The Masters - Tiger: I lied and deceived

Reuters - Mon, 05 Apr 22:00:00 2010

Tiger Woods took full responsibility for the marital infidelities which led to his startling fall from grace and admitted he had lied and deceived a lot of people.

GOLF Tiger Woods during his first open press conference since returning from a break following a scandal about his private life - 0

"I lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people," the American world number one, who sported a goatee and wore a gray, yellow, pink and white-striped shirt and black trousers, told a packed news conference.

"I fooled myself as well. The full magnitude of it, it's pretty brutal."

Speaking before his comeback to competition at the Masters on Thursday, Woods said his Swedish wife Elin would not be attending the tournament.

He also pledged to give the game more respect in the future and said he would to try to tone down his occasional bad language and emotional outbursts out on the course.

Woods has not played professional golf since winning the Australian Masters on November 15 following revelations that he had had a string of extra-marital affairs.

"Coming into today I didn't know what to expect with regards to the reception," Woods said. "I tell you what the galleries couldn't have been nicer.

"The encouragement, it blew me away," added Woods who made noticeable efforts to engage with the fans. "The people here over the years are extremely respectful but today was something that touched my heart pretty good."

Woods played 18 holes in practice with 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples earlier in the day, and the pair were joined for the last six holes by 2003 US Open champion Jim Furyk.

Asked about his occasional temperamental on-course behaviour, he replied: "I'm going to try to not to get as hot, but that means I won't be as exuberant.

"I made a decision to try and tone down my negative outbursts and be more respectful of the game."

The 14-times Major champion also promised to focus much more on his life away from the course.

"It's not how much you win championships, it's how you live your life," he said. "I need to be a better man going forward than I've been before.

"If I win major championships along the way, so be it, but I want to help people along the way."

Woods spoke for 35 minutes in his first news conference since his private life unravelled at the end of last year.

The 34-year-old made a carefully managed public appearance with family and friends at US PGA Tour headquarters on Februray 19, saying he was sorry for cheating on his wife and that he was undergoing therapy.

He finally took questions from the media in two five-minute interviews with the Golf Channel and ESPN last month.

The scandal around Woods erupted after he crashed his car outside his Florida home in the middle of the night in November, a bizarre incident that triggered a storm of media speculation over his private life.

The minor accident led to a parade of women alleging affairs with the golfer.

The 2010 Masters starts on Thursday.

Reuters

Comment 74 - 93 of 93

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  1. If I'd have been Tiger Woods I'd have issued a­ short statement to the press :-

    "My private life­ is just that ... private. Now let's talk about­ golf."

    From quatt47, on Wed 7 Apr 2:16
  2. Go on Shagger make it number 15

    From The Trout, on Tue 6 Apr 23:07
  3. He denies taking drugs from the Canadian who he was­ involved with and is a known supplier of drugs to­ athletes. He admits he has lied and deceived!
    I know­ which statement I believe!

    From KEITH, on Tue 6 Apr 21:45
  4. No 90, gburton355: people like you NEVER progress in­ anything you do. as far as you are concerned, the best­ people ever in sports would be Babe Ruth, Vince­ Lombardi, Red Auerbach, Joe Loius, Wayne Gretzsky, and­ people like that simply because they were the great­ ones when YOU were growing up. So Niklaus beat Player,­ Palmer, Watson, Trevino and co, do you for one second­ assume that Woods would not dominate the same field?­ ....Yeah right, its a subjective argument and cannot be­ substantiated. Well, you are entitled to your biased,­ myopic opinion, but remember that your type are what­ make present players like Woods and Federer strive to­ dominate their rivals by winning record number of­ trophies, simply because people like you live in the­ past and need RECORDS to be convinced. Who cares about­ manners and courtesy? Do you think millions of people­ worldwide pay huge subscriptions and stay up at odd­ hours to watch courtesy and manners? We stay up to­ watch these guys win trophies...simple.

    From Hotshot, on Tue 6 Apr 19:13
  5. Most people dont care what Tiger Woods has done it is­ up to himself and his wife. what a fuss.!!!!! just go­ and play golf. His wife should go home and divoce him,­ and get all the money she can get off him, because that­ is what she wanted in the first place

    From Bunty, on Tue 6 Apr 18:36
  6. will this idiot ever stop apologising and whining like­ a big spoilt child, makes me sick.

    no one gives a @#$%­ mate...just go play some golf ffs.

    From chris, on Tue 6 Apr 18:19
  7. GREAT TO HAVE YOU BACK TIGER!!!!!!!!!!

    Here is one­ person hoping you do win th Masters this week

    Good­ Luck!!!

    From cgrundy61, on Tue 6 Apr 18:07
  8. god get over it sick of listening to you moaning on­ move on or shut up

    From kevin, on Tue 6 Apr 17:28
  9. Jude E 'sin of slavery on their­ heads' not­ me mate.

    Because he's black.....what­ rot.

    It's because people are sick and tired of­ these so called celebs being hypocrites. For goodness­ sake all he does is hit a ball round a golf course, and­ no i don't suppose i could do what he does but then­ i've never tried, but then again he probably is not­ as skilled at some of the things i can do.
    Do we really­ care what Mr Woods or any other high paid sports person­ does? well i don't.

    From 1, on Tue 6 Apr 17:16
  10. who cares? not bothering me!

    From Laura O, on Tue 6 Apr 17:07
  11. I respect Tiger. he is showing a lot of remorse; yeah­ mainly becoz he got caught out. But he has figured out­ just how things dont look so good for him anymore which­ to me is admirable. so much for living a charmed life­ hey, but...do remember guys, 'let he without sin­ cast the first stone'. There is so much that­ happens under these roofs were we live and all becoz we­ aint famous enough our @#$% doesnt go popping off on Tv­ or gets scripted in these tabloids......consider­ yourselves very lucky indeed that u may scribe about­ another man and pass judgement on his personal life­ which honestly we know very little of, infact we only­ know what we have heard and seen on TV and in tabloids­ which really is shameful. As for me, i have learned to­ believe nothing of what i hear or read and only 50% of­ what i see.

    From francis, on Tue 6 Apr 16:28
  12. Go Tiger!

    From Thibault L, on Tue 6 Apr 16:18
  13. He should have finished his apology with, " Oh!­ Now I've done the apology thing please can I have­ my sponsorship deals back." There's nothing­ like hitting a man in his wallet to apparantly reduce­ his arrogance and get a staged apology.

    From Dave S, on Tue 6 Apr 15:50
  14. Infidelity shouldn't be a crime depending from what­ side you view it. In certain cultures one could get­ married to more than one wife or husband while in­ others not therefore, for this is unofficial­ let's not turn to over blow the flame bcse those on­ the other side may look at us as kidding.Now we have­ issue that we need to completely condemeed because our­ children shouldn't copy like carring knves,Guns and­ all other dangerous weapon that can cuase Dead.The­ press always turn blind eyes or what is bringing us­ more division in the socisal fabric like racism and so­ on bcse there, the powers that be has not much­ interest.If they claim that is for our little once not­ to copy how many of them would understand infility as­ compered to racial manouvers and killings etc? from­ Francisbn@ekem in luton

    From francis, on Tue 6 Apr 15:47
  15. He made a mistake, got caught...but the only people­ that should be listening to all of this should be his­ family & friends! I think the media &­ everybody else should leave them alone to sort out,­ I've had enough of his personal life...I now want­ to watch the golf!!

    From AAPPA, on Tue 6 Apr 15:42
  16. What did he do that was so wrong?

    If he was a­ Frenchman or Italian or for that matter any European­ it's a personal matter. The yanks, much as I have­ the highest respect for them, are too highly strung­ about such things. So what? He's not a rapist or­ child molester. All his conquests were more than­ willing participants and he did n't abandon his­ wife. Whose to say that she is easy to live with'­ as another point.

    From Patrick, on Tue 6 Apr 15:34
  17. There is some real rubbish on here, as follows Tiger­ Woods is a golfer to the public he owes no more or less­ than playing golf and being polite. His private life­ are his and his wifes issues, the story is old now and­ people have had a pound of flesh so lets move on. As­ for carrying the responsibilities of slavery what is­ this utter cr@p, I carry no responsibility for slavery­ how could I, I am 44 years old there has been no­ slavery in the worlds of America or Europe in my­ lifetime. So unless you carry the responsibilities of­ black children robbing and mugging in the ghetto or­ Somalian pirates kidnapping and murdering or Mugabee­ killing and butchering inocent people, then just keep­ your racist clap trap to yourself. Racism works all­ ways to all races creeds and colours of people and­ until we all rise away from the excuses of and for it­ we will never escape its shadow.

    From neil, on Tue 6 Apr 15:25
  18. The only reason is sorry and ashamed is because he got­ caught....and funnily enough hes now a sex addict!! now­ come on.....how stupid does he think we are!

    From CLAIRE, on Tue 6 Apr 15:09
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    just change and thats it...people like you deserve to­ be punished by God you are abusing...you should go down­ and be poor so that you will know how the poor people­ sacrificed a lot and you are so rich ,very blessed but­ you never behaved God will punish those wicked­ people...

    From YEN, on Tue 6 Apr 15:02
  20. I have to agree with Carl C , as i saw woods first hand­ at the 97 ryder cup at valderama for 5 days. he was­ rude , arrogant, and his attitude was that of a @#$%t­ rather than a golfer. Even his caddie then who was­ Fluff Cowan, was a total D@head.

    Compared to couples,­ lehman,love and justin leonard who chatted politely­ with the european fans, had photos and joked with the­ "enemy". i am not bothered if he wins more­ majors or not, in my eyes he will NEVER be in the same­ league as Nicklaus, why because Nicklaus won his majors­ beating legends of the game, like Palmer,player,watson,­ trevino, floyd, miller, Seve,and even Faldo.

    What a­ W'nker

    From gburton355, on Tue 6 Apr 15:01
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