PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – The long anticipated public apology finally came this morning when Tiger Woods apologized to his family, friends, fans and business affiliates in a speech from the PGA tour’s TPC Sawgrass headquarters in Florida. Woods expressed regret for “irresponsible and selfish behavior.”
Woods said he let down his fans and friends, calling his behavior a “personal disappointment.” He also accepted full responsibility for his actions, saying “I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated.”
“I am deeply sorry for irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in,” he said. “I know people want to find out how I could be so selfish and so foolish… how I could have done these things to my wife Elin and my children.”
Elin did not appear in the room with Woods. With his mother in the room, Woods said he “brought this shame on myself.”
“I am so sorry,” he said. “I have a lot to atone for.”
Woods also addressed the night of the November accident where the media speculated that Elin had hit him with a golf club. “Elin never hit me that night, or any other night,” Woods firmly stated. “There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage.”
Woods also admitted he had been in in-patient treatment since December, and had “a long way to go.”
“It’s hard to admit that I need help,” he said. “But I do.”
Woods did not say whether he and his wife would stay together, saying that she told him his deeds, not words, would decide that.
Woods said that he will return to golf but he does not “know when that day will be.” He also criticized the media for intruding in the lives of his wife, children and mother. “Please leave my wife and kids alone,” he asked of the media.
When Woods finished speaking, Tim Finchem, PGA Tour commissioner, said that Woods was going back to sex addiction therapy.
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