Tiger Woods ‘deeply sorry’ but non-committal on return to golf
Published: Last updated:
World number one Tiger Woods has apologised for his “irresponsible and selfish behaviour” but failed to name a date when he would return to golf.
A tired-looking Woods spoke to media, friends and family at PGA Tour Headquarters, Sawgrass, Florida, for around 15 minutes and revealed that he’d spent much of December and January in therapy for the issues he’s been dealing with.
The majority of the press conference was taken up by repeated apologies to the people he’s hurt including his family, those who work for him and the PGA Tour, but he left talk of the future to the very end.
Many expected Woods to be teeing it up at Augusta for this year’s Masters but that now looks unlikely.
He said: “I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don’t know when that day will be. I don’t rule out that it will be this year.”
He went on to say he had to read the statement today, during the Accenture World Match Play tournament, because he is returning to therapy on Monday.
As well as apologising repeatedly, Tiger took the opportunity to point the finger at the media for following and reporting on Elin and his children.
Tiger finished the press conference by hugging his mother and embracing close friends.
Woods decided to take an ‘indefinite break’ from golf on December 11 in an effort to save his marriage after admitting ‘infidelity’ and ‘transgressions’.
Woods’ personal problems became public knowledge when the world number one crashed his car while leaving his house in mysterious circumstances in the early hours of November 27.
In the days and weeks after the crash a number 11 alleged mistresses came forward in the media.
On December 2, Woods issued a statement on his website vaguely apologising for his ‘transgressions’.
A number of sponsors including Accenture, Gatorade, Tag Heuer, AT&T and Buick have all scaled down their use of Woods or dropped sponsorship altogether.