Woods gives first interview since crash

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ESPN.com

Tiger Woods took questions from reporters for the first time in four months Sunday, saying "I've done some pretty bad things in my life" and that he doesn't know what kind of reception he'll get when he returns to competitive golf at the Masters.

"I'm a little nervous about that to be honest with you," Woods told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi, who asked him what he expects when he returns to golf on April 8 following an auto accident which led to an indefinite leave from professional golf and an admission of multiple affairs. "It would be nice to hear a couple claps here and there."


“
I was living a life of a lie, I really was. And I was doing a lot of things ... that hurt a lot of people. And stripping away denial and rationalization you start coming to the truth of who you really are and that can be very ugly. But then again, when you face it and you start conquering it and you start living up to it, the strength that I feel now ... I've never felt that type of strength.

”
-- Tiger Woods in interview with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi
Woods conducted two interviews Sunday afternoon at Isleworth, the golf club near his home in Windermere, Fla. In addition to ESPN, Woods spoke with the Golf Channel. The interview was offered to ESPN with no restrictions on questions, but with a five-minute time limitation, plus an agreement to hold it for airing on television beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. ESPN's complete interview will air on "SportsCenter."

Woods hasn't been questioned by reporters since he was involved in a one-car crash outside his Florida home in the early-morning hours of Nov. 27. He declined to answer questions about the specifics of the accident ("You know it's all in the police report," he said. "Beyond that everything's between [wife] Elin and myself and that's private.") and specifics about his infidelity, though he did tell Rinaldi that "just one is enough ... and obviously that wasn't the case."

After his auto accident, Woods eventually admitted to infidelity and said Dec. 11 he would take an "indefinite break" from golf. Woods spoke publicly for the first time Feb. 19, when he confessed to cheating on his wife. But he didn't take any questions after his 13-plus-minute statement.

"I hurt a lot of people, not just my wife," he told Rinaldi on Sunday. "My friends, my colleagues, the public, kids who looked up to me. There were a lot of people that thought I was a different person and my actions were not according to that. That's why I had to apologize. I was so sorry for what I had done."

He was in a Mississippi clinic from Dec. 31 until Feb. 11, then went to an Arizona clinic for a week of family counseling after his Feb. 19 statement.

He didn't say what he was in treatment for, but did say "It was really tough to look at yourself in a light you never want to look at yourself, that's pretty brutal."

Woods said that he didn't seek addiction treatment sooner because "I didn't know I was that bad." He said he married Elin in 2004 "because I loved her" and that his wife was "shocked," "hurt," and "angry" when he told her of his actions.

He called telling his wife and his mother among his lowest points.

"I hurt them the most," he said. "Those are the two people in my life who I'm closest to and to say the things that I've done, truthfully to them [was] very painful."

Asked how well the world knows him, Woods said: "A lot better now. I was living a life of a lie, I really was. And I was doing a lot of things, like I said, that hurt a lot of people. And stripping away denial and rationalization you start coming to the truth of who you really are and that can be very ugly.

"But then again, when you face it and you start conquering it and you start living up to it, the strength that I feel now," he said, "... I've never felt that type of strength."

Woods returned to practice when he got home from Arizona. Swing coach Hank Haney joined him last week. Woods announced on March 16 that he would return at the Masters, a tournament he has won four times (most recently in 2005).

Woods, who will have been idle for 144 days, said he is ready to return to golf.

"I'm excited to get back and play, I'm excited to get to see the guys again," he said. "I really miss a lot of my friends out there. I miss competing. But still, I still have a lot more treatment to do, and just because I'm playing, doesn't mean I'm [going to] stop going to treatment."

Woods last played on the PGA Tour in the Tour Championship on Sept. 28, 2009, where he finished second. Woods won the Australian Masters in Melbourne on Nov. 15 for his 82nd worldwide victory.