As we discussed this week, Tiger Woods won the Masters in Augusta on Sunday. It was his first major championship title since 2009, the year his life fell apart. His body was already falling apart in 2009 when late that year (during the Thanksgiving holiday), the National Enquirer published an explosive exposé about his affair with Rachel Uchitel, and everything went downhill from there. Uchitel got paid off by Tiger, and about a million other women came forward to talk about how they too had slept with Tiger. Tiger’s wife Elin divorced him in 2011, and the past decade has been full of stories about Tiger’s prescription-drug dependence/addiction and his multiple injuries (knees, legs, back). He was close to retirement a few years ago. So this comeback was really something. Is 2019 Tiger the same as 2009 Tiger? Does he still think about that version of himself? People Magazine says yes, he does still think about it.
He still thinks about it: “He still thinks about his sex scandal every day,” a source close to the golfer tells PEOPLE now. “It’s always there, in the back of his mind. He doesn’t like to talk about it — or even anything that was happening at that time of his life. It’s painful to him. But he persevered and made himself into a better man.”
Losing his sponsors & his ranking: “He lost everything. And it was really rough for a really long time. He really found out who his friends were. He’s been left with a lot of scars.”
His relationship with Elin: “They really work together well now. They are both mature adults who have figured out what works best for them and for the kids. There is no real friction, and everyone gets along well. They went through a very dark time as a family, and although the family looks different, it is happy and functional and thriving.”
Who he is now: “He’s a completely different person than he was in 2009. He was an overgrown boy back then. Now he’s a man.”
He’s 43 years old now – he was 33 when the sh-t hit the fan. 33 is long in the tooth to still be an overgrown boy, but I guess I understand. He was the prodigal talent who won everything at such an early age and had everything handed to him so quickly. The scandals and injuries forced him to reflect and grow and hopefully become a better person. I still think that Elin is the hero of this story though – she loved him, she was betrayed by his serial infidelity, but she stayed classy and private about everything. She never went out there and trashed him in public. And I believe that they have a good co-parenting relationship too – he seems close to his kids, and I would assume that Elin influenced that too.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Oh, he thinks about how he got caught, for sure.
And how will you know that? who are you to judge
He really owes no one an explanation only his family and if they have all healed we have no business judging him. We all make mistakes and even do far worse only we are not public figures so no one knows what we do behind closed doors.
Simmer down, Tiger! He also wasn’t torn up about it until he got caught, so there’s that.
you’re on a celebrity gossip site. judging people is par for the course here.
to add, I don’t see LooneyTunes “judging” anyone. just commenting that, like most serial philanderers, they usually don’t have regrets until they get caught and lose…
…their wife
…their family
…their career
…their endorsements (if they’re in that world)
…etc.
if they truly regret their actions, they’d find a way to stop BEFORE they get caught, and have regrets about their actions, not the discovery of their actions.
My name is Pringer and not Tiger
Well, you’re not alone there Tiger- I think about it every time I have to think about you thanks to headlines or coverage or whatever too!!
Sorry, I know he’s a great golfer and all that, but it’s basically completely changed how I see him forever. I’m never gonna think highly of him as a person or celebrate his achievements after everything that came out. I’m too disgusted by how he treated his wife for that.
careful. according to some people YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED to be offended or disgusted about that. only his wife is.
*insert eye roll*
We have a lot of this “how dare you”-type commentary showing up on today’s threads. This one and the LL thread in particular.
Some folks apparently get very worked up over *opinions* on a gossip site.
I think some folks are just pointing out how worked up others still are over a transgression that occurred a decade ago by someone they are not personally related or married to and yet they still want to paint a bigly red ‘A’ on their forehead.
To me, in my opinion, it’s not about getting worked up over “opinions” on a gossip site. It’s just that many people who were disappointed in Tiger Woods and scorned him a decade ago now see how humbled the experience has made him, see his true regret, see his effort to be a good father and co-parent with his ex-wife, and don’t feel the need to eternally rub his nose in that public humiliation.
(shrugs) We all live in glass houses. People grow and learn from their mistakes and move on.
@Yvette
Your comment is everything i couldn’t have said this any better. Thank You
Yvette, I don’t see anyone worked up.
what I see are people whose opinions of other people were permanently changed because of a fairly major transgression. and I further see other people implying that those people shouldn’t have a negative opinion of Tiger because HE seems changed. but it’s not up to other people what someone’s opinion is.
he did something really gross. beyond cheating, he exposed his wife to who knows what by not practicing safe sex with his side pieces. disrespectful to cheat, but even more so to put someone else’s health at risk. that’s something that can permanently change one’s opinion of someone.
I agree that he seems like he’s been changed by that whole thing. I still think it was gross, and it still clouds my opinion of him. I’m not saying he needs to apologize to me or any other member of the public, nor does he need my forgiveness. and I don’t see anyone “rubbing his nose” in it, just expressing that, since that happened, they don’t see him the same way. I fully acknowledge that his comeback has been nothing short of amazing. but that doesn’t mean I’ll cheer him on. especially since he and 45 are golfing buddies. STILL. he hangs out with 45, that’s enough for me to cancel him.
xdanix, correct. Well said.
He’s a trump supporter so I don’t wish him ill but I don’t support him at all.
“He lost everything”? Really? Because I’m pretty sure he’s lived every day like a 0.1%er since the entirely self-inflicted scandal hit, whilst getting a pass on his DUI that regular folks wouldn’t.
I like a good redemption arc as much as anyone, but if he hadn’t cynically pretended to be Mr. Perfect Family Man to maximise that sweet, sweet, sponsorship cash, he could have Ambien-banged a hundred Playmates in turn in a bunker on the 15th hole at Augusta and no one would have given a damn.
It seems to me that he’s learned about humility. Maybe the tabloids will blow up again with waitresses, you never know, we are all weak. But the guy I saw last weekend clearly had done some work.
I also think about it every time his name comes up. I do think that being a bad spouse doesn’t automatically mean you’re a bad parent though. kudos to Elin, honestly. she’s a better person than I am.
I don’t recall what social media site or internet board I was on at the time, but I remember when the cheating scandal it being probably one of the funniest nights/weeks on the internet. The jokes were just top notch. He was so incredibly reckless but it’s a testament to his skill that he’s where he is now. Him being a Trump supporter is no surprise and Trump offering a MoH immediately after the win speaks volumes.
do you remember the story put out by his camp that she had broken the car window with the golf club because he had crashed his car and she broke the window to “check on him”?
when I read that I was like “nah…” and waited for the rest of the story. and I agree, the jokes were gold.
Yes, whatWHAT?! Every time I see him, the first thing that comes to mind is that golf club incident! Yeah, I was of the same opinion about that. I’ve always been ambivalent about him, but the trump connection finished me off.
Where do you guys get the information that Tiger Woods is a Trump supporter? Can you please post a link to the article because I’ve never seen that printed anywhere. I’ve read where he says he’s never spoken about his political affiliation or publicly sponsored any political candidate. Yet several people here keep posting that he is a Trump supporter. I don’t get it.
he golfs with him.
not sure how frequently, but at least several times since 45 has been in office. and many many times before he was in office.
I don’t care if he’s the president. he’s a horrible human being and if Woods enjoys his company enough to spend 4+ hours with him socializing, that’s enough for me.
He should shave his head…
Elin must be one of the most gracious people on earth b/c I would have stuffed his ass full of Ambien and pushed him off cliff. He would have been found with a 9 iron up his ass.
Honestly same.
If a man said the same things about a cheating wife, would the reaction be the same? I’ve never understood why infidelity means you get to assault your spouse.
get a grip
@Lizzie your comment literally had me laughing out loud LOL. But yes, Elin is a much more gracious person than I could ever be too.
@ Lizzie. Get out of my head! LOL. That is truly how I feel like I would have reacted or at the very least fantasised if I were Elin. Obviously she has a truly forgiving heart.
When I first read this title, I thought it said he still thinks about sex all the time.
To be fair, he probably does…LOL
I’m not sure if I’m buying this new warm and fuzzy Tiger. He was an arrogant tool for so long it is hard to forget as a big golf fan. But people change and I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, I guess. And his comeback has been nothing short of remarkable. He was done with a capital D just 2 years ago or so. Couldn’t even chip a ball from off the green due to yips. But he has come back strong, The Masters was no fluke, he was already one of the top players going in. Just shows how much golfing talent he has. I’ll bet he wins another major this year
he couldn’t even get out of bed 2 years ago without help and could barely walk for any length of time. Back pain is the worse pain ever (said from experience.
Don’t know about the winning another major thing this year, but he certainly has gotten the young guns’ attention. 🙂
Yes he has
Look, I think Tiger is trash for palling around with Trump even if he allegedly is not a Republican. It’s still legitimizing him. And he treated Elin horribly, although they do seem to get on now. In general, I don’t think he’s a good person.
But…the media overreaction was insane. It’s possible to think he was and is awful, and also think the extent of the coverage was unfair. Yes, it was a huge escandalando and exposed him for being a dirt bag. But people just about slapped a scarlet letter on his chest and legitimate news outlets, not just tabloids, were giving it serious coverage. This kind of insane overreaction is why people call the US puritanical in some ways. Some of my cousins (who aren’t American) were sincerely baffled that it was such a story being covered by NYT, etc.
I think part of the outrage about his “true self” being exposed is that fans, and people in general, and people paying you for endorsements, DO NOT LIKE to be “fooled” about a person’s true self.
when some actor or musician who is KNOWN as a jerk is outed as a cheater, it’s not as big of a story because people KNOW what kind of person he/she is. (think Miranda Lambert. hers is some juicy gossip, but people weren’t pearl-clutching about it because we know what kind of person she is.) but Woods cultivated and perpetuated this wholesome, good husband/family man image, and when people found out it was an act, they turned on him. HARD.
That’s partly true—Tiger did cultivate the image of a family man, but so did Brett Farve. And when Farve got caught cheating—Farve, whose wife had cancer, FFS—he barely got a slap on the hand. He was still on TV, doing commercials. Fave is white. Tiger is a man of color who bedded a lot of blondes. His scandal had a huge racial element to it, and it still pisses me off. And I’m white.
eh, not so sure about that. Favre was at the very end of his career when he was caught “sexting”, not cheating. but hey, he was likely cheating. however, it wasn’t at the level of Tiger’s cheating…that is, the ONLY thing that was made public was the image and the VMs he sent to that NFL commentator.
there weren’t dozens of women coming out to say “yeah, I had an affair with Favre, too” like there were with Tiger. in this case, it seemed to be more of a sexual harassment case than cheating. not that that makes it OK, but unwanted sexual attention isn’t as “serious” as cheating. and, as noted, this was at the end of Favre career, when he was kind of a joke in the NFL for trying so hard to milk every last bit of “youth” he could and keep playing.
I’m not going to claim that race had NOTHING to do with it, but I don’t know if it had much to do with it.
He was unlikable then…and he’s unlikable now…
I mean…as a human being….
I was neutral about his comeback until he was offered the MofH. So his win is worth a presidential medal? I like a comeback story, but that was too much.
I feel it’s a waste of everyone’s time not to forgive Tiger. His actions will prove if he is telling the truth or not and it’s no skin off our backs. People make bad choices and Tiger made some bad ones but he didn’t murder anyone. From all levels the women involved (to our knowledge) consented. Elin has moved on and Tiger had to pay her. So I feel saying Tiger is beyond redemption is being mad for no reason.
That said, I really wish he wasn’t friends with Donald Trump and would speak up against his policies.
Woods is the poster child for why it ‘s not wise to assume that a person’s best-in-the-world-skills in one small area of life does not mean that he or she is a saint or an expert in other areas.
I have been reading some of the over the top coverage of his Masters win and it seems like the sports writers have learned nothing. They are determined to put Woods back on top of that pedestal.
He’s really not aging well..
It is kind of amusing to see how consensual albeit extramarital sex can nearly destroy a man.