{"id":12715,"date":"2015-12-04T09:05:35","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T17:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/woods-opens-up-on-failed-marriage-future-in-golf\/"},"modified":"2015-12-04T09:05:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T17:05:35","slug":"woods-opens-up-on-failed-marriage-future-in-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/woods-opens-up-on-failed-marriage-future-in-golf\/","title":{"rendered":"Woods opens up on failed marriage, future in golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASSAU, Bahamas<\/strong> \u2014 Tiger Woods says he has a \u201cfantastic\u201d relationship with his ex-wife and he has taken steps to explain to his two children what happened to their marriage.<\/p>\n

In a rare and extensive interview with Time magazine, Woods also shared the same sentiments about his future that he did Tuesday at the tournament he is hosting in the Bahamas. He still wants to play golf at the highest level, though he is resigned that it might not happen if the nerve damage in his back doesn\u2019t allow for it.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s former No. 1 player was interviewed by Canadian golf author Lorne Rubenstein at Woods\u2019 new restaurant in Florida. They covered topics ranging from his greatest joy on the golf course to chipping sessions with Seve Ballesteros to his family.<\/p>\n

Woods, who turns 40 on Dec. 30, says he has told 8-year-old Sam and 6-year-old Charlie that his parents don\u2019t live in the same house because \u201cDaddy made some mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want them to understand before they get to the Internet age and they log on to something or have their friends tell them something,\u201d Woods said. \u201cI want it to come from me so that when they come of age, I\u2019ll just tell them the real story.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, that\u2019s part of the initiative \u2014 \u2018Hey, it was my fault, too. I was to blame\u2019 \u2014 and so I\u2019m taking initiative with the kids,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d rather have it come from me as the source. And I can tell them absolutely everything so they hear it from me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Woods said he is stressing to his children that they have two parents who love them.<\/p>\n

His marriage crumbled at the end of 2009 when he was exposed for having multiple extramarital affairs, and Elin Nordegren divorced him the following August. Woods endured leg injuries in 2011, got back to No. 1 in the world with eight victories in 2012 and 2013 and has been in a free fall because of back injuries since.<\/p>\n

He had surgery to alleviate a pinched nerve the week before the 2014 Masters and has had two more procedures in the same spot over the last three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, I don\u2019t want to have another procedure,\u201d Woods told the magazine. \u201cAnd two, even if I don\u2019t come back and I don\u2019t play again, I still want to have a quality of life with my kids. I started to lose that with the other surgeries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what he would have done differently before and after the scandal in his personal life, Woods said he would have had a more open, honest relationship with his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the relationship that I have now with her is fantastic,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s one of my best friends. We\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods last played on Aug. 23 when he tied for 10th and thought the pain he experienced was from his hip. Instead, it was a recurrence of his back problems. The uncertainty of his health has led to plenty of speculation that his career might be over.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut it this way. It\u2019s not what I want to have happen, and it\u2019s not what I\u2019m planning on having happen,\u201d Woods said. \u201cBut if it does, it does. I\u2019ve reconciled myself to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On other topics:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Woods pointed out again that the chart of Jack Nicklaus he kept on his bedroom wall as a kid had nothing to do with the record 18 majors. It was related to age \u2014 the first time Nicklaus broke 40, broke 80, won his first golf tournament, his first state amateur, his first U.S. Amateur and first U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that was important,\u201d he said. \u201cThis guy\u2019s the best out there and the best of all time. If I can beat each age that he did it, then I have a chance at being the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 He came to know the late Seve Ballesteros when the Spaniard was working with Butch Harmon and they would spend time together in Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d hit balls and then he\u2019d show me short game, for hours,\u201d Woods said. \u201cThen we\u2019d go play till dark. It was awesome. To see how he could do it, and I could never do it. But I could take pieces. I\u2019d ask him, but man, I couldn\u2019t do a lot of them. But I realized I don\u2019t have to do a lot of them. I can do it my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Before the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, which he won with shredded knee ligaments and two stress fractures his leg, Woods tried to wear a brace for nine holes at his home course in Southern California. It was his first time playing golf since the Masters, and the brace kept him from rotating. He lost eight balls in nine holes and shot 54.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grinding my butt off and I said, \u2018OK, you\u2019re the No. 1 player in the world and you just lost eight balls on a home course that you could play blindfolded,\u2019 and I shot a 54. This is going to be an interesting week,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2022 He loves playing alone at the Medalist Golf Club in the evening because it reminded him of time he spent with his father as a kid. Woods said they would retreat to the far corner of the Seal Navy golf course in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d be on the tee back there just hitting golf balls, not saying a word to each other,\u201d he said. \u201cGoing out in the evenings brings me back to that happy place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASSAU, Bahamas \u2014 Tiger Woods says he has a \u201cfantastic\u201d relationship with his ex-wife and he has taken steps to explain to his two children what happened to their marriage. In a rare and extensive interview with Time magazine, Woods also shared the same sentiments about his future that he did Tuesday at the tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12715"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}