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Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods' bad drive

Why a fender bender became a media storm that isn't going away

Tiger Woods' ex-wife speaks

After nine months of silence, Elin Nordegren talks to People magazine and says she feels stronger than ever

Tiger Woods' ex-wife speaks
People

Elin Nordegren, newly divorced from Tiger Woods, has broken her nine-month silence. The less-famous face of spurned wives everywhere told People magazine: "I have been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ultimately grief over the loss of the family I so badly wanted for my children." She added: "I also feel stronger than I ever have. I have confidence in my beliefs, my decisions and myself." Well, now we know how she's spent those nine months: therapy.

The mother of two says she "never suspected" her husband was having multiple affairs. (Cue slew of articles on how you can tell if your man is cheating.) "I felt stupid as more things were revealed -- how could I not have known anything? The word 'betrayal' isn't strong enough. I felt embarrassed for having been so deceived. I felt betrayed by many people around me." Nordegren said she gave the marriage a second chance and "tried really hard," but as you might have ascertained from the divorce, which was finalized Monday, it didn't work out.

There's more, of course, to be unveiled when the magazine hits newstands on Friday -- and those who care had better eat it up, because Nordegren says this is the last interview she will give. (Again, high five on the obvious emotional heavy-lifting you've been doing, lady.)

Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren divorce

Terms of the separation are not disclosed, except that they will share parenting of their two children

Tiger Woods and his wife are officially divorced.

The lawyers for Woods and Elin Nordegren say in a statement that the divorce became official Monday in Bay County Circuit Court.

The divorce comes nine months after Woods crashed his SUV outside their home near Orlando, setting off explosive revelations that the world's No. 1 golfer had been cheating on his wife. It led to Woods losing millions of dollars in endorsements and taking five months away from the game.

Terms of the divorce were not disclosed, except that they will share parenting of their two children, ages 3 and 1.

Tiger trumps his prenup with huge divorce settlement for Elin

Golfer's infidelity will end up costing him millions, yes, but don't believe every number you've heard Video

photo of tiger woods
AP/Rob Carr
Tiger Woods at the AT&T National, June 30, 2010

Reports are flooding the Internet about Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren's allegedly impending divorce, with speculation on the size of the settlement hovering around $750 million. Given that Forbes put the golfer's net worth at $600 million last year, then put his career earnings at $1 billion, no one really knows how much he'll cough up. Details are still scarce, if they're even true, but some of the more mundane among them include shared legal custody (so no carting the kids off to Sweden without consent), a gag order on Elin so she can't ever share her side of the story, and division of assets that leaves Tiger with the newly renovated manse on Jupiter Island in Florida. At least the golfer can look forward to actually golfing in Philadelphia at the AT&T National.

 Below is the interview Tiger gave to a CBS affiliate this week.

 


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Tiger Woods moves on without a coach

In one of the most critical parts of the season, the golfer plans to use only video to monitor his swing

Tiger Woods says he has no plans to hire another swing coach as he moves into a critical part of the season with two majors on courses where he has won by lopsided margins.

Woods and Hank Haney split up the day after The Players Championship, where Woods withdrew with a sore neck. He says he will rely mainly on video to make sure his swing is in the right place.

The world's No. 1 player says his neck is better and he is able to practice. He is the defending champion at the Memorial, with the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach two weeks away.

Woods says this is an important week to get his game ready for the next major, and he hopes he can play four rounds. He missed the cut at Quail Hollow, then pulled out of The Players Championship during the final round.

Woods had it coming

The Mickelson-monogamy storyline is silly, but Woods made his personal life fair game with that atrocious Nike ad

Woods had it coming
Reuters/Hans Deryk
Tiger Woods walks off the 13th green during 2010 Masters on Sunday.

 God forbid Phil Mickelson has a Bombshell McGee in his closet. Let's hope he's never visited a Hooters. Because if he has, a lot of sportswriters are going to have to retract the dreck they've written calling Mickelson's Masters victory a victory for monogamy -- and, yes, for women.

I'll let Ethan Sherwood Strauss run down all the silly prose linking Mickelson's victory over Cheatin' Tiger Woods to his standing by his wife, Amy, in her battle with breast cancer. Rick Reilly actually calls it "a lipstick sized victory" for women (note to Reilly: lipsticks are kind of small). Personally, I found the Mickelsons' hug after the Masters win very moving, especially given what they've been through together. But I wasn't aware that men standing by their wives with breast cancer was a rare occurrence (my own father did it 40 years ago, back before there were sensitive new age guys). And I likewise didn't know nice guys actually finish first. If Woods had won, would that be a victory for nailing every cocktail waitress in sight?

Still, I couldn't help thinking Woods had some of this coming -- not when he was revealed to be a cheater (that's none of my business) but when he used his dead father, Earl, in his Nike comeback ad. Until then, I mostly resisted moralizing. I found his February apology -- his recommitment to Buddhism, his insisting he was still out of golf, his long embrace with his mother -- believable and moving. So I admit I felt a little punked when he announced his return so soon (and hired Iraq war salesman Ari Fleischer to boot). But, whatever, it's his business.

Then, when he not only used his father in the Nike ad, but worse, asked the world to participate in his alleged story of redemption -- "Have you learned anything?" -- all to sell some Nike gear? I felt like, what the hell, Tiger's made his whole mess our business. Have you learned anything, Tiger? I sort of doubt it.

OK, moralizing over. But with that ad, Woods gave up his privacy and made himself fair game. People are going to be asking him "have you learned anything?" for a long time -- and making funny mash-ups of that ad, too. My favorite Tweet Sunday came from the always hilarious pourmecoffee, who joked that Earl Woods was now asking: "How do you miss that putt? I'm a ghost and I could make that. Let's go to Hooters."

Tiger Woods' moral defeat

Phil Mickelson played a better Masters game, but the media couldn't stop talking about his solid marriage

Tiger Woods places fourth in Masters
AP
Tiger Woods finishes in fourth place at the Masters. Phil Mickelson's victory was his third Masters' win.

Breaking News: Awesome sports victories are God's reward for personal virtue. I know, Job must be pissed.

Phil Mickelson may have deserved to win the Masters on talent and guile. But his lack of cursing, his dogged determination to only screw his wife (unlike a certain fourth-place finisher) -- these are qualities that allowed Lefty to don green. Don't forget his wife's breast cancer, either. That story has been seriously underplayed.

Sportswriters flock to morality narratives -- they don't want to write that outcomes result from a combination of physical prowess and sheer luck. Hero X "wanted it more," or at least had better character. What else could explain a man's staggering ability to best put a ball in a hole? Steroids? It's got to be the virtue, and in this case, it's got to be the nuptials.

I declare the Masters fallout a first for America: This marks the day sports media celebrated an athlete's matrimonial success at the expense of his rival's. Call it ecstatic putt-putt tut-tut. Here's a reaction rundown:

• The Boston Herald's Ron Borges wants you to know about Phil's "reward": "The guy in the black cap and the white hat won the 74th Masters yesterday not by being spectacular but by being steadfast."

Borges undersold Mickelson's great play (and "watermelon balls") at the expense of overselling his "heroism." Since when did having a good marriage equal heroism? Is it time to reevaluate steadfastly faithful George W. Bush? Can Bill Clinton be post-presidentially reimpeached?

• Don't shoot the messenger when the NYT says: "Family Values Become a Focus at Augusta."

You're allowed to vomit on him, though.

Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: "It's an oversimplification, but measuring Mickelson's family situation against Woods' behavior toward his wife (who was not attending) is natural at this point."

Yes, and let us build on our recent, bizarre premises. It will only hasten the People magazine-ing of sports entertainment. Kawakami's merely stating the obvious, but that in and of itself is troubling: Why is it "natural" to compare the marriages? Is this America's new reality show?

• The AP's David Bauder got huffy regarding TV's conspiracy to cover up Tiger Woods' personal life: "The networks acted under the assumption that you knew all of that coming in, and if you wanted to hear more, you could turn elsewhere. Indeed, a celebrity Web site was reporting on the whereabouts of Woods' estranged wife just as the golfer was making that walk."

Yes, why didn't Jim Nantz just track Elin Nordegren down and scream questions from a golf cart parked on her lawn? CBS's inclination to focus on golf didn't trick hall monitor Bauder, who sarcastically spat: "[Tiger's hiatus] was time spent away. It wasn't a life spent in the bunker as examples of boorish behavior kept spilling out."

It's incredible that this story is from the Associated Press and not the Deseret News Op-Ed page.

• The best sentence came from USA Today's Michael Hiestad: "Mickelson, who appeared in an ExxonMobil TV ad just before he walked onto the 18th green Sunday, was the perfect feel-good winner."

It feels warm, fuzzy and oily all at the same time. And no, that's not a Tiger joke.

UPDATE: We have a winner: ESPN’s Rick Reilly blurts “Mickelson's win a victory for women”: “It's not often women win the Masters, but they did Sunday.”

Hey ladies, you won! And who better to announce your great achievement than a sanctimonious male golf writer? If you can stomach the following quotes you can probably mix cement in that gut:

"For millions of women around the country, it must feel like a lipstick-sized victory."

"Mickelson, in case you forgot, is the guy who stayed true to his wife." 

"You don't know how dispiriting it is to come home after a long day to a strange, empty house. Come to think of it, maybe Tiger knows."

Come to think of it, maybe divorced men shouldn't wax saccharine about how marriage reveals character. Also, how does Rick know all about how "true" Mickelson stayed to his wife? And what the hell does "lipstick-sized victory" mean?

 

Page 1 of 13 in Tiger Woods Earliest ⇒

About Tiger Woods

You know about his Masters wins and, now, his infidelity. Tiger Woods, the most successful American golfer of our time, put his marriage in jeopardy when his wife, Elin Nordegren, found out about his mistresses.

Tiger Woods in the news

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