Posted on 02/19/2010 9:16:23 AM PST by MaestroLC
Many of you in this room are my friends. Many of you in this room know me. Many of you have cheered for me or you worked with me or you supported me. Now, every one of you has good reason to be critical of me.
I want to say to each of you simply and directly: I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.
I know people want to find out how I could be so selfish and so foolish. People want to know how I could have done these things to my wife Elin and to my children, and while I have always tried to be a private person, there are some things I want to say. Elin and I have started the process of discussing the damage caused by my 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. We have a lot to discuss, however what we say to each other will remain between the two of us. I am also aware of the pain my behavior has caused to those of you in this room. I have let you down and I have let down my fans. For many of you, especially my friends, my behavior has been a personal disappointment.
To those of you who work for me: I have let you down personally and professionally.
My behavior has caused considerable worry to my business partners, to everyone involved in my foundation, including my staff, board of directors, sponsors, and most importantly the young students we reach. Our work is more important than ever. Thirteen years ago, my dad and I envisioned helping young people achieve their dreams through education. This work remains unchanged and will continue to grow. From the learning center students in Southern California to the Earlwood stars in Washington, D.C., millions have kids have changed their lives and I am dedicated to making sure that it continues.
But still, I know I have barely disappointed all of you. I have made you question who I am and how I could have done the things I did. I am embarrassed that I have put you in this position. For all that I have done, I am so sorry. I have a lot to atone for, but there is one issue I really want to discuss. Some people have speculated that Elin either 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. The issue involved here was my repeated, irresponsible behavior. I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did was not acceptable. 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. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by.
I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them. I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife's family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me. I've had a lot of time to think about what I've done. My failures have made me look at myself in a way I have never wanted to before.
It's now up to me to make amends and that starts by never repeating the mistakes I made. It's up to me to start living a life of integrity. I once heard, and I believe it's true, It's not what you achieve in life that matters, it's what you overcome.
The achievements on the golf course are only part of setting an example. Character, and decency are what really count.
Parents used to point to me as a role model for their kids. I owe all those families a special apology. I want to state to them that I am truly sorry. It's hard to admit that I need help, but I do. For 45 days – from the end of December, I was in in-patient therapy receiving guidance for the issues I'm facing. I have a long way to go.
But I have taken my first steps in the right direction. As I proceed, I understand people have questions. I understand the press wants to ask me the details and the times I was unfaithful.
I understand people want to know whether Elin and I will remain together. Please know, that as far as I'm concerned, every one of these questions and answers is a matter between Elin and me.
These are issues between a husband and a wife. Some people have made up things that never happened. They said I used performance-enhancing drugs. This is completely and utterly false. Some have written things about my family.
Despite the damage I have done, I still believe it is right to shield my family from the public spotlight. They did not do these things. I did.
I have always tried to maintain a private space for my wife and children. They have been kept separate from y sponsors, my commercial endorsements. When my children were born, we only released photographs so that the paparazzi could not chase them.
However, my behavior doesn't make it right for the media to follow my two and a half year old daughter to school and report the school's location. They staked out my wife and they pursued my mom.
Whatever my wrongdoings, for the sake of my family, please leave my wife and kids alone. I recognize I have brought this on myself and I know above all I am the one who needs to change. I owe to my family to become a better person. I owe to those closest to me to become a better man. That's where my focus will be. I have a lot of work to do, and I tend to dedicate myself to doing it.
Part of following this path, for me, is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age.
People probably don't realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist and I actively practice my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years.
Buddhism teaches that the craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught.
As I move forward, I will continue to receive help because I have learned that's how people really do change. Starting tomorrow, I will leave for more treatment and more therapy. I would like to thank my friends at Accenture and the players in the field this week for understanding why I'm making these remarks today. In therapy, I have learned the importance of looking at my spiritual life and keeping it in balance with my professional life.
I need to regain my balance and be centered so I can save the things that are most important to me: my marriage and my children.
That also means relying on others for help. I learned to seek support from my peers in therapy and I hope someday to return that support to others who are seeking help.
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. When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game.
In recent weeks, I have received many thousands of e-mails, letters and phone calls from people expressing good wishes. To everyone who has reached out to me and my family: Thank you. Your encouragement means the world to Elin and me.
I want to thank the PGA Tour, commissioner Finchem, and the players for their patience and understanding while I work on my private life. I look forward to seeing my players on the course.
Today, I want to ask for your help. I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again. Thank you.
And to show my understanding and repentence, I'm going to RUN right back into this same situation just as fast as I possibly can.
“let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” clearly invokes the idea that judging another based on their character is not sinless in itself.
I agree with you. It was not just about sex this guy was having sex with MANY including two porn stars and he was not always using a condom! He then goes back and sleeps with his wife! This is the modern world where everybody knows about AIDS and other diseases that have now become resistant to drugs.If I were his wife I would run for my LIFE.
...without sin...cast...first stone...
who has repented is the question.
he does looked changed, like this made a huge impact on his life. the journey to healing himself and his marriage is a long one. he’s just getting started. I will let him try...it’s his wife and children he wronged.
Wow... I wish I was as perfect and without sin as everyone who posts on this thread. I sure hope nobody you people care about ever make a single mistake because they are screwed.
Hypocrites.
From National Review:
A Mature Apology [Mark DeMoss]
I would applaud Tiger for his remarks this morning. Having watched his televised apology carefully, I would not assume the cynical posture many observers have already assumed. It’s easy to critique a speech after it has been given. Earlier this week, I proposed what I would have advised him to say and do had he been my client, and he did convey some of those thoughts and much of the tone, all of which I think served him well.
Sure, the format and ground rules were different than many of us would have preferred or recommended, but we’re not Tiger.
I give him credit for saying “I’m sorry,” for acknowledging his responsibility for his behavior and for seeking and asking for help.
Words like “irresponsible,” “selfish,” “unfaithful,” “affair,” and “shame” replaced the words like “mistake” and “indiscretion” that we often hear from people who have failed morally. I think his ownership of his behavior and its consequences is commendable.
In many ways, I think today may prove to be the day that a Tiger became a man.
— Mark DeMoss is president of The DeMoss Group, a Christian public-relations firm.
It was more than cheating on his wife! Dang he slept with many women some of them porn stars and did NOT always use condoms then goes back to sleep with his wife. Did he ever think of AIDS, he could have gave that to his wife and child when she was pregnant. One of the porn stars said she got pregnant twice which could have happened since he slept with so many women not using a condom. The one woman said she aborted a baby and the other baby was a miscarriage. So Tiger can’t think to himself that one of these women could get pregnant, then what were they suppose to do he wasn’t going to marry them although he professed endearing love to many of them. This behavior is accepted today because it’s suppose to be just about sex, but it’s more than that. But Tiger was professing his desire of going back to Buddhism as Brett Hume said do they repent do they ask forgiveness as in Christianity. My heart so breaks for Elin as a woman and this is just another attack on the family which God instituted.
I thought the very same thing. I wondered when he was speaking if he would apologize to the other women...half expected him to, but alas, he did not.
Why should he apologize to them? They knew who he was, that he was married with children, and they didn’t care. They should have been up there apologizing to Elin as well. They are just as guilty as he is!
The only ones who deserve an apology are his mom, wife and kids, just like he said.
If Tiger can send me some serious money i will accept his apology
This is true. I’m not sure how much it applies here. I know I haven’t cheated, and I’m not judging Tiger, merely his actions and his sincerity. Surely it must have dawned on him at some point over the course of several years that what he was doing was wrong. Yet he continues. As I understand it while his wife was pregnant as well.
I just watched the whole thing and thought it was very humbling. The man has been famous from childhood. Now he is explaining how he thought he was above it all and deserved to satisfy every whim. It came crashing in on him, and he wants to change his life, from inside out. He’s hurt and offended everyone he knows and can even imagine. His life turned to sh*t. He knows it’s all his fault.
He wants to become a whole person, with integrity. This will be brand new to him. This will be very hard. But getting caught was the only way he could ever haven been forced to see that his entire paradigm of life was wrong. It ends up being a good thing he was busted.
I fully support him and I hope he succeeds.
Hey Rev — you should be running those therapy groups!
It is really none of our business whether he confessed or not. Had it been me I would have told the world to kiss my a** and gone ahead and played golf. He is not an elected official, he gets paid to play golf and he does that well from what I understand. He doesn't owe you, or anyone except his wife, and explanation and apology. Whether she accepts or not is up to her, not his fans.
I am sorry but most of the people bitching about Tiger Woods sound like they have a bad case of "fame" envy to me. I don't like golf, I don't play it and I don't watch it, but anyone who thinks a sports star owes his fans every damn detail about their private life are simply full of it.
Some of the posters on these threads sound positively demented.
But I don't know that he didn't lead them on to think he had a bad marriage and was contemplating divorce, which seemed to be his MO.
Yes, you're right that they shouldn't have been dating a married man..BUT...think about Mel Gibson's girl friend. HE left his wife and family to marry HER.
sw
Reminds me of Michael Vick, until I can get away with it again...
Tell me Tiger isn’t slipping his own mom ‘the tongue’ in the picture on Drudge.
You are a kinder and more forgiving person than I. If my husband cheated, I’d despise them both.
And if the husband leaves the wife to be with the mistress, all she’s getting is a cheater!
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