Thaindian News

Apr 05 (THAINDIAN NEWS) As most everyone knows, Tiger Woods is returning to golf at the Master’s Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. He gave a press conference today and answered questions for the first time since the fateful car crash which started an avalanche of mistresses and revelations in the life of a once adored player.

Tiger is concerned because he has not played the game in so long. He hopes to get the first hole, but if not, hopefully it will be the second hole. He is looking forward to the first tee. “Getting out there and doing what I have done for a long time, I am looking forward to that.” When asked if he would be able to keep his mind focused on the game, Tiger replied,” Well I am going to try to get the ball into the hole as much as possible.”

Tiger went on to tell how pleasantly surprised he was that the fans were still cheering for him. He was unpleasantly surprised at the news articles by people who he was friends with, but knows that it was his own fault. When asked if he wanted to get caught, why he left so many loose ends which made getting caught inevitable, he said he did not know.

On the subject of Ambien and other prescription drugs, he said he had had 4 operations on his left knee, and that last year his torn Achilles made some of those drugs and treatments a necessity. Tiger said, when asked about his accident and whether Ambien played a part in it, that the police investigated for the accident and cited him 166 bucks, and it is closed. He did not say specifically whether or not there were drugs involved. He said he was on Ambien when his dad died to help him sleep and added that it was a very difficult time for him. Reporters asked him how his knee was now, and he answered that his knee feels great right now, the only time it doesn’t feel good is when a front comes through, and arthritis kicks in. He added, with a laugh, that he is getting older, after all. He is training as he used to. When asked about his doctor, he only said the FBI has his full co operation if they ever ask for it. “So far,they haven’t,” he added.

He was asked if he was still in rehab, and he said he was in for 45 days and took a hard look at himself. He is a much better person for it, but must continue with his treatment. When asked what it was for, he said “That is personal, thank you.” His reason for not coming forward before to answer questions was that he was not in a mindset to do so until now.

Tiger was able to rationalize the thought that he was “entitled” while he was feeling that way, by stating that the way he was thinking was not correct. That is where he was at, he was rationalizing, and in denial, and he lied to himself as well as everyone else. The way he was thinking caused so much harm to those he cared about. He said he did not see this until his treatment. He thinks he may have been able to play better if he had more control over his personal life. He said this is what he is headed for. He meditates daily, as he used to, and is going back to his roots in Buddhism with his mom. He said, “I just lost that and unfortunately lost myself in the process.” He said he was able to fool so many people for so long, because he was lying to himself. Once he stripped it all away and realized the full magnitude of his actions, it was pretty brutal. Tiger added that a saying from his dad “When you want to help people, you have to first be able to help yourself” was a huge revelation for him throughout all of this. Although he did not understand this saying before, he said that he wrote it down and read it everyday while in therapy.

Tiger stated that he did genuinely believe at one time that he may not come back to golf for a very long time. As he began to practice, he got “the itch” tho play again, and so much had transpired that he made the decision to come back. He was not ready until now physically, until now, and needed more time. He discussed how great it was to work with Hank again. He said he has a lot of support to come back and is happy about that. He will have his team around him, even though he lied to everyone, and he is very surprised at how much support he has.

He said he totally understood why his sponsors dropped him. He is hoping to be able to show companies going foreword that he is a good representative to make their company grow. He feels he did this before but his personal life made it bad for him.

The decision to go to therapy was made just prior to Christmas. He shared that having spent the day with his family was incredible, and having to go from there to treatment was very hard. He missed his son’s first birthday, which he added “hurt, very badly,” and has vowed he will never miss another one.”I can’t go back to where I was, I want to be a part of my son’s and my daughter’s life going forward.” Missing the birthday was something he said he will most likely regret for the rest of his life. “I need to be a better man going forward than I ever was before.” he added.