Tiger Woods always rises to the occasion. However, not even his most ardent supporters were expecting this performance.

In the past few months the magnificent South China tiger has emulated his namesake and written himself into the history books. He has fathered not just one but three cubs — the first to be born in captivity — and has possibly saved an entire species from extinction.

After years of showing little interest in two beautiful tigresses, he was apparently spurred into action by the arrival last summer of a rival. Stud 327, as he is known, was flown out from a zoo in China to take the lead role in a controversial breeding programme. He was a flop. More used to human beings than tigers, he found the playful flirting of the eager females intimidating and fled back to his cage whenever he was expected to perform.

That was when Tiger Woods stepped up to the plate. Two cubs were born last week, after the arrival of the first offspring in November.

News of the latest arrivals was kept under wraps until the project organisers were confident that the mother — a long, slinky tigress called Cathay — would not reject them. Tiger Woods, who arrived in the reserve aged only seven months in November 2004, is, meanwhile, on a roll. A second tigress by the name of Madonna is expected to give birth shortly.

The South China tiger, the tiger from which all others are descended, is the most threatened of all. There are thought to be only 10 to 20 left in the wild, though one has not been sighted for more than 20 years. About another 60 live in zoos across China, some in deplorable conditions, and by some estimates will have died out by 2010. The International Union for Conservation of Nature even declared the South China tiger extinct in 2002.

That was the catalyst for a remarkable conservation effort and Tiger Woods’ own journey from China to the plains of southern Africa.

In addition to taking part in a breeding programme, four tigers have been taken from zoos in China and released into huge fenced-in enclosures in South Africa, where they are being taught to hunt wild animals. The hope is that they will pass on those skills to their offspring, who will have minimal contact with human beings before they themselves are released back into special reserves in China.

The “re-wilding and breeding” programme is the brainchild of Li Quan, a Beijing-born former fashion executive. With the help of Stuart Bray, her London-based investment banker husband, she poured millions of pounds into creating the 33,000hectare (82,000-acre) Laohu Valley Reserve, in the Free State, where the experiment is taking place.

At the same time Li Quan lobbied the Chinese authorities to create reserves in China where the “re-wilded” tigers — which are revered in their homeland — could be returned and set free. Many conservation “experts” scoffed at the idea. They regard the South China tiger as a lost cause and wanted resources and energy put into saving other species, such as the Siberian and Bengal tigers.

Li Quan told The Times: “As the top animal of the eco-chain, the tiger’s disappearance would mean the destruction and deprivation of the whole ecosystem . . . It is important to save the tiger as the perfect symbol of what our Great Nature can create.”

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