Revealing Tiger Interview (TIME.com)

[boogielicious]

http://time.com/tiger/

Nice article with Tiger being reflective.

Quote

Tiger Woods was raised to be a champion. Groomed by a father who put a golf club in his hands before he could walk, Woods has been one of the most dominant athletes of all time since turning pro at 20 in the summer of 1996. His 14 major tournament championships are second only to Jack Nicklaus’ total of 18, a record he once seemed destined to surpass. But Woods hasn’t won another major since 2008, before his infidelities led to a high profile divorce from Elin Nordegren in 2010. His recent comeback attempts have been derailed by injuries.

Now, Woods is facing the very real possibility that his record-setting career will be over by the time he turns 40 on Dec. 30. Ahead of that milestone, Woods sat down for a rare one-on-one interview with TIME at his restaurant in Jupiter, Fla. With a bag of ice on his back, Woods talked about his desire to keep playing, his relationship with his ex-wife, why he and Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn broke up, the highs and lows of his career on the course and his feelings about watching golf on TV (“I can’t stand it”).

 

[nevets88]

You beat me by "this" much.  Posted this in the master thread.

 

[boogielicious]

1 minute ago, nevets88 said:

You beat me by "this" much.  Posted this in the master thread.

 

Winner winner, chicken dinner! The answer below is very refreshing.

Quote

It’s always been said that one of the things that has driven you is Jack’s 18 majors. [Jack Nicklaus set the career record for major victories between 1962 and 1986.] If your career stopped now, that’s obviously out of the question.

I don’t want it to happen. Without a doubt. I do not. With all my heart, I do not want to stop playing golf. But the flip side is, my kids’ lives are much more important to me. Now, if I can do both, that is an ideal world. It’s a win-win. If I can only do one, it wouldn’t be golf. It would be my kids. That’s still a win-win.

 

 

[newtogolf]

I agree it's refreshing, but I'm curious if he reached that conclusion independently or if it was driven by the fact that he's been injured and struggling with his golf game so the chances he'd actually tie or beat Jack's record were minimal.

[boogielicious]

Quote

Did you begin to see this after you turned pro, or earlier?

I didn’t play for any attention. I played for the hardware. I wanted to know that I beat everyone in this field, and I wanted them to know that they got their butt kicked. That to me was the absolute pure pleasure of competing. But then, I got noticed for that. But when I first started playing, I was a little kid, say, in the nine and unders, and 11 and under, there was nobody there, but I still want to kick your butt. That never changed. Then people started to take notice of those wins. But I had been doing it since I was very little. By the time I was 11 years old, I had already won 113 tournaments. I peaked at 11, to be honest with you. I went 36 and 0 that year, never lost a tournament, all in California. And I probably had the cutest girlfriend in all of sixth grade. And I had straight As. No A-minuses. They were all perfect A’s. I peaked at 11“. I’ve been trying to get back to that since

 

[nevets88]

I skimmed the piece, first read and missed this part. Ouch.

Quote

I’ll never forget when I really hurt my back and it was close to being done, I was practicing out back at my house. I hit a flop shot over the bunker, and it just hit the nerve. And I was down. I didn’t bring my cell phone. I was out there practicing and I end up on the ground and I couldn’t call anybody and I couldn’t move. Well, thank God my daughter’s a daddy’s girl and she always wants to hang out. She came out and said, “Daddy, what are you doing lying on the ground?” I said, “Sam, thank goodness you’re here. Can you go tell the guys inside to try and get the cart out, to help me back up?” She says, “What’s wrong?” I said, “My back’s not doing very good.” She says, “Again?” I say, “Yes, again, Sam. Can you please go get those guys?”

 

[mvmac]

Great interview. Well worth the time to read.

Bit about Tiger and Elin being BFFs.

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"In hindsight, it’s not how I would change 2009 and how it all came about. It would be having a more open, honest relationship with my ex-wife. Having the relationship that I have now with her is fantastic. She’s one of my best friends. We’re able to pick up the phone, and we talk to each other all the time. We both know that the most important things in our lives are our kids. I wish I would have known that back then."

"We’re like best friends. It’s fun. She talks to me about her life, I talk to her about my life. We try and help each other out on all occasions. And we work through it with the kids, the parenting program. She is one of my best friends now, and it’s all because of my kids."

 

[newtogolf]

If it's true and I have no reason to question it, it's great they are best friends.  Divorce takes the biggest toll on kids, especially when the parents have nothing but resentment and hate towards each other.

While Tiger made some mistakes in his personal life, he seems to be doing everything possible to make things right, hopefully the haters take notice of this as well and his flaws.

[colin007]

Do you ever wish your name weren’t Tiger?
Put it this way. I’m glad my dad didn’t name me Richard. That would be a long day. Tiger is O.K., but Richard would have been tough.

 

lolololol...

[collapse]

I just can't warm up to TW...seems so phony.

[jbishop15]

12 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Do you ever wish your name weren’t Tiger?
Put it this way. I’m glad my dad didn’t name me Richard. That would be a long day. Tiger is O.K., but Richard would have been tough.

 

lolololol...

That was really funny. 

[nevets88]

This was a really good piece/interview. When I first loaded it, I only saw the part above the first video and thought it was short and wondered where all the quotes were coming from.

His bits about the media, how the announcers don't scope out the course, dress codes, his relationship w/Vonn, very forthcoming, not fake at all. How he muted the PGA. Wish he interviewed like this from the beginning.

[RFKFREAK]

A really enlightening interview.  I think it's great how much he mentions his kids and spending time with them.

This was also pretty interesting and I agree with it:

Quote

Does golf have too much emphasis on a dress code?
You think? O.K., how many clubs do you have to put a sport coat on, to go into the clubhouse? Or you can’t wear a hat on backward. Or shorts. At Augusta, you can’t wear shorts. I made the mistake myself. I know. I had shorts on, but thank God I had rain pants in my golf bag.

 

[Shindig]

Man, I can't imagine peaking at eleven.  What a life Tiger has had so far.

Great article.

[jamo]

1 hour ago, mvmac said:

Great interview. Well worth the time to read.

Bit about Tiger and Elin being BFFs.

 

Maybe I'm just naïve, but for some reason that actually didn't surprise me too much.

[Ping]

I think that all of us, as men, can identify with and share some of his feelings and fears. Tiger is in a tough spot..I wish him well. 

[Zeph]

I agree with a lot of his opinions on various subjects. He's still got the positive attitude, even if his future is very much uncertain.

[mchepp]

Neat article. I enjoyed the read.