Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods recently came back from an 8 month lay-off due to knee surgery and is trying to establish his dominance in the golf world. Let's see if that is possible and the timing for the comeback by analyzing his horoscope as per the priciple of Vedic Astrology, the science of horoscope as taught by Seers in the Hindu tradition more than four thousand years ago.

Virgo is rising in the natal chart at close to 1 degrees in the natal chart. The chart has many combinations of "raja yoga" and "maha raja yoga" or planetary combinations for great success. To be honest, I have seen very few charts of famous sports persons which are so dominating and has so many combinations of great success and it is no coincidence that Tiger is the most recgonizable and success athelete of our times. These combinations of great success are from all types of Ascendants, i.e. from Natal Ascendant, Arudha Lagna (externa image), Karaka Lagna (soul), and even Paka Lagna (intelligence). Some of these combinations are

1. Saturn in Cancer (quite common in charts of powerful individuals)


2. Ascendant lord Mercury in 5th house of achievements, popularity, and fan following


3. Great benefic, Jupiter placed 11th to Arudha Lagna (AL) in own sign of Pisces is a great boon and blessing as it is sitting nicely in a quadrant as well


4. Moon and Venus combination in 3rd house, placed 7th to AL


5. Karaka Lagna associated with 9th from Lagna - this is another combination for greatness


6. AL (which denotes his external image) with retrograde Mars projects aggressive image. This clearly explains why Tiger wears a dominant "red" shirt on victory Sundays. Retrograde Saturn and Rahu placed 3rd and 6th to AL make him a very strong competitor and virtually unbeatable


7. Lagna, Paka Lagna, AL, and Karaka Lagna all have association with their 7th house which enable desires to be fulfilled at all levels in life.

Planetary Periods

Tiger was born in Mercury-Saturn period and enjoyed great success from as early as 2 years of age and this can be seen from the position of Mercury and Saturn in the chart and the latter giving results of the 5th house in a raj yoga setting.

From 1984 to 2004 Tiger was in a Venus dasha and all the raja yogas associated with Venus fructified giving him immense success and popularity. The greatest successes in his life came during Venus-Saturn and Venus-Mercury periods and the Year 2000 is believed by all to be a watershed year in golfing history when virtually all the record books were re-written by Tiger and it is fairly clear from the chart as to the reason for the same.

There was a bit of a slowdown in Ven-Ketu dasha from 2003 to 2004 and Ketu gives mixed results since while on one hand there is a bit of a "vipareet raja yoga" or success after a lot of hard work but on the other hand Ketu is placed 12th to AL so the image of Tiger is affected and he can expect some losses as per his high standards. As a result, only a handful of victories came during this period. Ketu placed in 8th house resulted in transformation and Tiger was going through major swing changes at this time.

Sun Planetary Period 2004-present

This has been a very eventful planetary period to say the least. Leo lords the 12th house of losses in the chart and contains the manifested image of the career and Sun is placed 8th to the AL which sets up for tough times from an image point of view but Sun is placed favourably in the 4th house and hemmed by benefics and contains the Arudha of 7th house and gets aspect from poweful Jupiter which has a protective effect.

Nonetheless, Tiger lost his father during Sun planetary period which was a bit emotional strain for him given the close relationship they had and as can be seen from the chart as well. During Sun-Mercury-Venus period Tiger played the greatest game of his life but Mercury is lord of the Arudha of the 8th house and placed in Capricorn sign so also resulted in a knee injury and layoff.

Tiger is currently in Sun-Ketu period and similar to Venus-Ketu period as discussed before this is a time for hard work and transformation and wins are difficult to come by and it is a time for frustration as can be seen from his current play. Tiger managed one win during Sun-Ketu-Rahu dasha but it was very hard faught and the other player, Sean O Hair had a bit of a collapse in his game. Tiger did not catch such a break during the Masters tournament in 2009 and finshed outside the winner circle again.

What is wrong with Tiger Woods?

Well, nothing really. Astrologically speaking, Tiger is going through a cycle where he has to deal with some karmic debts and usually such a time is a bit frustrating but highly transformational. The good news for all golf fans is that Tiger's Sun-Venus period starts from June 11, 2009 and it promises to activate various raja yogas or combinations of greatness in the chart again which should make him a strong contender at the US Open and rest of the tournaments and majors in the year. Looking at other planetary combinations associated with the chart, the period from June-September would be a build up in form and the months of September to December are very favourable and he will come back to his dominant form that all golf fans are used to.