Tiger Woods Opens Up About "Pain in My Soul"

Tiger Woods is reeling - on and off the golf course. Nearly a year after the Thanksgiving car crash that exposed his affair with Rachel Uchitel and later countless others, the golfer is opening up to Newsweek. "Last November, everything I thought I knew about myself changed abruptly, and what others perceived about me shifted, too," Woods writes in an essay. For Tiger Woods (and THG), life changed forever that night. Last Thanksgiving night, the golfer drove his Escalade into a fire hydrant outside the home he shared with wife Elin Nordegren and their two young children. Later, we learned he and Elin were arguing over his affair with Uchitel. It was just the beginning of one of the biggest sex scandals in history unraveling. Woods writes: "I had been conducting my personal life in an artificial way, detached from values my upbringing had taught, and I should have embraced." "The physical pain from that car accident has long healed. But the pain in my soul is more complex and unsettling; it has been far more difficult to ease - and to understand. But this much is obvious now: my life was out of balance." "My priorities were out of order. I made terrible choices and repeated mistakes. I hurt the people whom I loved the most. And even beyond accepting the consequences and responsibility, there is the ongoing struggle to learn from my failings." He and Elin finalized their divorce this August. Expressing new appreciation for fatherhood and life in general, he adds: "Slowly, I'm regaining the balance that I'd lost. My healing process is far from complete." "I am beginning to appreciate things I overlooked before. Some victories can mean smiles, not trophies, and that life's most ordinary events can bring joy. Giving my son, Charlie, a bath, for example, beats chipping another bucket of balls." "Making mac and cheese for him and his sister, Sam, is better than any restaurant. Sharing a laugh watching cartoons or reading a book beats channel-surfing alone. Some nights, it's just me and the kids, an experience that's both trying and rewarding. Probably like the experience a lot of families have every evening around the world." It's hard to say from our perspective, but here's hoping Tiger truly is humbled by all he's been through, becomes a better person for it, and comes back better than ever. He didn't win a tournament in 2010. We wouldn't bet against him next year.

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