Kultida Woods, whose guidance and support helped propel her son, the professional golfer Tiger Woods, to become one of his sport’s most dominant athletes, died on Tuesday. She was 78.
Mr. Woods announced the death on social media. He did not cite a cause or say where she died.
“She was my biggest fan, greatest supporter,” he wrote; “without her none of my personal achievements would have been possible.”
Ms. Woods was a frequent presence in her son’s public life, whether attending his tournaments or standing by his side during a period of scandal that took him away from the sport. Mr. Woods spoke often about his mother’s role in his career.
“I didn’t do this alone,” he said in a speech in 2024, accepting the Bob Jones Award from the United States Golf Association. “I had the greatest rock that any child could possibly have: my mom.”
Kultilda Punsawad was born in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, on Sept. 30, 1946, and met Earl Woods in the country when she was a secretary in Bangkok and he was on a military assignment. (The elder Mr. Woods died in 2006.)
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