Tiger Woods acknowledged “living a lie,” saying he alone was responsible for the sex scandal that caused his downfall and that no one in his inner circle was aware of his misdeeds.
“It was all me. I’m the one who did it. I’m the one who acted the way I acted. No one knew what was going on when it was going on,” Woods told The Golf Channel in one of two interviews Sunday night. A second one was aired on ESPN.
“I’m sure if more people would have known in my inner circle, they would have stopped it or tried to put a stop to it. But I kept it all to myself,” he said.
Answering questions on camera for the first time since his early morning car crash last November, Woods again provided few details about the crash, his marriage, his stint in a rehabilitation clinic or much of his private life.
“A lot has transpired in my life. A lot of ugly things have happened. … I’ve done some pretty bad things in my life,” he told ESPN.
Woods also acknowledged more fully than in any of his previous statements that the public ridicule had caused him shame.
“It was hurtful, but then again, you know what? I did it,” he told The Golf Channel. “And I’m the one who did those things. And looking back on it now, with a more clear head, I get it. I can understand why people would say those things. Because you know what? It was disgusting behavior. It’s hard to believe that was me, looking back on it now.”
Woods was more comfortable and composed than during his only previous public outing, dressed in golf clothes. He said he couldn’t wait to get back to playing golf, though he had reservations about how he’ll be received when he returns to golf next month at the Masters.
“I’m a little nervous about that to be honest with you,” he told ESPN. “It would be nice to hear a couple claps here and there.”
Woods plans to end more than four months of seclusion and play at Augusta National, one of the most tightly controlled environments in golf.
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