Woods is back: "Pain I caused" makes victory irrelevant (Roundup)

Apr 5, 2010, 20:54 GMT

New York - A contrite Tiger Woods returned to tournament golf Monday for the first time since news broke of his numerous extra-marital affairs last November, but said that all his past victories were unimportant compared to the pain he had caused his family.

Woods conducted a practice session Monday at the Augusta, Georgia course to prepare for the Masters tournament on Thursday.

Then he had his first press conference since the scandal broke, revealing that he underwent 45 days of rehab and was continuing treatment. He refused to specify what exactly he was being treated for, despite widespread reports of treatment for sex addiction.

Woods appeared relaxed and smiling on the practice round and at the later press conference, in which he also denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs. He said he understood why many of his corporate sponsors dropped him.

'The fact that I won golf tournaments was irrelevant compared to the damage I've caused,' Woods said. 'I was rationalizing, I was denying, I lied to myself and to others. The way I was acting caused so much pain to the people I cared most about on the planet.'

Woods said the break and the self-reckoning he had undergone had renewed his appetite for the game.

'I haven't looked forward to the tee-off like this for a long time,' he said. 'It feels like fun again, that's something I've been missing.'

Asked about his expectations for the tournament, he sounded almost like the Tiger Woods of old.

'Nothing's changed,' he said. 'I want to go out there and win this thing.'

But Woods was adamant that he had changed his approach both to golf and the personal issues that sparked such an uproar.

'I have made a conscious decision to try to tone down my negative outbursts and show my respect for the game,' Woods said, adding that he would also show more appreciation for the fans, whom he admitted ignoring in recent years. 'That was wrong of me,' he said.

Woods also admitted the error of his ways in his personal life, where it is alleged he conducted affairs with over a dozen women.

'I've lied and decived a lot of people,' he said. 'I acted terribly poorly and made so many bad decisions that have hurt so many people close to me. Realizing the full magnitude of it is pretty brutal.'

Woods said that he placed no blame on the company sponsors that decided to drop him after the scandal broke.

'I do understand why they dropped me, of course' he said. 'Hopefully I can prove to the other companies going forward that I'm a worthwhile investment and can represent their companies well.'

Woods also repeated arguments that he made in a Fenruary television interview, blaming his downfall on his failure to adhere to the Buddhism taught to him by his parents, and revealing that he is a changed person as he continues to undergo treatment following his spell in rehab.

'I should have been more centred and balanced,' he said. 'I meditate religiously again like I used to. I went back to the Buddhism that I learnt with my mom.'

Woods also revealed that on the night the scandal broke, when he crashed his car outside his Florida mansion, he had suffered a cut lip and sore neck. But he defended his reticence about talking to the police following the incident. 'I did everything according to the letter of the law. I followed my lawyer's advice.'