Tiger Woods' Press Conference Apology — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00good
2. 0:01morning and thank you for joining
3. 0:04me many of you in this room are my
4. 0:09friends many in in this room know
5. 0:13me many of you have cheered for
6. 0:17me or you worked with me or you
7. 0:21supported
8. 0:22me
9. 0:24now every one of you has good reason to
10. 0:27be critical of me
11. 0:30I want to say to each of you simply and
12. 0:37directly I am deeply sorry for my
13. 0:41irresponsible and selfish behavior I
14. 0:44engaged
15. 0:46in I know people want to find
16. 0:49out how I could be so selfish and so
17. 0:53foolish people want to
18. 0:55know how I could have done these things
19. 0:59to my wife
20. 1:01and to my
21. 1:04children and while I have always tried
22. 1:07to be a private person there are some
23. 1:10things I want to
24. 1:12say elen and I have started the process
25. 1:16of discussing the damage caused by my
26. 1:20behavior as elen pointed out to me my
27. 1:24real apology to her will not come in the
28. 1:26form of
29. 1:28words it will come from my my behavior
30. 1:31over
31. 1:32time we have a lot to discuss and
32. 1:36however what we say to each other will
33. 1:39remain between the two of
34. 1:42us I am also aware of the pain my
35. 1:46behavior has caused to those of you in
36. 1:49this
37. 1:50room I have let you
38. 1:53down and I have let down my
39. 1:56fans for many of you
40. 2:00especially my
41. 2:03friends my behavior has been a personal
42. 2:07disappointment to those of you who work
43. 2:10for
44. 2:11me I have let you down
45. 2:14personally and
46. 2:17professionally my behavior has caused
47. 2:19considerable worry to my business
48. 2:24partners to everyone involved in my
49. 2:27Foundation including my staff
50. 2:30board of directors sponsors and most
51. 2:33importantly the young students we
52. 2:36reach our work is more important than
53. 2:39ever 13 years ago my dad and I
54. 2:43envisioned helping young people achieve
55. 2:44their dreams through
56. 2:47education this work remains unchanged
57. 2:50and will continue to grow from The
58. 2:53Learning Center students in Southern
59. 2:54California to the earlwood scholars in
60. 2:56Washington
61. 2:57DC millions of kids have changed their
62. 3:01lives and I am dedicated to making sure
63. 3:04that
64. 3:06continues but
65. 3:08still I know I have bitterly
66. 3:13disappointed all of
67. 3:15you I have made you question who I
68. 3:18am and how I could have done the things
69. 3:22I
70. 3:23did I embarrassed that I have put you in
71. 3:27this position
72. 3:29for all that I have
73. 3:34done I am so
74. 3:40sorry I have a lot to atone
75. 3:44for but there's one issue I really want
76. 3:48to
77. 3:49discuss some people have speculated that
78. 3:51elen somehow hurt or attacked me on
79. 3:54Thanksgiving
80. 3:56night it angers me that people would
81. 3:58fabricate a story like that El never hit
82. 4:01me that night or any other night there
83. 4:05has never been an episode of domestic
84. 4:07violence in our marriage
85. 4:10ever elen has shown enormous
86. 4:15Grace and Poise throughout this
87. 4:21ordeal elen deserves
88. 4:24praise not
89. 4:28blame the issue involved here was my
90. 4:32repeated irresponsible Behavior I was
91. 4:36unfaithful I had affairs I
92. 4:39cheated what I did is not
93. 4:42acceptable and I am the only person to
94. 4:47blame I stopped living by the core
95. 4:49values that I was taught to believe
96. 4:53in I knew my actions were wrong but I
97. 4:56convinced myself that normal rules
98. 4:59didn't apply
99. 5:01I never thought about who I was hurting
100. 5:05instead I thought only about
101. 5:09myself I ran straight through the
102. 5:11boundaries that a married couple should
103. 5:13live by I thought I could get away with
104. 5:16whatever I wanted to I felt that I had
105. 5:19worked hard my entire life and deserved
106. 5:22to enjoy all the Temptations around me I
107. 5:27felt I was
108. 5:28entitled thanks to money and fame I
109. 5:32didn't have far I didn't have to go far
110. 5:35to find
111. 5:36them I was wrong I was foolish I don't
112. 5:41get to play by different rules the same
113. 5:43boundaries that apply to
114. 5:45everyone appli to
115. 5:48me I brought this shame on myself I hurt
116. 5:52my wife my
117. 5:54kids my
118. 5:56mother my wife's family
119. 6:00my friends my foundation and kids all
120. 6:04around the world who admired
121. 6:07me I've had a lot of time to think about
122. 6:09what I've
123. 6:11done my
124. 6:13failures had me have made me look at
125. 6:17myself in a way I never wanted to
126. 6:22before it's now up to me to make amends
127. 6:25and that starts by never repeating the
128. 6:27mistakes I've made it's up to me to
129. 6:30start living a life of
130. 6:33Integrity I once heard and I believe
131. 6:37it's
132. 6:38true it's not what you achieve in life
133. 6:40that
134. 6:41matters it's what you
135. 6:44overcome achievements on the golf course
136. 6:47are only part of setting an
137. 6:50example character and
138. 6:53decency are what really
139. 6:56count parents used to point to me as a
140. 6:59role model for their
141. 7:02kids I owe all those families a special
142. 7:06apology I want to say to them that I am
143. 7:10truly
144. 7:14sorry it's hard to
145. 7:17admit that I need
146. 7:20help but I
147. 7:21do for 45 days from the end of December
148. 7:26to early February I was in impatient
149. 7:29patient therapy receiving guidance for
150. 7:32the
151. 7:32issues I'm
152. 7:35facing I have a long way to go but I've
153. 7:39taken my first steps in the right
154. 7:42direction as I
155. 7:44proceed I understand people have
156. 7:48questions I understand the Press wants
157. 7:51me to wants to ask me for the details of
158. 7:53the times I was unfaithful I understand
159. 7:57people want to know whether elen and I
160. 7:59will remain
161. 8:01together please know that as far as I'm
162. 8:06concerned every one of these questions
163. 8:09and
164. 8:10answers is a matter between elen and
165. 8:14me these are issues between a
166. 8:18husband and a
167. 8:21wife some people have made up things
168. 8:23that never happened they said I use
169. 8:25performance enhancing drugs this is
170. 8:28completely an utterly
171. 8:31false some have written things about my
172. 8:33family despite the damage I have done I
173. 8:37still believe it is right to Shield my
174. 8:40family from the public Spotlight they
175. 8:43did not do these things I
176. 8:47did I have always tried to maintain a
177. 8:49private space for my wife and children
178. 8:52they have been kept separate from my
179. 8:53sponsors my my commercial
180. 8:56endorsements when my children were born
181. 9:00we only released photographs so they so
182. 9:03that the paparazzi could not chase
183. 9:05them
184. 9:07however my behavior doesn't make it
185. 9:11right for the media to follow my 2 and a
186. 9:13half-year-old daughter to school and
187. 9:15Report the school's location they staked
188. 9:18out my wife and they pursued my mom
189. 9:21whatever my
190. 9:23wrongdoings for the sake of my
191. 9:27family please leave my wife and kids
192. 9:35alone I recognize I have brought this on
193. 9:40myself and I know above all I am the one
194. 9:46who needs to
195. 9:47change I owe to my family to become a
196. 9:50better person I owe to those closest to
197. 9:52me to become a better
198. 9:55man that's where my focus will
199. 9:58be I have a lot of work to do and I tend
200. 10:01to dedicate myself to doing
201. 10:04it part of following this path for me is
202. 10:09Buddhism which my mother taught me at a
203. 10:11young
204. 10:12age people probably don't realize it but
205. 10:16I was raised a Buddhist and I actively
206. 10:18practiced my faith from childhood until
207. 10:21I drifted away from it in recent
208. 10:24years Buddhism teaches that a craving
209. 10:28for things outside ourselves causes an
210. 10:32unhappy and pointless search for
211. 10:35security it teaches me to stop following
212. 10:39every impulse and to and to learn
213. 10:44restraint
214. 10:46obviously I lost track of what I was
215. 10:52taught as I move
216. 10:55forward I will continue to receive help
217. 10:59because I've learned that's how people
218. 11:02really do
219. 11:03change starting
220. 11:05tomorrow I will leave for more treatment
221. 11:08and more
222. 11:10therapy I would like to thank my friends
223. 11:12at Accenture and the players in the
224. 11:14field this week for understanding why
225. 11:17I'm making this these remarks
226. 11:21today in therapy I've learned the
227. 11:24importance of looking at my spiritual
228. 11:27life and keeping it balance with my
229. 11:30professional
230. 11:32life I need to regain my balance and be
231. 11:36centered so I can save the things that
232. 11:38are most important to me my marriage and
233. 11:42my
234. 11:44children that also means relying on
235. 11:46others for help I've learned to seek
236. 11:49support from my peers in therapy and I
237. 11:52hope someday to return that support to
238. 11:56others who are seeking help
239. 11:59I do plan to return to golf one day I
240. 12:03just don't know when that day will be I
241. 12:06don't rule out that it will be this year
242. 12:10when I do
243. 12:11return I need to make my
244. 12:14behavior more respectful of the
245. 12:18game in recent weeks I have received
246. 12:21many thousands of emails letters and
247. 12:24phone calls from people expressing good
248. 12:26wishes to everyone who has reached out
249. 12:28to me me and my family thank
250. 12:32you your encouragement means the world
251. 12:36to elen and
252. 12:38me I want to thank the PGA
253. 12:41Tour commissioner
254. 12:44finchum and the
255. 12:48players for their patience and
256. 12:52understanding while I work on my private
257. 12:54life I look forward to seeing my fellow
258. 12:57players on the course
259. 13:01finally there are many people in this
260. 13:04room and there are many people at
261. 13:07home who believed in
262. 13:10me
263. 13:12today I want to ask for your
264. 13:16help I ask you to find room in your
265. 13:22heart to one
266. 13:25day believe in me again
267. 13:30thank
268. 13:37you and we just oh there is Tiger Woods
269. 13:41hugging his
270. 13:44mother who looked on rather sternly
271. 13:47during his entire
272. 13:49presentation with her eyes lowered