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  • Tiger Woods gives exclusive interview to TIME magazine
  • Says he ‘can’t stand’ watching golf on TV most of the time
  • Is up front with his kids about his past misdemeanours
TIGER WOODS

Tiger Woods has admitted he ‘can’t stand’ watching golf on TV – and only tuned in to the US PGA Championship because his friend Jason Day was in contention.

In a rare exclusive interview with TIME magazine, Woods, who turns 40 on December 30, spoke at length about his recovery from back surgery, his relationship with ex-wife Elin Nordegren and former girlfriend Lindsey Vonn, how he compares himself to Jack Nicklaus in the ‘greatest ever’ debate and fond memories of the late Seve Ballesteros.

“I can’t remember the last time I watched golf,” Woods told Lorne Rubenstein. “I can’t stand it. Unless one of my friends has a chance to win, then I like watching it. I watched Jason win the PGA. But it was on mute. It’s always on mute and I have some other game on another TV.”

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Tiger Woods

Woods reiterates regularly in the interview that his children, Sam and Charlie, take huge priority over his golf and he believes that this attitude has enabled him to build up a close relationship with ex-wife Elin Nordegren.

“She is one of my best friends now, and it’s all because of my kids,” he said. “We’ve worked so hard, and I’ve shown her how much I love them. We’ve worked so hard at co-parenting, to make sure that their lives are fantastic. For instance, I’ve told her this, 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.”

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The 14-time major winner now seems resigned to missing out on eclipsing Nicklaus’ tally of 18 – but says there’s no way of measuring which one of them is the best ever.

“You can’t compare eras,” Woods said. “You really can’t. It’s like, ok, who’s the better centre: Bill Russell or Shaq? You just can’t say who was the best because the game has changed so much. Jack crossed so many eras because he played for so long, and he was in contention for so long. The same could be said for Sam Snead.”

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But Woods does hold fond memories of Seve, recalling short game lessons from the master and playing golf until the sun went down.

“I got to know Seve a little bit when Butch and I were working together, down in Houston,” he said. “He was working with Seve at the same time, and we’d time it up so that we had training camps together, two or three-day training camps. We’d hit balls and then he’d show me short game, for hours. Then we’d go play till dark. It was awesome.

“To see how he could do it, and I could never do it. But I could take pieces. I’d ask him, but man, I couldn’t do a lot of them. But I realised I don’t have to do a lot of them. I can do it my way.”

Tiger Woods :: The full interview

To read Tiger Woods’ full interview with TIME magazine, visit http://time.com/tiger/

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