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Tiger Woods Apologizes For His ‘Transgressions’

by Gopalan on Dec 3 2009 1:00 AM

Yeah, I did, golf icon Tiger Woods has said at last. In the eye of an unrelenting media storm over his sexcapades, the 33-year-old Woods has sought to thwart any further damage by admitting to it all, though he did not go into specifics.

“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone,” he said on his website, four days after he rammed his Cadillac SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home.

He managed to escape with some minor facial injuries.  His Swedish wife Elin Nordegren told cops she ran outside and discovered her husband bleeding from the mouth, with cuts on his lips. She said she bashed out the rear window with the club and helped the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Woods out of the car.

She had heard the crash from inside their $2.4 million home and rushed to his aid.

Police arrived to find Woods, drifting in and out of consciousness, lying in the street with his wife watching over him. He was taken to a nearby hospital about 10 minutes later.

Cops said alcohol was not involved, but offered no explanation for where the world's richest athlete was headed alone in the middle of the night.

But the media had the explanation.  

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To start with, TMZ.com reported that a source said Nordegren scratched Woods' face after she became enraged over reports he was seeing another woman and chased him with a golf club, striking his vehicle as he ran from the home.

The Web site said the source talked to Woods after the smashup.

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The crash came on the heels of reports in the National Enquirer and Star magazine that Woods had an affair with a New York nightclub hostess - who promptly denied the reports.

The National Enquirer story, titled, "Tiger Woods Cheating Scandal," claimed Woods was having an affair with Rachel Uchitel - a sexy Manhattan hostess who lost a fiancé in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and was previously linked to married television star David Boreanaz.

Uchitel, a former party planner who has worked as a VIP hostess at swanky nightspots, strongly denied it all.

"There is NO relationship with tiger these girls quoted in the story are not being truthful," she wrote.

"I resent my name being slung thru the mud."

Even before the storm over New York hostess subsided, there sprang up another woman, from nowhere, to claim she had had a long affair with Woods too.

Los Angeles cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs, 24, asserted in an interview that her affair with Woods lasted 31 months, in which they met 20 times for sex and exchanged steamy text messages.

The world's most famous golfer, whose sterling global image earns him millions of dollars in endorsement money annually, had been publicly silent on the car crash and allegations, both to the public and to authorities.

His lawyers cancelled at least three meetings with police investigators to discuss the crash, noting that under Florida law he was not compelled to speak.  But there was no way to prevent the media from speculating, and hence perhaps a change of heart now. 
 
Indeed the confessions over transgressions come even as a US celebrity gossip magazine posted online audio of what it said was a recording of Tiger Woods begging Jaimee Grubbs to change her telephone voicemail in order to hide their affair.

Almost visibly cringing under the welter of reports, Woods said, “Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.”

He also pleaded, “But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

“Whatever regrets I have about letting my family down have been shared with and felt by us alone. I have given this a lot of reflection and thought and I believe that there is a point at which I must stick to that principle even though it's difficult.

“I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology,” Woods said.

Woods and Nordegren live in the Isleworth neighborhood with their two children, 2-year-old Sam and 9-month-old Charlie.



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