Tiger Woods was cut-throat during his meteoric rise to becoming the greatest golfer in the world – even to those closest to him.
The 50-year-old is now a 15-time major winner and one of the most revered names in the game. However, a new book has claimed that he had to make ‘complex and painful trade-offs’ in his pursuit of greatness, even when it came to his love life.
‘Project Tiger: The Birth of Genius and the Price of Greatness,’ a new biography of the golfer by Gavin Newsham, has shed light on the brutal way Woods ended things with his high school sweetheart.
In an excerpt obtained by The New York Post, Newsham describes Dina Gravell as Woods’ ‘first true love’ and ‘one of the few people outside his immediate family whom he genuinely trusted.’
However, the book, which will be released on March 17, claims that their four-year relationship came to a sudden and painful end during Woods’ college golf career at Stanford.
The brutal breakup is said to have taken place at the 1995 US Intercollegiate Golf Tournament Invitational in Palo Alto, California, where ‘Tiger’s parents pointedly ignored Dina’ as they arrived to support Woods.
Tiger Woods was cut-throat during his meteoric rise to greatness, according to a new book
A new book, ‘Project Tiger,’ details the allegedly brutal way the golfing icon broke up with his high school girlfriend, Dina Gravell
The 15-time major winner is said to have dated Dina for four years before their split in 1998
On the second day of the tournament, Woods reportedly suffered a shoulder injury which forced him to withdraw and head to hospital for an MRI scan.
While her then-boyfriend sought medical assistance, Dina returned to the hotel where she is said to have waited for five hours without word.
Finally, she received a call. But it wasn’t from Woods. Instead, it was from the hotel reception, the book claims. They informed her that there was a delivery for her – ‘it was a case with all of her belongings that she had left in Tiger’s room the previous day.’
Newsham writes that a letter was included with the case. It reportedly read: ‘The reason for writing this letter is to inform you [that] my parents and myself never want to talk or hear from you again.
‘Reflecting back over this relationship, I feel used and manipulated by you and your family. I hope the rest of your life runs well for you. I know this is sudden and a surprise, but it is, in my opinion, much warranted. Sincerely, Tiger.
‘PS Please mail my necklace I gave you to me when you get back home. Don’t show up at the tournament tomorrow because you are just not welcomed.’
The note – and its savage contents – left Dina stunned and heartbroken. She described it as feeling like being ‘punched in the stomach,’ per the book.
Woods and Dina had met in accounting class at Western High School in Anaheim, California, and were friends first before delving into a romantic relationship, staying together even when he went to Stanford for college.
She previously opened up about the heartbreaking ordeal, in a 2021 HBO documentary about the golf star, detailing how she didn’t fit into the ‘plan’ Woods’ parents had for him, despite talking about marriage and children with him.
Woods reportedly told her in a letter that he and his parents never wanted to hear from her
The golf legend is pictured in 1998 at the US Open in San Francisco
‘It was like a death,’ Dina admitted. ‘It was awful. We had been in this three-year relationship … I replay that day over and over again.’
The HBO documentary, titled ‘Tiger,’ covered his career as well as his upbringing, with some focus on how his parents, Earl and Kultida, drove his obsession with golf from a young age.
Newsham claims in his biography that Dina was not the only one who fell victim to Project Tiger.
Joe Grohman, a young pro who had taken Woods under his wing in his hometown of Cypress, and the golf icon’s former agent Hughes Norton also became ‘surplus to requirements’ and ‘eventually found themselves out in the cold.’
Woods has endured a tumultuous time in his personal life away from the course over the past couple of decades, divorcing his former wife, Elin Nordegren, in a highly publicized split.
Woods first met Swedish model Nordegren in 2001, before proposing two years later. The couple then made it official at a lavish wedding in 2004.
Woods was married to Elin Nordegren from 2004 to 2010 and had two kids together
He is now dating Vanessa Trump, the former wife of Donald Trump Jr.
They welcomed daughter Sam in 2007 and son Charlie in 2009, a year prior to the infamous sex scandal that brought their marriage crashing down in shocking fashion.
Nordegren divorced Tiger in 2010 after six years of marriage when she discovered the golfing great was allegedly cheating on her during Thanksgiving week with a woman named Rachel Uchitel.
What followed was one of the most dramatic collapses of a star’s reputation across sport as a number of other women later came forward to claim they had been intimate with him.
Now, however, he appears to be happily dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr. The couple went public with their relationship last March and have been seen together at a number of golf events.
