Ahead of his 40th birthday this month, Tiger Woods sat down and interviewed with TIME to talk about golf, being plagued by injuries, and possibly reaching the end of his career. Along with talking about his career, he also shed some light on his personal life. He opened up about the current relationship he has with his ex-wife Elin Nordegren and how he has decided to approach his two kids, Sam and Charlie, about the mistakes he’s made in life.
“It was too tough, too tough,” Woods says of he and his ex-wife’s efforts to reconcile their marriage. “But now, in hindsight, as years and years have gone by, 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. She is one of my best friends now, and it’s all because of my kids.”
Woods emphasizes that a big part of the reason why he and Elin get along so well now is because they are both so dedicated to co-parenting and wanting the best for their kids, which for Tiger, includes taking responsibility for the mistakes he’s made in the past.
“I’ve taken the initiative with the kids, and told them up front, “Guys, the reason why we’re not in the same house, why we don’t live under the same roof, Mommy and Daddy, is because Daddy made some mistakes.” I just want them to understand before they get to Internet age and they log on to something or have their friends tell them something. I want it to come from me so that when they come of age, I’ll just tell them the real story. But meanwhile, it’s just, “Hey, Daddy made some mistakes. But it’s O.K. We’re all human. We all make mistakes. But look what happened at the end of it. Look at how great you are. You have two loving parents that love you no matter what.” And so, that’s part of the initiative, hey, it was my fault too. I was to blame, and so I’m taking initiative with the kids. I’d rather have it come from me, as the source. And I can tell them absolutely everything, so they hear it from me.”
Woods also discussed his previous relationship with Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and why it didn’t work out for the two of them. While there were rampant rumors that Tiger’s cheating ways were the downfall of their relationship, he has adamantly denied that that was the case. Rather, he says it was because of their busy schedules.
“Well, with Lindsey, what was hard is we never had time together. We’re texting each other. It was a great relationship, but it was so hard, when I’m training to do my sport, it takes umpteen hours to do, and I can’t travel, except to my tournaments, because I’m here dedicated to my two kids. Meanwhile, most of her summer is spent in South America, at training camps in Chile and Argentina, and then you’ve got her season, which is mostly in Europe. And I can’t travel because I have the kids—my off weeks I’m devoted to my kids—and I have to be here. It’s a relationship that was fantastic, but it just can’t work on that level. It just could not work. It was doing an injustice to both of us.”
With his retirement on the horizon, Woods might finally have enough time for a real relationship. And while he’s not happy about the thought of his career ending, he says that the opportunity to spend more time with his kids and watch them grow up will give him more joy than winning another golf tournament ever could.
Source: TIME
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