Who is Tiger Woods' girlfriend Erica Herman? Meet the restaurant manager who made his roaring comeback possible
Tiger Woods made history this Sunday after winning the 2019 Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club, 14 years since his last Green Jacket and two years after he spoke to his friends about quitting the sport altogether.
While he couldn't stop grinning over his win, there was definitely more than one reason for him to smile.
The golf ace, whose victory is being touted as "one of the greatest comebacks in sports history", was spotted giving girlfriend Erica Herman a warm and loving embrace after the win. The 33-year-old is widely being considered as the woman who put the troubled golf star back on the path to redemption after his 11-year title drought.
This is not the first time the couple has openly displayed their affection in front of cameras. When Tiger won the Ryder Cup last September, he reportedly mouthed an 'I love you' at Herman.
The last decade was riddled with controversy for the golfing legend, especially after it was reported at the end of the last decade that he had slept with around 120 women while still being married to ex-wife Elin Nordegren. Things came to a bitter head when it was reported that when Nordegren discovered his indiscretions she attacked him with a golf club.
Woods took a self-imposed hiatus from the sport from December 2009 to early April 2010 in an attempt to resolve marital issues with his estranged wife Elin, but the couple eventually divorced in 2009 after six years of marriage. This had an effect on the champ and he fell to number 58 in the world rankings in November 2011.
Though Woods once again reach the No.1 ranking between March 2013 and May 2014, his personal problems persisted outside of golf, alongside injuries which led to him undergoing four back surgeries in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
He competed in only one tournament between August 2015 and January 2018, and even dropped out of the world's top 1000 golfers.
Woods was dogged by scandal once again after his DUI arrest in May 2017, when authorities found five different types of drugs in his system after he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his Cadillac Escalade. What's more? The embattled athlete had to also undergo surgery on his lower back last year after doctors told him they needed to fuse two of his vertebrae.
But all that seemed to have been much water under the bridge when Tiger threw his arms to the sky on Sunday after putting the 18th and final hole to secure his victory - a real snapshot in sports history.
Meanwhile, his stunning girlfriend, donning a sultry black wide-brimmed hat, cheered on the sidelines. But what do we know about the woman who has possibly "tamed the Tiger"?
In October 2017 at the President’s Cup tournament, Herman indirectly made the relationship official by wearing a "player spouse" badge - usually worn by wives and girlfriends of players at the event.
According to the rumor mills, Woods met his brunette girlfriend in 2017 through The Woods Jupiter, his pop-up restaurant in Florida, where she was employed as a general manager for several months until February 2018.
Once they started dating, Herman was often called a "gold-digger" and a "party girl" within her inner circle after she is alleged to have chased the pro golfer for almost a decade, according to Radar Online.
While it is not known if Woods hired Herman personally at his restaurant, they would have definitely crossed paths on several occasions during her time at the luxe sports bar. The Woods is a chic establishment, where guests are provided hot towels after their finger food by a welcoming staff who walk around in Nike trainers and high-end sportswear.
While Herman has no children of her own, The Florida native has been seen sitting with Tiger’s children. Tiger took his children Sam, 11, and Charlie, 9, and Erica to a trip to the Bahamas just two months after they made their relationship official in October 2017.
A month prior to that, when their relationship wasn't public yet, the restaurant manager was spotted sitting with Woods' children at the US Open in September 2017.
It was around this time that speculation was rife the legendary golfer had cheated on his ex Kristen Smith, with Herman, and it was later revealed they had split a month before he was publicly seen with Herman.
Herman even accompanied Woods to the court in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, just two days after going public with their relationship.
The pair put on a united front once again when they were spotted together in the Royal Box at Wimbledon in July 2018.
Now with the Green Jacket back on his shoulders again, and a steady partner on his arms, Tiger seemed to have turned a new leaf both in his professional and personal life.