang later learnt the piano and guitar.

In 1995, Wang released his debut album Love Rival, Beethoven. This was followed a year later by the album If You Heard My Song.

In 1998 came Revolution which earned him two Golden Melody Awards for Best Producer and Best Mandarin Male Singer.

Wang was the youngest artiste to win in the two categories.

In 1999, Wang released his sixth album Impossible To Miss You which was dance pop oriented and sold more than a million copies (his best selling album).

The album earned him three Best Male Vocalist awards in three different ceremonies.

Wang’s 2001 album The One And Only was rock-inspired and won him seven awards.

In 2003 Wang starred in several Japanese films.

His ninth album in 2003, Unbelievable, incorporated hip-hop music and contained the hit song You’re Not Here.

He won Best Producer at the Golden Melody Awards 2004.

In the same year he came up with Shangri-La, an album which contained the music of China’s Indonesian/Indochinese aborigines (Thais, Hmongs, Burmese/Tibetans and Vietnamese).

In 2005 came Heroes Of Earth which contained Beijing Opera sounds.

In the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he sang Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing alongside Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen and South Korean singer Rain.

About CIMB Group

Thanks, Wikipedia.

CIMB Group is Malaysia's second largest financial services provider and the fifth largest in Southeast Asia.

CIMB Group operates as a universal bank offering a full range of financial products and services.

CIMB serves close to seven million customers in over 600 locations.

Its main markets are Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

In addition, CIMB extends its regional reach and range of products and services through strategic partnerships. Partners include the Principal Financial Group, Allianz Malaysia, Bank of Tokyo, Daewoo Securities, Malaysia Airlines, Pos Malaysia, 7 Eleven and Singer.

CIMB began in 1924 with Bian Chiang Bank. It was established in Kuching, Sarawak by Wee Kheng Chiang. Bian Chiang Bank was renamed Bank Of Commerce (BOC) in 1979 when it was purchased by Bank Bumiputera Malaysia (BBMB), a Malaysian government-owned bank.

In 1935, Ban Hin Lee Bank (BHLB) was established in Georgetown, Penang by Yeap Chor Ee.

In 1965, Southern Bank (SBB) was established in Georgetown, Penang.

In the same year, Bank Bumiputera Malaysia (BBMB) was established to assist indigenous Malaysians. By 1980 it had become the largest Malaysian bank.

In 1972, the United Asian Bank (UAB) was established as a joint venture between an Indian bank and the Malaysian government via BBMB.

In 1974, Pertanian Baring Sanwa (PBS) was formed as a joint venture between Bank Pertanian (Agro Bank) of the Malaysian government, the Baring Brothers and Multinational Bank of the United Kingdom and Sanwa Bank of Japan. It was renamed Commerce International Merchant Bank (CIMB) in 1986 when BOC (owned by BBMB) bought over the shares of Agro Bank.

In 1991, BOC (owned by BBMB) acquired UAB. UAB became Commerce Asset Holdings (CAHB).

In 1999, BOC (under BBMB) and BBMB merged to form Bumiputera Commerce Bank (BCB).

In 2000, SBB acquired BHLB.

In 2005, SBB was acquired by BCB and CIMB (under BCB) bought over BCB. CAHB (under BCB) became Bumiputera Commerce Holdings.

About Fahrenheit – Taiwanese Boy Band

Thanks, Wikipedia.

Fahrenheit is a Taiwanese boy band comprising Aaron Yan, Wu Chun, Calvin Chen and Jiro Wang.

Each of the members represents a season or temperature that corresponds with his personality.

Calvin represents spring and warm. Jiro represents summer and hot. Wu represents autumn and cool. Aaron represents winter and cold.

Each member also has a ‘temperature’ on the Fahrenheit scale. Calvin is 77 degrees, Jiro is 95, Wu is 59 and Aaron is 41. Each ‘temperature’ is separated by 18 degrees.

Wu is from Brunei and is a graduate from the RMIT in Melbourne, Australia.

In 2005, the group had its first series KO One on Taiwanese television.

It released its debut album in 2006 featuring the hit single I Have My Youth.

While its songs are mostly popish, the group also sings R&B (Love’s Arrived) and hip hop (Superb, The Secret Of Immortality).

The group launched its second album Two-Sided Fahrenheit in 2008 featuring the hit singles Ten Thousand Joys and New Home.

Its third album Love You More And More a year later featured the hit singles Lonesome Spirit and Stay With Me (more rock-oriented).

The Fahrenheit boys are also actors. Wu starred with Donnie Yen in the film 14 Blades in 2010.

Aaron Yan King Lun (born November 20, 1986) is an English graduate who speaks fluent Japanese and Cantonese.

Wu Chun (born October 10, 1979 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei as Goh Kiat Chun) is a former model and gym instructor.

A business graduate, he also played basketball for his country’s national team.

He speaks fluent Malay and owns a fitness club in his hometown. He is also the head of the Palm Garden Hotel, Bandar Seri Begawan.

His family is Brunei’s sole Mitsubishi dealer.

Calvin Chen Yi Ru (born November 10, 1980) has a masters’ degree in economics from the University of Victoria in Canada.

Jiro Wang (born August 24, 1981) is an advertising graduate and former model. He used to be the lead singer of Dong Cheng Wei.

Donnie Yen – Hong Kong’s New Master Of Kung Fu

Unassuming and down-to-earth Donnie Yen Chi Tan is Hong Kong’s new master of kung fu.

Just saw him in his brilliant new film 14 Blades.

Read all about him here.

Thanks Wikipedia.

Donnie Yen Chi Tan (born July 27, 1963) is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor, director, fight choreographer and producer.

He is hugely popular in his home country and the West, having starred in blockbuster films with Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li.

Born in Guangzhou, China to newspaper editor Klyster Yen and his wife Mak Bow Sim, a martial arts exponent, Yen moved to Hong Kong when he was 2.

He has a younger sister Chris Yen Chi Ching who is also good in martial arts and recently starred in The Adventures Of Johnny Tao.

Influenced by his mother, Yen became interested in martial arts such as wushu and taekwondo at a young age.

He later joined the Beijing Wushu Team and was trained by Lee Yu Man.

Later, he was trained by fight choreographer Yuen Woo Ping of Hong Kong.

Yen became a stuntman for several Hong Kong films including Shaolin Drunkard (1983).

He had his first acting role in Drunken Tai Chi (1984).

Throughout the 1980s he acted in detective series on Hong Kong Television Broadcasts (HKTVB) alongside popular actors Stephen Chow, Pauline Yeung and David Siu.

His breakthrough role came in Once Upon A Time In China 2 (1992) which also starred Jet Li.

They were reunited in Hero (2002).

In 1997, Yen started a production company Bullet Films.

He choreographed the Hollywood films Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Blade 2 (2002).

In 2003, Yen starred with Jackie Chan in Shanghai Knights.

He also worked as action choreographer in the film Stormbreaker.

The film Flash Point in 2007 won him Best Action Choreography at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

In 2008, Yen starred as Ip Man in a semi-biographical movie about Ip Man, the Wing Chun master who taught Bruce Lee.

Ip Man was his best selling film.

Yen has been married to Cecilia Wang Ci Ci since 2003. She was the winner of the Miss Chinese Toronto 2000. They have two children.