Tiger Woods has had it up to his neck with golf.
That is unsurprising, considering he started hoiking balls down fairways at the age of 2 and has lived with unmerciful pressure to surpass the Major record of the great Jack Nicklaus since his late teens.
Woods is turning 40 on December 30 and, with his golfing career in the balance, he granted a candid, revealing interview to TIME.
Here are some of Woods’ best quotes from a fascinating Q&A.
On watching golf
I can’t remember the last time I watched golf. I can’t stand it. Unless one of my friends has a chance to win, then I like watching it. I watched Jason [Day] win the PGA. But it was on mute. It’s always on mute and I have some other game on another TV.
On his back seizing up and being found on the ground by his daughter
Thank God my daughter’s a daddy’s girl and she always wants to hang out. She came out and said, “Daddy, what are you doing lying on the ground?” I said, “Sam, thank goodness you’re here. Can you go tell the guys inside to try and get the cart out, to help me back up?” She says, “What’s wrong?” I said, “My back’s not doing very good.”
His relationship with his ex-wife Ellen Nordegren
It was too tough, too tough. But now, in hindsight, as years and years have gone by, we’re like best friends. It’s fun. She talks to me about her life, I talk to her about my life. We try and help each other out on all occasions. And we work through it with the kids, the parenting program.
On eventually telling his children about his many affairs
I’ve taken the initiative with the kids, and told them up front, “Guys, the reason why we’re not in the same house, why we don’t live under the same roof, Mommy and Daddy, is because Daddy made some mistakes.” I just want them to understand before they get to Internet age and they log on to something or have their friends tell them something. I want it to come from me so that when they come of age, I’ll just tell them the real story.
Woods has some friends in the media but does not care for others
There’s also a flip side of people that I really don’t care for. Hey, they made their career being negative and being outlandish. They’ve made a career out of it. But that’s their take. They’ve almost created a character, per se.
His closest buddies on the current PGA Tour
Probably one of my closest buddies now is Jason Day. I’m still really close with Rory McIlroy, and I’ve gotten a little bit closer to Jordan Speith over the years, ever since we played on the same Presidents Cup team.
His main motivation for back surgery
To watch my kids and play sports and to grow up and participate, and even teach them how to become better, oh my God, it gives me so much joy. I can’t imagine not being able to do that as I get older.
Check out the full TIME interview here.
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