Woods apologizes for actions, plans to 'one day' return to golf
By PGATOUR.COM staff
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods apologized repeatedly for his infidelity Friday in his first public appearance in nearly three months, and said that he will continue to undergo treatment before eventually returning to the PGA TOUR.
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"Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me," said Woods, who held his much-anticipated appearance at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse. "I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in."
It was the first time the general public had seen Woods since since his car accident Nov. 27 outside his Windermere, Fla., home.
Woods said he will re-enter therapy starting Saturday in hopes of rebuilding his personal life, and that he has no plans to retire from the sport that has made him one of the world's most recognizable athletes.
"I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don't know when that day will be," Woods said. "I don't rule out that it will be this year. When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game."
The appearance lasted nearly 15 minutes. Afterwards, he hugged his mother in an heartfelt embrace and hugged several other close acquaintances. He also shook hands with other members of the 40-person audience.
"I said 'I'm so proud of you. Never think you stand alone. Mom will always be there for you and I love you,'" Kultida Woods said.
PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, one of those who shook hands with Woods after the speech, said he thinks the top-ranked golfer will achieve the goals that Woods outlined for himself Friday.
"He laid out this morning, I think, what he feels like he needs to deal with," the commissioner said. "And from my personal perspective of watching him over the years, I give him an excellent chance to manage to do exactly that. I'll just take him for the roadmap that he laid out this morning and look forward to seeing how that progresses.
Looking poised and sincere, Woods admitted that he had affairs and cheated on his wife, Elin, who did not attend Friday's announcement.
" What I did is not acceptable," Woods said, " and I am the only person to blame. I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself."
Woods added that he and Elin have started the process of discussing the damage done by his behavior. "As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words; it will come from my behavior over time," Woods said.
Woods made a point of addressing rumors of what happened on the night that he crashed his SUV.
"I have a lot to atone for, but there is one issue I really want to discuss," Woods said. "Some people have speculated that Elin somehow hurt or attacked me on Thanksgiving night. It angers me that people would fabricate a story like that. Elin never hit me that night or any other night. There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage, ever. Elin has shown enormous grace and poise throughout this ordeal. Elin deserves praise, not blame."
Woods said he spent 45 days from the end of December to early February undergoing therapy. He said that it was difficult for him to admit he needed help, "but I do." He added, "I have a long way to go. But I've taken my first steps in the right direction."
In addition to his mother and commissioner Finchem, another person in attendance was golfer Notah Begay, a teammate of Woods when the two played at Stanford.
Reaction throughout the golf community to Woods' statement was swift.
"I think it was a sincere apology," said Luke Donald, one of the 16 players still alive in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Ariz. "... Hopefully he'll get the help he needs and he'll be back on TOUR whenever he's better."
"I have never seen him appear so vulnerable," CBS golf analyst David Feherty said. " ... I was very impressed with what he said. The vast number of people just want their Tiger Woods back."
Former champion Nick Faldo, whose own personal life has been subject to media scrutiny over the years, watched Woods and told the GOLF Channel: "It has left a big question mark: When is he going to return? We have had the apology but as golfers we are back at square one."
One of Woods' good friends, Mark O'Meara, told the GOLF Channel: "It's a step in the right direction. I feel badly for what's happened. It is a private matter to me. He is dong the right things. He has meant a lot to this game. In all, I know he is very regretful for the things that he has done. I know that he is sincere."
"I think he was very genuine in his responses and his statement," Debert Cook, publisher of African American Golfer's Digest, said on BBC News 24 television in London. "I think we are entering a whole new era spiritually and emotionally for Tiger Woods. There's always going to be the doubters out there, but I think we have to take him at his word and watch his actions."
Even observers outside the golf world weighed in.
ABC's George Stephanopoulos, a former political adviser, called the speech "one of the most remarkable public apologies ever by a public figure. He (Tiger) left nothing on the table This is a man who has thought a lot about what he did."
The PGA TOUR made available its sprawling, Mediterranean-styled clubhouse for the announcement, and helped set up adjacent ballrooms at the nearby Sawgrass Marriott for media, where they watched Woods on closed-circuit TV.
About 300 people had registered as media at the site, and about 25 satellite trucks were parked outside Friday. Television crews by the dozen were broadcasting from the scene.
At the Accenture Match Play Championship, approximately 35 reporters and a handful of cameras waited to speak to players before the start of the third round.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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