All language subtitles for Tiger - 01x02 - Part 2.WEBRip-ION10.English.C.orig.Addic7ed.com

The following is a presentation
of HBO SPORTS.

MOUNTAIN WARFARE
TRAINING CENTER

LA POSTA, CA

25 days after Tiger Woods
buried his father, Earl,

he went to a military base

where SEALs practice
mountain warfare.

A petty officer working
with Tiger asked him,

"Why is the greatest golfer running
around playing G.I. Joe?"

And Tiger Woods looked at him
and said, "My dad."

Without his father,

Tiger was left with
an Earl-Woods-sized hole in his life,

and would spend the next few years
searching for something.

I don't think Tiger Woods
even knows what he wanted to find.

TIGER

Tiger! Tiger!

2007 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

SOUTHERN HILLS
COUNTRY CLUB, OK

And from Windermere, Florida,

the 1999, 2000, and 2006
PGA Champion, Tiger Woods.

Get in the hole!

He hammered it
down the middle with a cut.

What a tee shot.

Just belt the living daylights
out of it.

A number of months
after Earl's passing,

Tiger appeared to be in a very,
very good frame of mind.

He was at the pinnacle
of his sport,

and he had
this aura of invincibility.

Tiger is just a shot away...

- On his way to his own...
- ...his own universe.

Exactly.

His 13th major.

It's like sometimes
these golfing gods are just...

They seem to be
on his shoulders.

But in reality,
at that point in time,

being Tiger Woods had taken
its toll on Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods,
ladies and gentlemen.

He said to me one time,

"Stevie, you know, you become
this global sporting icon,

and you're representing
all these different brands.

Sometimes you feel
you just can't be yourself

'cause you've got so many people
depending on you,

so many people watching you,
so many people are invested in you."

This is weird.

- You're used to this, aren't you?
- You never get used to this.

He is widely considered to be the
greatest golfer to ever play the game.

Please welcome Tiger Woods.

Do you ever get sick of it?
You don't get sick of it.

It's nice, wherever you go,
people go crazy.

It's nice they're all like that

because I'm certainly one
who's not really comfortable with it.

Very rarely is there a photograph
of you in your private life.

I thought, this guy must have
a bat cave, you have an alter ego.

You can play...

- That's good.
- It is good.

I think he just wanted
at some point in time,

break all those ties,
get away from that,

go and do something
completely different,

and it was like hitting
a reset button.

The allure of Las Vegas
is that feeling you can escape.

People leave their morals
at the airport,

and pick them up
when they leave.

And as soon as you hit that tarmac,
everything is at your disposal.

Tiger. This way, please.

We catered to Tiger.
We spoiled him.

We would say,
"You're like a prince,

and basically,
free to do whatever you want."

- Tiger Woods, what's up, man?
- What's going on, man?

Tiger's two running buddies in Vegas,
Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley,

they both enjoyed the good life.

The nightclubs, the bottle service.

Women are literally throwing
themselves at them.

Michael!

In that entourage,
Tiger was a bit of a geek.

- Tiger, look right over here.
- Tiger, this way please.

It wasn't like he was
like Mack Daddy, like Casanova.

Those guys really didn't have to be.
Their hosts did all the work.

We would pick out the pretty girls
and say,

"Hi, would you like to go up
and party with Michael Jordan?"

Tiger asked, "What do I say
to these women?"

And Michael,
to his ever-loving credit, goes,

"You tell 'em you're Tiger Woods."

Come on, Tiger Woods.
Yeah, you're the president, ha?

I heard rumors of sexual encounters,

and I remember thinking,
"Wow, he's a man full of secrets."

But we all kept our mouths shut.
I know I did.

We made him feel so safe,

like nobody's going to tell.

This was Tiger Woods unchained
from the history of his childhood.

Unchained from pronouncements
about being The Chosen One.

It was Tiger Woods

unchained from being
a hundred-million dollar-a-year brand.

And so time and time and time again,
he would return to Vegas.

And even
after he got married to Elin,

Tiger didn't really slow down.

His ability to live a double life,

it started in Vegas.

We caught up with Tiger
outside Las Vegas

on what was the coldest day there
in more than five years.

Woods was on a set of his latest
commercial for Nike Golf,

and among other things,

I asked him how married life
with his new bride, Elin, was going.

It's been good.
It's the same as always.

- Nothing's changed?
- Nothing's changed.

That's it. I mean we're still the same,
same relationship.

How does she deal
with all the attention?

That's the one thing she had
to get used to. She didn't ask for it.

Back in 2002 when we started
getting pretty serious about it,

that's one of the things
we had to talk about.

I said,
"I'm sorry this has to be this way,

but it kinda comes along
with what I do."

Tiger would always talk about
having the white picket fence,

the lovely wife, children,
and some sort of normal life.

It appeared to me
that he was happy being married.

Elin is very sweet, smart, nice girl,

and I was really happy
he had found that in his life.

And I thought that was,
hopefully for him,

gonna be
where he wanted to be.

Tiger and Elin lived five doors down
from my husband and I.

And we became very good friends.

I remember Tiger told me
that he was gonna be a father,

and he was just elated
to have children.

He really wanted to be
a hands-on dad.

That was really important to him.

I think it really lit up his life.

Elin and I are very excited.

This is far more important
than any game of golf.

This is an opportunity for us
to raise our first child

and we're really looking forward
to it.

Three years into their marriage,
Elin had Sam, their little girl.

Elin always loved children and always
knew she wanted to be a mom,

always felt like she was going
to be a mom.

She told me
that she envisioned

they would build a happy home
filled with children.

They could be, as she put it, normal.

I'm happier
than I've ever been in my life.

I've got a wonderful balance

between on the golf course
and off the golf course.

Couldn't ask for a better year.

What's harder, sinking a ten foot par
putt on 18 with a one stroke lead,

or changing a poop diaper
and not getting anything on you?

Number two.
Literally number two.

The professional athlete
is always concerned about image,

and Tiger built himself up
to be more than he was.

We all have certain demons
that we have to acknowledge,

and I think for years and years
and years, Tiger ignored his.

And that made him susceptible.

There were
so many articles written

when you had a baby that
you were gonna lose your edge.

Does it bother you when you start
to see these things written?

It seems people are waiting
for something to happen.

There is a fascination in America
to see the top dog fall off the ladder.

Get in the hole!

No. Yes!

It's called the crab
in the barrel mentality.

We are all in a barrel and we have
crabs trying to get out of the barrel

and as soon
as they get up to the top,

one of the other crabs
grabs its leg

and pulls it back down
into the barrel.

So there was a group of people,
especially in the media,

pulling against him.

These detractors were plotting,
hoping for his fall.

I think the Tiger Woods story
is a big cautionary tale.

Be careful about the image
you create of yourself.

Be careful to live lies.
Be very very careful.

Because it could
all come tumbling down.

The National Enquirer had
a history of just smearing people.

They knew that the American public
loved to see

the failings
of their famous celebrities.

And so they fed that appetite
with a vengeance.

NATIONAL ENQUIRER HQ
BOCA RATON, FL

One evening I was at the office,

and I got a call to report
to the editor-in-chief.

There he was with the biggest smile
I'd ever seen on his face.

He had the biggest scoop in years.
Tiger Woods.

Tiger had his trips to Vegas,
he had a wild side,

and he had
an insatiable appetite for women.

And he made a careless mistake.

There was a restaurant
where Tiger would go with his wife,

not far from home.

And at this restaurant was a hostess.
Mindy Lawton.

And Tiger just couldn't take
his eyes off of her.

I was shocked.
I was in awe.

I didn't think it was real,
I didn't think it was happening to me,

but I played it cool.

And they had
a furiously eruptive relationship.

Sometimes before they could even get
to the bedroom of Tiger Woods' home,

while his wife was out of town,

they would make love in the garage,
against the golf cart.

And for the squeakiest and cleanest
celebrity probably on Earth,

that spelled trouble.

The National Enquirer immediately
sent reporters to track Tiger Woods.

They followed him
into a church parking lot

where they witnessed him having
sex with Mindy Lawton.

The reporter took photographs
of them together

and even picked up the tampon
that Mindy had discarded

and kept it in their vault as proof
that Mindy had been there.

The National Enquirer called
Tiger's team and asked the question,

"What is Tiger Woods' relationship
with Mindy Lawton?"

And then hung up the phone.

Everyone in the Tiger camp
went into damage control mode.

It was all about,
"How can we kill this story?"

The National Enquirer knew
that they had Tiger Woods,

but the photographs
were too blurry to run,

so they decided they would do
a catch and kill and make a deal.

In exchange for silence,

Tiger would appear
on the cover of Men's Fitness,

which was owned by the company
that owned the National Enquirer.

The Tiger camp considered the deal,
and considered it favorably.

As salacious
as the Mindy Lawton story was,

nothing was ever printed.

And in the eyes of the public,
Tiger Woods remained Tiger Woods.

My father's been instrumental

in getting this foundation
started from the get-go.

And I feel there's no better way
to honor what he's done

than to create a statue like this

because this basically
is my dad and I.

Mirror mirror on the wall,

we grow up like our daddy after all.

Tiger became what he loathed
most about his father,

a philanderer.

Alright!

That boy loved his father
with everything in him,

and that father loved that boy
with everything in him.

They were father - son,
brothers, best friends,

Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.

And I've always really wondered

if some part of him feels like
his own journey to self-realization

and going from being his father's son
to his own man required

going fully down the rabbit hole
of Earl Woods.

It's been a whirlwind tour for Tiger
Woods and his father, Earl Woods,

here at Fort Bragg.

The visit was about Earl Woods
sharing with his son the pride

he had serving
with Special Forces.

Tiger says military training
is not too different

from staying in shape
to play golf.

It's actually very similar. Except
for jumping out of a plane, I don't...

I don't really do that
to get ready for a tournament.

But he did do that this week
with the Army's Golden Knights.

Not one, but two tandem jumps
from thirteen thousand feet,

and he's got pictures
to prove it.

I think he just loved
that weekend with his father.

Earl was a Green Beret
and Tiger decided,

"I want to find out a bit more
for myself what that was like."

And jumping out of airplanes
was just the beginning.

I think he wanted
to be able to say,

"Ay, Pops, you're tough,
I'm tough too.

Maybe just one step tougher
than you."

On Tiger Woods' 31st birthday,
he was with the Navy SEALs.

As part of his training,

the SEALs would take him
through the kill house,

which is how they practice
clearing rooms.

And he would go there to do this,
over and over and over.

I mean, it all might have started
as chasing Earl's past,

but Tiger was finding a life
that was his.

I remember after this tournament
one time,

we were driving back to the house
where we were staying.

He said to me,
"I think I'm gonna give up golf

and I'm gonna go
and get in the Navy SEALs."

That stunned me in my tracks to be
honest. I actually couldn't believe it.

But he seemed incredibly serious.

And anyone that's normal
wouldn't go and be a Navy SEAL,

but this man's wired differently

and he's gonna do something that's
gonna test you to the absolute limit.

Tiger would go do this crazy stuff.

They put this hood over your head.

The hood goes off and you're
presented with a scenario.

And it could be three guys on top
of you, beating the shit out of you.

You get shot up with simunition,
you get these huge bruises on you.

The SEALs loved to tell stories
about just lighting him up,

and the guys in charge were like,

"You can shoot Tiger
wherever you want,

just don't shoot him
in his hands."

Like they were
very well aware of,

"We don't wanna be the guys
that broke Tiger Woods."

Tiger had all sorts of knee
and back issues from playing golf,

and the Navy SEALs stuff
was devastating on his body.

There was a SEAL who said, "Injuries
are magnets for more injuries."

And Tiger always seemed
to get kicked in his left knee.

Tiger was in immense pain
with his knee,

and when they scope his knee out,
they discover he's got no ACL.

The doctors say to him, "You're gonna
need major reconstruction there."

But, it's Tiger. "Fuck that,
I'm gonna deal with that later."

And he kept training.

And of course, he gets himself
two fractures in his leg.

I remember thinking,

"You brought it all upon yourself,
so self-inflicted."

The doctors say to him, "You're gonna
be out of the game for a while."

But he's got
the 2008 U.S. Open looming.

Can he win another major
and be one step closer

to breaking
Jack Nicklaus' record?

Jack's sitting on 18 majors.

Tiger needed to eclipse that mark

to prove that he is
the greatest player of all time.

You can finish your career
with 19 majors,

one more than Jack,
or one hundred wins.

19.

You can finish your career
with 17 majors,

one fewer than Jack,
or a hundred wins.

19.

There wasn't
anything gonna stop him.

Two fractures in his leg
and no ACL.

Nothing was gonna stop him.

Welcome to the 108th U.S. Open
Championship, beautiful Torrey Pines.

First competitive golf for Tiger Woods
since his knee surgery.

What do you expect to see
over the four days?

I think the big issue is fatigue.

In practice, he was only playing
nine holes per day.

First time out to go 18,
so we'll see how it holds up.

That headed left.

He grimaced on that one.

Look at his knee.
You can see him favoring that knee.

I could see just the look on his face,
the agony that he was going through.

And we all looked at each other
and thought,

"He's got no right playing
in the U.S. Open."

Now Woods,
tied for 27th place.

Headed way, way right.

He's making friends
with all the gallery here, isn't he?

What's the feeling like
out there, Roger?

It's absolute shock, Johnny.

I don't think anybody can believe what
they're watching here. I really don't.

He hits his tee shot
onto the cart path.

He's got cleats on, spikes.

And as he went to hit the ball,
his foot slipped out.

And I heard the crack in his knee.

I just saw the look in his eyes.
It was like he'd just been shot.

I said to him, "Hey Tiger, you might
be jeopardizing your career here.

Maybe this is the time to quit."

And I'll never forget,
he looks at me and he goes,

"Stevie, fuck you.
I'm winning this tournament."

How 'bout that birdie?

I wasn't gonna bag it. It's just not
my nature. I don't know how to do that.

I think that one might have hurt.

There's never any excuses.
The pain hits, the pain hits.

So be it. It's just pain.

Tiger's on this quest to be
the undeniable, absolute G.O.A.T.,

Greatest of All Time.

And within the context
of Tiger's astounding career,

the 2008 U.S. Open stands out
among all the others.

Get in the hole.

That's gonna catch the bank.

The mental strength, the physical
strength, everything that he brought.

Very awkward stance, and this can't
help the left knee I wouldn't think.

There was something magical
going on.

You gotta be kidding.
He knows it, too.

It's the same thing that would
allow Lennon and McCartney

to write "Eleanor Rigby."

Whatever it is, there's
some kind of magic in the air.

What else could possibly explain
a guy whose body's falling apart,

and he does contend?

Absolutely electric at Torrey Pines.

And a stunner of the day
for Tiger Woods,

two better at the moment
than Rocco Mediate.

Alright, Rocco, describe

what the last four and a half hours
of your life have been like?

It was unbelievable,
but it was so much fun.

I can't wait 'til tomorrow
to see what happens.

- Can you beat him tomorrow?
- Who knows what can happen?

But it's... The way I'm striking it,
you never know,

I just gotta make
a few more putts.

- Congratulations on a fabulous day.
- Thanks, it was a blast.

That night I'm thinking,
I can't beat him.

I gotta have backup.
So I called the devil.

I said, "Devil, listen.
I think I need some help tomorrow.

I gotta play this guy, and you know,
I don't... He's just the best."

He goes, "Oh, yeah.
You're playing Tiger tomorrow."

I went, "Yup."
He goes, "He's already with me.

Had him since he was a kid."

I went, "Son of a bitch. Alright,
thanks." Hung the phone up.

What kind of day is it gonna be
for Tiger Woods?

Should be another interesting quest
for a major championship.

Tiger was still hurt, obviously.
But it didn't affect the way he played.

- That one bothered him, too.
- Yeah, but it's in the fairway.

He still played like he plays,
intense and really good.

That one was audible.

He didn't hold back at all.

I kept looking at him going,
"What in the hell are you doing?"

But I think he thought
he was immortal.

Another stroke of genius by Tiger.

You watch the stuff he did,

and then you go,
"Well of course he's immortal."

Broken leg or not.

Let's go, Tiger!

When you stand around him,

there's something going on
that you're not used to feeling.

That feeling of, "You can't hide

and you're playing
with the best player in the world."

Expect anything different?

Unbelievable.
I knew he'd make it.

The stuff he pulled that week,
it was remarkable.

But nothing surprised me.
Not one thing. At all.

And in one of the most
remarkable performances,

Tiger Woods perseveres and wins
a third U.S. Open Championship.

If you wish for something
so so fervently, and it happens,

that sounds like a happy ending,
but it's not always.

At his core,
Tiger has this view of the world

that only sort of a young boy has
of conquering.

He conquered the world.

The problem
with conquering the world

is that the world is gonna want
its revenge.

For the last ten years,
I have stayed quiet about this story.

But at this point,
I have nothing left to lose.

My name hasn't lost
the stigma at all.

It's always been "Rachel Uchitel,
comma, Tiger Woods' Mistress."

I was running one of the clubs
in New York City.

I probably hosted every famous athlete
or celebrity you can think of.

They come for the best night
of their lives,

and I'm the person that is going
to facilitate that for them.

This is how I met Tiger Woods.

One night,
I was working at the club,

and I saw Tiger sipping his drink,
sitting by himself, talking to nobody.

I was surprised it was him,
to be honest with you.

I was just surprised
that that was Tiger Woods.

I went over to him to make sure that he
was okay, see if he needed anything.

He grabbed me and asked me
a few more questions

and then as they went to leave,
he took my phone number.

And the car probably hadn't even got
to the light at the corner,

he started texting me.

He said something like,
"When can I see you again?"

It was intimidating.
I mean, this was Tiger Woods.

I knew he was married.
I knew that he had responsibilities.

But he said,
"I want you to fly to Orlando

and then I will come
see you there."

That was the first night
I had sex with him.

And I remember thinking with him,

"How am I ever gonna be
with a mere mortal ever again?"

Because so many people
put him on such a pedestal.

And here he was, in my bed,

and he was my Tiger.

We really enjoyed
being with each other.

He would refer to it as
"plugging in."

He would tell me
that when he saw me,

he felt like he could plug in
and get recharged.

Tiger had issues sleeping
and he would have to take Ambien.

I would sometimes just sit
next to him for hours

while he would fall asleep
next to me.

And when he got up, I think that
he allowed himself to be a little kid.

I mean, it sounds kind of odd.

He would eat cereal

and he would watch his cartoons.

And he was like a fountain. He just
wanted to talk and talk and talk.

He told me a lot
about his childhood, his dad,

and that he was sick of trying
to hide who he was.

But he was so scared
of the real Tiger

not living up to the Tiger
that everybody else thinks he is.

One day I did ask him why he
didn't check in at home with Elin.

He said, "She doesn't ask questions
like you, she's not like you."

And it occurred to me that he wanted
to have someone to check in with.

I asked him a million questions and
he wanted to give every single detail

that he hadn't been able to say
in years or ever.

One day when he was
dropping me off at the airport,

I said, "I'm gonna miss you.
It's really hard for me

to just get back on a plane
and go home."

And he told me,

"You need to learn how to
compartmentalize your feelings,

push them off
to the side,

and think
about something else."

2009
ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

You know, I mean,
any time you're off that long,

there's always some wonder if you
can continue this incredible magic,

the incredible pace, when he won
that U.S. Open last year.

This would be another great example
of why Tiger is Tiger.

When he comes back in 2009,
after his knee surgery,

he was a winning machine.

Again! At Bay Hill!

It feels good to be back
in contention again, to feel the rush,

and it's been a while,
but God, it felt good.

If you made a map of the world,
and especially the United States,

and just put pins
for where Tiger was winning,

this guy's everywhere.

Tiger on his way to winning
for the fourth time this year.

Looks to be a good positive stroke.
Get in there. Yes!

Pretty close to paranormal, isn't it?
Is that a good word for him?

That is in the ionosphere
and just left of the hole.

Oh! Look at this shot!

That's certainly
a strong way to finish.

Seventy wins and he's 33?
That's frightening.

It's an unbelievable year,
not only 'cause he wins so much,

but because he's doing it

in the middle of this extreme
balancing act in his private life.

Congratulations going out
this morning to Tiger Woods

and his wife, Elin.

Woods' website confirming the birth
of their son, Charlie Axel Woods.

Can you see yourself giving
the kind of time to your kids

that your parents gave to you?

As best I can. I want
my kids to know their father.

How do you think that would affect
your day job?

Family always comes first. Always
has been in my life and always will.

Elin and I, we have
to work on that as a team.

If you talk about
Tiger Woods' greatest gifts,

certainly one of them is
the ability to compartmentalize.

2099 AT&T NATIONAL

Oh, look out. What a putt!

Well that's why
he's world's number one.

I mean, to move from dominating
a golf tournament

to being married
and having children

and then moving from woman
to woman to woman to woman.

In many ways,
Tiger was living four, five, six,

seven different lives at a time.

It becomes like a drug.
And you're looking for that next hit.

Tiger kept having another hit
and another hit.

In the beginning, he was
bright eyed and big smile.

But I saw a change in him
through time.

And towards the end,
there was a sadness about him.

Maybe that adrenaline rush
had left him

and he needed to go
to that next level.

I do know
that he called a Madam.

Every couple of months,
he requested to have multiple girls.

Could be up to ten girls at a time.

He had a particular type
that he liked.

Young, college cutie, girl
next door type, preferably blonde.

Vegas is providing
every opportunity he wants

to sample everything
and anything he wants,

including the highest
of high-end escorts.

We're talking five and six-figure
weekends with these girls.

He was into roleplaying.

We would go
and get tons of girls,

and he would dress up
into a suit.

We were like little puppets.

I think there's a real danger
in trying to equate Tiger's behavior

with seeking a thrill.

This is one troubled man.

And much like alcohol,
much like drugs,

much like gambling,
sex is a form of pain relief.

More than he got
from winning a major

or from going in a kill house
with the SEALs,

sex stops the pain
for a period of time.

Tiger Woods, like so many powerful,
wealthy celebrities,

felt that he could get away
with anything.

And unfortunately,
that wasn't the case.

- Come on, Tiger Woods.
- Lookin' good, brother.

The National Enquirer
had been tracking Tiger Woods

ever since
the Mindy Lawton story.

They knew
about his trips to Vegas,

his nightclubs near his home,

and when the National Enquirer
found out about Rachel Uchitel,

they were watching,

waiting for that one moment
to catch them in the act.

2009
AUSTRALIAN MASTERS

- Open it up. Open it up.
- Come on guys, relax.

And I welcome Tiger Woods
to the Australian Masters.

We're delighted
that he's such a fan of Melbourne,

and Tiger, we wish you
the best for this week.

Thank you.

I got a call from Tiger
in November,

saying that he could not play
the Australian Masters

unless I came there.

He says, "I can't sleep, I can't win
if you're not here. So will you come?"

This man, that everybody wanted
a piece of, only wanted me.

That's the biggest "I love you"
you could hear.

Tiger's team had booked me
a separate room on a different floor,

but I wanted to go
straight to Tiger's suite.

I never knew that anybody had any
inkling about my comings or goings.

I never thought
to look over my shoulder.

We were really brazen with what we
thought that we could get away with.

The National Enquirer
had sent a reporter

to the Crown Casino
in Melbourne.

And the reporter got into
an elevator with Rachel Uchitel,

followed her to the top floor, watched
as she walked to Tiger's suite,

and that's when the National Enquirer
called and said,

"You're going to see Tiger Woods."

We did everything
to try and stop that story.

We made every threat,
we made every denial,

and at the end of the day,
the story was gonna run.

When Tiger got back to Florida,

he sits down with Elin, his wife,

and he says, "Look, there's a story
coming from the National Enquirer.

It's all garbage,
and I can prove it."

So he gives her his phone
and it's Rachel Uchitel.

We had an extensive, thirty-minute
conversation, Elin and I,

convincing her that I was not having
a sexual relationship with Tiger.

We talked about how I knew Tiger,
how I knew his friends,

how and why I was in Australia.

Elin was already inclined to believe
that the tabloid media was hurtful,

not to believe them,
that they were bad.

So she sort of was inclined
to go along with all of that.

The story came out
and nobody looked at it.

Between this stupid story
and the phone call with Elin,

I remember thinking, "Oh my God,
we're gonna slide right over this."

NOVEMBER 26, 2009

Two days later,
it was Thanksgiving.

Tiger and I texted
throughout the day,

saying that we have
a lot to be grateful for.

We had gotten away unscathed in what
could have been a complete nightmare.

And then, I get this text message
from Tiger saying,

"You were the only one
I ever loved."

I remember just feeling that things
had never been better between us.

And then he told me he was taking
an Ambien and going to sleep.

When I got another text from him,
I was kind of surprised.

What came through was something like,
"When am I gonna see you again?"

And then the phone rang.

I answered saying something like,

"Hey babe,
I thought you went to sleep."

And instead of Tiger's voice,
it was Elin.

And she said,
"I knew it was you."

911, what's your emergency?

I need an ambulance immediately.
I have someone down.

In front of my house.
They hit a pole.

- I came out to see...
- Is it a car accident, sir?

It's a car accident, yes.

Okay. Are they trapped
inside of the vehicle?

No. They're laying
on the ground now.

- Is he unconscious?
- Yes.

Okay. Are you able to tell
if he's breathing?

No, I can't tell right now.

Tiger's Mother:
What happened?

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

We interrupt regular programming
right now

for breaking news
that will rock the world of sports.

Tiger Woods, the world's greatest
golfer, has been injured in a crash.

His SUV ran afoul
of a fire hydrant and a tree

in the wee small hours of the morning,
right outside his house.

A local police chief now says Woods'
wife had to smash a window of the car

to get him out, and that Woods
was in and out of consciousness,

lying in the street
when police arrived.

I just remember I was sitting at work,
and this big story breaks.

Tiger Woods was in a car accident.

This is basically
how it all went down here.

This is Tiger's house right here.

I was very confused.

Why would he have a car crash
in Isleworth, a neighborhood

where I think the speed limit
doesn't go past 25 miles an hour?

And then
that sort of set in as panic

because I called his cell phone
and it did not have a voicemail.

It had been shut off.

And that's when I realized
something was really wrong.

Tiger Woods was hospitalized
after smashing his SUV into a tree,

declined to meet with investigators
for a second time today.

Woods admitted to taking Vicodin
and Ambien for injuries and to sleep,

but refused to say whether
they were involved in his crash.

Further silence
from Tiger Woods.

People are asking,
is he hiding something?

In the days
before the car accident,

these two tabloids came out
with cover page stories

alleging Tiger Woods has been having
an extramarital affair

with a New York party hostess
named Rachel Uchitel.

I didn't want to believe
that Tiger had done that.

I didn't want to believe that he had
succumbed to his primal nature.

So we just had to wait
for all the details to come out.

Websites are quoting
friends as saying that,

"What really happened is they got
into a little duh-duh-duh-duh-duh

in the house over this report
that he was having an affair.

And then all of a sudden,
out comes the wife with a golf club."

Even though the reporting
was sketchy,

you had a lot of people
who just couldn't get enough.

One of the things spoken
in black households often

was when something would happen,

somebody older than you
would say,

"Hope he's not black.
Hope he's not black."

Because you knew it would give
fuel and fodder to those people

who wanted to see you
as something much less than them.

It was gonna be used against you.

All those people
who really didn't like him

and were trying to find reasons
to bring him down

and reasons to say
he wasn't this and wasn't that,

now they're gonna have
their moment.

Is there another woman
in the Tiger Den?

A new day brings a new name and a
whole new slew of problems for Tiger.

Once one woman was discovered,
many more followed.

MISTRESS: TIGER PAID ME

TIGER'S BACK

NY CLUB GA,
FLA. WAITRESS JOIN 'HAREM'

TIGER ADMITS:
I'M A CHEETAH

There were more
New York Post covers

dedicated to the Tiger scandal
than 9/11.

It was a feeding frenzy.

A waitress calling him
a Tiger in bed.

A Hooters girl, a porn star.
Will it ever end?

It's time to find out how many women
have now been linked to Tiger Woods.

Let's go to the Tiger Woods
Tote Board.

The total number of women rumored
to have hooked up with Tiger Woods

is up to� eleven!

My first thought was,

"Look at how the country
is taking delight in his failure."

Like America couldn't have loved
Tiger Woods

more than they did
five years ago.

Found out the man liked pussy,
everybody lost their goddamn mind.

Tiger had sex with fifteen women,
they all were white,

so Tiger don't need marriage
counciling, he need diversity training.

It was great American entertainment.
Doesn't get any better than that.

Jamie Jungers is the first
of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses

to speak out in a live interview.

You came here today, you said,

because you wanted to clear up
some of the information

that's been out there about you,
like this headline,

"Tiger Paid Me."
Never paid you for anything, you said.

Nothing. I didn't even get
a birthday card.

I got nothing out of this relationship
but a broken heart.

- You loved him.
- I did.

When this hit the tabloids
and everything came out,

it seemed like everybody
was focused on the sex part,

but that's not what busted him.

Ultimately what took Tiger down
was emotions.

These weren't girls
that he was just hooking up with once

and then tossing away.

He had relationships
with these girls.

We would cuddle, hug,
whatever it may be.

And he always had his hand
intertwined with mine,

saying,
"We will always be together."

So many girls came out

because Tiger
obviously hit the heart

and played with girls' emotions.

- Are you still in love with him?
- Yes. I always will be.

He must have done something
to make them feel very special,

and they were jealous.
They were hurt.

They wanted to be
"the one."

And they found out
there was more than one.

Hey, Rachel.

Damn! So this is why Tiger
wanted to leave the wife?

Did you love Tiger?

Excuse me, guys. No, I can't make
any comment, you guys.

Are you a fan of the song,
"Oh Baby I Like It Raw?"

I think you should get a test.
STDs are a problem out there.

This story was so huge. That was
the end of my life as I knew it.

There now were probably 45 to 50
paparazzi outside of my apartment,

telling me that I was a homewrecker,
that I was a whore,

saying, "I hope you get AIDS
and die."

Do you feel sorry
for Tiger's wife, Rachel?

Anything you want
to say to her?

I regret that he was married
and I regret the mistakes that I made.

Rachel, do you guys respect
that Tiger was married?

Why do women cheat
with married men?

But people came at me like
they wanted to blame me

for the fact that a married man
cheated on his wife.

It was like I was
the only one

that was responsible
for Tiger's actions.

- Rachel, how do you say?
- Uchitel.

You could tell she's a hooker.

You could tell she's a 'puttan'?

You can tell she's a 'puttan'.

My name was getting dragged
through the mud.

So Rachel, did Tiger live up
to his name, Tiger?

What's the nature of your relationship
with Tiger Woods?

- Smile for me, Rachel.
- Guys, please let me get through here.

In the meantime,

none of the people around Tiger
would answer my phone calls.

It made me really start
to question every single thing

that Tiger and I had.

Finally I said, you know what,
I want out of this.

I need to say
what happened.

But before I could tell my story
to the media, Tiger called me.

It was the first time that I spoke
to him since the accident.

He told me that his lawyers
were going to call

about a settlement
of confidentiality.

He said to me,
"Get as much as you can."

And I think to him,
that was his only way to

to love me at the time. Yeah.

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Good morning.
And thank you for joining me.

Many of you in this room
are my friends.

Many of you have cheered for me,
or you worked with me.

Now, every one of you has
good reason to be critical of me.

I have let you down personally
and professionally.

My behavior has caused
considerable worry

to my business partners.

I hurt my wife,
my kids, my mother,

and kids all around the world
who admired me.

I know I have bitterly disappointed
all of you.

I have made you question
who I am

and how I could have done
the things I did.

I am embarrassed
that I have put you in this position.

For all that I have done,

I am so sorry.

When he came out
and he apologized,

I think that was a bad move
on his agent's part.

I think I would have had him
read a statement.

"Whatever's going on
between my wife and I,

that's my business,
that's not yours."

And if I lost some fans
or endorsements, so be it.

I felt real sadness.

I felt sadness for Tida,

as much pride as she took
in her son, how she loves Tiger,

I knew it was very hard for her.

And then I felt for his children.

They were too young really
to know what was going on.

But eventually, they were gonna
find out some negative stuff

that no child should never have
to read or hear about.

But the main person I felt sad for
was Elin

because he had hurt her mightily.

Elin, how are you?
Do you still love Tiger, Elin?

What do you think of his fourteen
mistresses? Will you ever forgive him?

Elin felt downright hunted
by the paparazzi.

Worse, she felt
like her children were hunted.

How are the kids, Elin?
Has Tiger seen the kids, Elin?

You know, to think of how
she told me at the beginning

she felt like it was her and Tiger
cocooned and joined.

Us against the world.

Elin, the whole world wants to know
how you're holding up.

To then all of a sudden have it be
the world all closing in on her,

for a scandal not her making.

Man, it was freezing today
in New York.

It's like a phone call between
Tiger Woods and his wife out there.

She was like,
"Look, Tiger, it's either me or her

or her, or her, or her, or her,

Not the Perkins waitress,
but the other one, or her or her."

As the scandal
was still kind of unspooling,

Elin moved with the children
to a rental house

not far from their home

so she could just kind of get out
of Tiger's space and think.

But it all kind of just
became too much.

And she just sat down amid the kinda
moving boxes with their stuff.

And she's sitting there,
and Sam came over

and said, you know,
"What's wrong, Mommy?"

And Elin told her, you know,
"Mommy's got a boo boo."

And Sam said, you know, "Well where?
I'll kiss it and make it feel better."

And Elin said,
"It's in mommy's heart."

What she went through and how she
tried to shelter her kids from that,

it was real.

She was so blindsided
by her whole life

being suddenly exposed
as a lie.

And that was shattering.

Tiger Woods reportedly is working out
a big money settlement

ending his five year marriage.

The details of the divorce
may never be known,

though some estimate Elin may receive
upwards of 100 million dollars.

Can anybody explain
these divorce settlements?

Can anybody make sense
of these fucking things?

Tiger Woods' wife,
250 million dollars?

Dude, there is an epidemic
of gold-digging whores in this country.

Elin's story too often got warped
into gold-digging, scorned woman.

Miss Nordegren,
are you happy with the divorce?

But she would say something
really telling that,

"Money can't put
my family back together."

APRIL 3, 2010

After six weeks of rehab at Pine
Grove Treatment Center in Mississippi,

known for treating sexual addiction,

Tiger is out of rehab back at home
in Florida.

When Tiger returned,

I knew that he was
in a poor mental frame.

And I went down to see him.

Obviously paparazzi are trying
to get photos,

so he had his house
all boarded up.

Just as private as he could be.

Tiger was quite aloof that day,
and it didn't bother me

because I understood
what he was going through.

He's been out of the game,
he's been crucified in the media.

You know,
what's he gonna do next?

Is he gonna walk away from the game?
There's a lot of uncertainty.

So I laid it all out
on the table for him.

And I asked
what he wanted to do.

And he said to me, "I'm going
to play in the 2010 Masters."

How will you explain this
to your children

when they're old enough
to understand?

I will have that sit-down talk.
I take full ownership of it. I did it.

No one else did.
It was just me.

And that's the responsibility
that I will have.

I will talk to my kids for however
long they want to talk about it.

That is a conversation
that will need to be had.

Tiger, you've been
a master of control your entire life.

How did things get
so out of control?

Going against your core values
and losing sight of them.

I felt entitled,
and that is not how I was raised.

The Masters is a demanding stage
on its own,

let alone for a return
of this magnitude.

How do you know
you're mentally prepared for this?

Well I'm excited
to get back and play.

I miss the game.
But still, playing is one thing.

But the public,
I am a little nervous about them.

It would be nice to hear
a couple claps here and there.

We are not unaware
of the significance of this week

to a very special player,
Tiger Woods.

It is not simply the degree of his
conduct that is so egregious here.

It is the fact that he disappointed
all of us,

and more importantly, our kids
and our grandkids.

Our hero did not live up
to the expectations of the role model

we sought for our children.

Is there a way forward?

We at Augusta hope and pray
that our great champion

will begin his new life
here tomorrow

in a positive, hopeful,
and constructive manner.

But certainly, his future
will never again be measured

only by his performance
against par,

but measured by the sincerity
of his efforts to change.

One of the things that I never
got over in Augusta is the feeling

that there's this thin undercurrent
of racism right below the surface.

It was not the place
or the tournament

to chastise a former champion,
especially a champion of color.

Do you think that they would
have done that to Fred Couples?

Do you think they would
have done that to Nick Faldo?

I felt like it was a public whipping.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2010
Masters has now officially begun.

Have fun.

Yeah, basically, basically,
it was a public whipping.

What Billy Payne did at Augusta,

to sit there and scold Tiger,
it was disgusting.

Tiger's family, his wife,

they had a right to be angry,
disappointed, upset.

Not the chairman
of some damn golf club.

Who the hell are you?

Now to the long anticipated return
of Tiger Woods,

his first pro tournament
since he left the game in scandal.

I was on the first tee
when he came out that morning.

There was embarrassment
and humiliation off the charts.

SEX ADDICT?
YEAH, RIGHT. ME TOO!

I cannot imagine all of that emotion
being bottled up inside you.

Players are looking at him,
the fans are looking at him,

the television's looking at him,

which means the world
is looking at him.

Good tee shot on the first hole.

And I don't care who you are,
Tiger Woods or whoever,

this first tee shot is nerve-racking.

But so far,
it looks like business as usual.

- Oh, look at that thing turn.
- I sense he loves that.

- Oh, that was an incredible golf shot.
- Oh, my goodness.

Tiger loves and craves and needs
that competitiveness

that comes with the game,

but I'm not sure
it was the best way for him

to cope with everything.

A lot has happened in my life
over the past five months

and I'm here at the Masters
to play and compete,

and nothing's changed.

I'm trying to go out there
and win this thing.

It seemed like he was trying
to just sort of put it behind him

and keep moving forward.

But as his friend,
I could feel that something,

something was not right.

Oh. There it is.

I knew that deep down,
Tiger was incredibly sad,

lost, broken up,
and very vulnerable.

After the crash,
I remember just thinking,

this is when he probably needs
his friends the most.

I tried to reach out,
but he had shut his phone off.

I thought, you know,
maybe in a couple weeks,

as things died down,
maybe he'd reach out.

But the longer it went on,

I realized I had been
completely cut out of his life.

He grew up in an environment
where feelings were not discussed

and I think he doesn't understand
how to deal with complex emotions.

Instead of having to actually
process something like that,

I think it was more easy
to cut people out of his life.

Years of friendship,
and all of a sudden,

never heard from Tiger again.

It felt like my friend had died.

Just to be sort of discarded
like that,

there was a lot of hurt
that went along with that.

After such a long and difficult
absence from the game,

can you put this week
in perspective for us? For you?

Yeah, I finished fourth.
Not what I wanted.

I wanted to win
this tournament

and I didn't get it done.

I didn't hit the ball good enough

and I made too many mistakes
around the greens.

Consequently, I'm not there.

Any idea after this performance
this week

when we might see you again?

No. I wanna take a little time off
and kinda reevaluate things.

Thank you for your time
and thank you for being here.

After the Masters, Tiger took a little
bit of a break away from the game,

just to get his mind free, as well
as deal with some niggling injuries.

As a caddy for Tiger Woods,
and a great friend of his,

I wanted to deeply respect
what he was going through.

But I still didn't know
when he was gonna be playing again.

I was just expecting a phone call
at any moment to say,

"Oh, I'm playing next week, get your
shit together and get over here."

There was a lot of uncertainty.

So when a friend that I'd caddied for
before called me

and asked me
could I caddy for him,

I ran that by Tiger and he said,
"Absolutely, no problem."

But then, couple days
before the tournament,

Tiger changed his mind.

He had his agent call, and he said,

"If you go and caddy
for your friend,

that'll be the end of your time
caddying for Tiger."

And I thought, "There's just no way
the guy's gonna fire me."

But a couple days
after the tournament,

I got the phone call to say
that that was, our time was ended.

I believed in my own heart,

I gave it a hundred percent
when I caddied for Tiger,

for the entire time
that I was with him.

And then, for him
to fire me over that kind of thing,

I found that pretty unusual.

Sometimes we all need changes.

And this was a change and,
as I told you guys earlier,

I was at peace with it.

And it was the decision
and direction I wanted to go.

And that's it.

When he fired me, I thought
he was firing me as a golf caddy,

not firing me as a friend.

He adds another major
to the tally.

And a thanks to Steve Williams.

They have been
a tremendous partnership.

Tiger was the best man
at my wedding.

I didn't think we'd have no
communication for the rest of our life.

That just didn't even enter
my mind.

To this day, I find that
a hard pill to swallow.

Someone that you spend
thirteen years with,

you give all your time
and all your effort,

the guy can't even speak to you.

I felt that it was time for me
to go

in a different direction
in my professional life.

So far as personally,

life goes forward
and just keep moving forward.

Tiger sacrificed so much in order
to become the greatest player.

He certainly had
the mental strength

to block out whatever
he needed to block out.

But that ability made it possible
to shut off his friends and family.

And at the end of the day,
his only focus was to win.

It was quite sad,
but that was just the reality of it.

It's a pleasure to watch
greatness in action, isn't it?

When we look at Tiger, we often wonder
what's going through his mind.

What we wouldn't give
to know his thoughts.

That's pretty good. That's quality
control, ladies and gentlemen.

In 2013, Tiger was winning at a clip
that called to mind his prime years.

Tiger Woods sends a message

with a win in his first tournament
of the season.

And all of a sudden,
everybody breathed a sigh of relief.

Fans seemed to have forgotten
they had humiliated him.

Because now, he was back
to being the machine.

On a really elemental level,

people weren't even looking
at Tiger as a person.

They were looking at him
as a performer.

- How 'bout this one?
- How 'bout that one?

That would have been
the best four of all time.

Tiger Woods,
number one in the world again.

2013 became this dominant period.

And Nike came out with this ad,

"Winning Takes Care
of Everything."

In your career,

this is the quickest you've gotten
in one season to four victories.

How would you describe
the way you're playing golf right now?

I'm getting better.

- That's it?
- That's it.

He's asked so often about whether
or not he's back to the form of 2000,

those historic, epic years.

His game looks good,
and his putting is fantastic,

and his irons are really good.
Looks pretty much a done deal.

Is it going to cut?

- He went down in pain.
- He is down.

It was an extraordinary sight.

We know that he has
a high high tolerance for pain.

I mean the guy won the U.S. Open
on a broken leg.

So you can only imagine how
excruciating the pain must have been

for him to fall to his knees in the way
that he did at that tournament.

- Oh, he's hurting.
- Yep. There is something wrong.

His swing was violent.
Like frighteningly violent.

Think of the number of repetitions
that it took to perfect that swing.

He started doing it
when he was just a baby,

and the body can only stand
so much.

Since you've won your last major,
you've gotten a little older,

you've had the injury,
you've had the divorce.

What's been the most significant?

Probably your first point.
I'm older.

Father time's undefeated.

We all eventually start losing
some of the things

we were able to do
when we were younger.

He told us that during this time,
his back would spasm.

One time, he fell to his knees
and he was like a pillbug.

He couldn't get up.

He had to have his daughter, Sam,
call for help.

That's when he realized, I can only
control so much of this for so long,

but everybody else still wants to see
golf's god.

And I can't give them that
because I'm just a man.

And I think that recognition
broke him mentally.

Uh-oh. Wow.

That was unbelievable.

For me,
I remember thinking,

"What has Tiger done to Tiger Woods?"
I mean, he was wrecking himself.

Mental strength. That was
always his greatest skill.

And then all of a sudden,
he's got the chipping yips.

How did Tiger Woods shoot his worst
round as a pro on the PGA Tour?

Chipping was a disaster.
The scorecard was almost surreal.

Golf is all about confidence.

You've got to trust
how you're gonna strike the golf ball.

Tiger chipping again.
We're all going to pay attention.

You sort of have this feeling he could
chip it closer with his eyes closed.

If you lose that confidence, your
career is on a slippery slope downhill.

He doesn't know
what the problem is.

I feel he is as confused
as he's ever been.

Watching Tiger struggle,
it was like, wow.

This wasn't the Tiger
that I knew.

When he was a kid, he could
make any shot he wanted to.

Go in!

I remember one time
when I was over his house,

and Earl and Tida and me
and Tiger in the living room,

I'm talking with them, all of a sudden
this ball comes over my shoulder.

He's hitting them over the couch,
over my shoulder,

over the glass table and stopping
them before the fireplace.

Okay, he did one, right, I'm thinking,
"Okay, that was luck."

Does it again, does it again,
does it again.

He used to be able to do
all these crazy shots.

From one bunker to another.

But it was just crash and burn.

Tiger Woods has not won
a major since 2009?

Eight.

- How 'bout Jack Nicklaus?
- What about him?

- He has 18 and you're at 14.
- I'm at 14, correct.

So I'm struggling to understand

why you're not playing
like you used to play.

I've had three back operations.
And that's taken its toll on me.

When you look at losing it, it must be
terribly hard for you to accept this.

It's been terribly hard
not to be able to do the things

that it would take for me
to get to that level.

And that is simply
just practicing.

Tiger Woods has pulled out of golf's
first major of the year, the Masters.

He said he's just not tournament
ready due to his troublesome back.

The fourteen-time major winner won
his first major

at the Masters
twenty years ago.

At the 2017 Masters,
we knew something serious was up.

Tiger came to the Champions Dinner
at Augusta,

and he was sitting there
with Jack Nicklaus.

And you could visibly see he was in so
much pain from his back into his legs.

He couldn't sit still,
poor bugger, you know.

And he said to Jack,
"I think I'm done.

My career is finished."

What are you going to do
if you're Tiger Woods,

and you're in your early 40s,

and the thing that's made
your whole life possible

and defined your whole life,
that gets taken away from you?

The entire identity of Tiger Woods
is bound in his golf.

And to that degree, there's only
one path to the endline of his golf,

which is undisputedly, undeniably,
the greatest of all time.

So if he's gotta leave golf,

and can't really say he's worn
the mantle of the greatest of all time,

then really where is he?

Because that has been
his entire identity.

And that just had to be untenable
for him I would think.

MAY 29, 2017

Do you know
where you're at right now?

- Ah, I do not know.
- You have no idea? Okay.

- Have you been drinking tonight?
- No.

No? Are you sure about that?

- Have you taken any medication?
- Actually, yes.

Why don't you go
and hop out for me real quick.

Mr. Woods, go ahead
and stand with your feet together

and your arms down by your side.

Okay. Don't begin
until I tell you to, okay,

but when I tell you to,
I want you to close your eyes

and tilt your head backwards

and you're gonna recite
the entire English alphabet

in a slow, non-rhythmic manner,
meaning you're not gonna sing it, okay?

- Do you understand the instructions?
- I do.

Okay, what were
the instructions?

Not to sing
the national anthem backwards.

Not to sing
the national anthem backwards?

Okay, sir. What I want you to do
is go ahead

and place your hands
behind your back, okay?

Troubling new headline
for Tiger Woods.

Legendary golfer
was arrested overnight.

Five drugs in his system.
Xanax, ambien, pain killers.

If you take
an opioid pain reliever,

and he's had back surgeries,

too often, a patient like that
ends up addicted to opioids.

Don't get behind the wheel.
Don't endanger my family.

This was another bad decision
by Tiger Woods.

It's painful to watch that tape.

Go ahead and stand on that yellow X
and face the front of the room.

But it's also revealing.

Turn around.

Here, one of the most powerful,

one of the wealthiest athletes
in the history of sports,

is in a holding cell

for having five different
prescribed drugs in his system.

Okay. You may begin.

Today is May 29, 2017.

I have arrested
and charged Eldrick Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods has spent most of his life
with a camera pointed at him.

The second that camera
is pointed at you...

Fuck me.

...you want to try to control
the image to the degree you can,

knowing that often you can't.

But on that night,
Tiger is still being filmed...

Watch, look. I'm gonna need
two samples of your breath.

...and even though
he's deeply impaired...

Blow. Good, there you go.
Keep going, keep going, keep going.

...it's some of the most
truthful moments of his life

because he realizes it's all over.

And there was
no way to hide from it.

Seeing his mugshot there,

it's not the Tiger Woods
a lot of us are used to seeing.

That picture,
he should look at it.

He's completely lost touch
with his image.

His golf career,
it's virtually non-existent.

He's never gonna dominate
and win again.

It's at a point now
where the next press release

Tiger Woods should release
should be, "I'm retiring."

Tiger Woods is finished.

I remember thinking,
"Wow, is this how it ends?

This is how it ends.
After everything."

After all the pontifications
and pronouncements

about Tiger being the Chosen One,

this once-in-a-multi
generational athlete,

who had been inspiring people

in ways people
have never been inspired before,

he was just a guy
in need of a hell of a lot of help.

This is the tragic ending
that no one wants to write.

Okay, Mr. Woods,
gotta read you your rights.

You have the right to remain silent
and not answer...

I had seen it on the news,
but I didn't watch it.

People were telling me,
"You gotta see the video.

It's horrible, it's awful, he looks
so bad, and he's done, he's a mess."

And I just thought,
I didn't really wanna see it.

There was just this fiercely
protective nature that I had with him.

But then I watched the video
just by myself.

Where are you coming from
right now?

Headed back down
from Orange County.

You're headed down
from Orange County?

Yes.

You're in Jupiter, Florida
right now.

He had referred
to Orange County,

and that took my mind
back home to Southern California,

to our childhood.

To think about that jovial,
funny, quirky kid.

He had so much fun
and sweetness in him,

but he ended up on the street,
alone, and on his own.

Do you just wanna take a seat
real quick to tie your shoe?

It's alright.

And I just thought,
"I really hope he can reflect back

and remember the real him."

Are you looking forward
to the hearing, Mr. Woods?

Will it impact your golf career?

In 17CT 96 20,

the defendant will be pleading guilty
to charge of reckless driving.

Mr. Woods, are you entering
this plea freely and voluntarily?

Yes.

The defendant must complete
the DUI school

and any
and all recommended treatment.

Everyone will face a reckoning.
I don't care who you are.

And Tiger's reckoning came hard.

He was in the depths,

and I think he had to do
a lot of soul searching

and it started
by looking at his past.

Daddy! Daddy!

We can't dictate to him
what he can be and what he cannot be.

So as a consequence, what we do
is we participate with him in golf,

and if it was bowling, we would
participate with him in bowling.

Each and every one of us
has our own life to live,

and he has a choice to live his life
the way he wants to live his life.

Tiger was constructed,
there's no question about it.

And Earl drew up the specs.

A perfect golfing machine,
built from the outside in.

The outside was
the more important thing,

how you show your talent.

Crushing the ball,
crushing opponents, success.

He would play mind games on me
almost every shot I hit

until I grew up and accepted it,
and then it was nothing.

In the meantime, maybe
something was left out inside.

For Tiger's whole life, the development
of the machine took precedence.

It wasn't until the recovery
that he entered after the arrest

that Tiger really had to go through
the human development,

sort of this growth period that for
most of us happens pretty early on.

Here he was
in his early 40s saying,

"Well the machine got me here.
I have to evolve into something else."

The first step
was to go into treatment.

He got clean, he got healthy,

and he crawls out of that hole.

If you look back on how deep into
the throes of drug addiction he was,

just to become a functional adult
is the comeback of all comebacks.

MEDALIST GOLF CLUB
HOBE SOUND, FL

Tiger had had
back fusion surgery

to just be able to resume
an ordinary life.

And as he started
to feel better physically,

he obviously started thinking
about golf.

Post-back fusion surgery,

I was able to bend over
and start rotating without pain.

And so I was given the okay
to start chipping.

All of a sudden,
the thought came back

that I might be able
to do this again.

Next you know, I started
to piece together a golf swing.

Woods posted this video
on Monday,

dropping his biggest hint yet that
he's ready to step back up to the tee.

Who would have thought ten months
ago that he would even swing again?

Just seeing him at this level,
man, how you not be excited?

All of a sudden, everybody was
wondering, "Will he play golf again?"

I ended up writing
an open letter to Tiger saying,

"I hope you can come back, but
not for the reasons you might think.

I don't want you to come back so that
you can pass Jack's major record.

I want you to come back
so that you can find the joy

that led you to the game
in the first place."

Today is perhaps the most highly
anticipated round of golf.

For the first time in 301 days,

Tiger Woods is playing competitively
for the world to witness.

He loves this one.

This week is a big step for me.

To come out here and to be able to do
what I've been doing with the guys,

that's so exciting.
You have no idea how exciting that is.

I hadn't been able to play fun golf
like that in such a long time.

And honestly,
I miss playing golf for fun.

Tiger Woods
playing alongside Kevin Na.

And he has this little short one
for birdie.

Pick it up.

You gotta let it get to the bottom
of the hole first, though, Kevin.

- Tiger got a kick out of that one.
- Oh, that's good.

Alright, Tiger
from just over two feet.

Would you have ever seen Tiger
do that a few years back?

I don't care
what situation he was in.

For all these years, he had been
so hyper-focused on the results,

he didn't want to fraternize
with the people

that he was gonna be trying
to beat.

But now
when I watch him play golf,

I see him enjoying the camaraderie
with his competitors.

I see him connecting with fans
in a way that he never did before.

I see a real genuine sense
of gratitude for the second chance.

Tiger, Tiger!

I'm very lucky.

I'm grateful to have been given
the opportunity to have a life.

And then on top of that,

blessed to even have
the opportunity to play golf.

Because I wasn't able to,
I was just laying down.

That's all I could do, is lay down.

A lot of times, I couldn't move.

I would be helped up out
off the floor, out of the bed,

and had to be carried
around the house.

These are tough times.

And to live months upon months
like that, it was not fun.

But now to be
on the good side of it,

the neat thing for me is to be able
to share it with my kids.

For so long, all my kids knew
was my soreness and pain.

They've never seen me
win golf tournaments.

They don't know what it's like.

I said, "Hey, I'm just getting started
here. Okay, guys? Dad's not done yet."

Round One of the Masters today
at Augusta National.

So many storylines to track,
including Tiger Woods.

He almost lost the ability
to play the game.

Wasn't sure two years ago if he was
going to play tournament golf again.

Now that he's back,
he understands his place in the game.

Tiger now is the voice of history

amongst the players
here at Augusta National

because it's 22 years
removed now from the '97.

It's exciting for me
to be a part of,

and hopefully I can be part of it
come Sunday afternoon.

Tiger, do you feel
like you need to win here again?

Well, I don't really need
to win again,

but I really want to.

When he walked out
to the first tee,

I think we all thought
there's no way.

There's no way
he can win another major,

because what we saw
five years ago,

there was no way
physically, technically,

there was no way
he could win another major.

No, no, no.

And that one is leaking left.
He knows it, too.

Oh, my God.

He will be hard pressed
to make his par from where he is.

See if he can manufacture a shot.

Downball.

He can.

There are signs, subtle signs
of the way Tiger used to play golf.

One thing I've learned
from twenty years of Tiger Woods

is do not underestimate Tiger Woods.
That is not the way to bet.

After playing Augusta
for so many years,

he figured out
how to play the golf course.

Trying to land it
in the middle of the green.

That's Masters experience
right there.

On every hole, he figured out,
this is the safest place to hit it.

It's a little bit conservative
for him,

he wasn't going out there
and stepping on people's necks,

but this was a different Tiger.
He's older Tiger.

- Anybody enjoying this?
- Yessir!

I kept telling myself,
"I've been in this position before.

You have a lot of holes to play.

Hang in there until the last couple
holes and we'll see where we are.

Just keep hanging in there."

Right now, everybody's talking
about that leaderboard.

There are some huge names.
And right behind sits Tiger Woods.

There's a whole generation
of Tour pros

that grew up idolizing Tiger,

but they never played him
at his peak,

never saw the shots that they
only can see on YouTube now.

And there were some pros
who said,

"I can't wait to get into the hunt
with Tiger on a Sunday in a major."

The fuck you do. You have
no idea what you're getting into.

Our leader, Francesco Molinari.

That was just so weak.

Tiger Woods on the prowl.
The guys just crumbled.

Now Koepka can make
this thing interesting.

Now Finau.
He really has an opportunity.

Can Woods take advantage?

Tiger Woods has the lead.
The impossible has become possible.

Suddenly, we were back
to watching Tiger.

Everybody's emotion
went to the roof.

Down towards the cut for Tiger.

This might be the shot
that seals it all.

Incredible play
at exactly the right time.

For Tiger Woods to come back
after an eleven-year drought

is just a Cinderella story.

I don't know if it means anything,

but the solar cycles of the sun
are every eleven years.

So maybe the sun of golf
has returned.

The patrons are twenty deep

and many thousands more
walking up 18 in readiness.

On the nose.

When he was coming up the fairway,

hoping to win
his fifteenth major championship,

I knew what to expect.

A lot of people would spin it
like he was a different man now,

he's the conquering hero.

But these are the same people

that when he was riding high,
they were pulling for him to fall.

And when he fell,
they jumped on him with both feet.

And when he rose again,
all of a sudden,

he is a virtuous man now,
which to me is bullshit.

He's a human being
with frailties like everyone else.

The problem is we always try
to make him out to be more than he is.

And that goes
all the way back to Earl.

This is the minute that millions
around the world have waited for.

Waited for years.

Many doubted we'd ever see it.
But here it is.

The return to glory.

We made it!

Please forgive me,

but sometimes I get very emotional
when I talk about my son.

My heart fills with so much joy

when I realize
that he will transcend this game.

This is my treasure.

Please use it wisely.

This has been a presentation
of HBO SPORTS.