Earl Woods : He devoted himself to training Tiger, and he sure likes what he sees

Golf Digest, Nov, 2001

No, I didn't say that until I realized that Tiger was almost the perfect child. We would never get anything better, and I said, "That's it." She agreed.

Is it true that Tiger never had a babysitter?

That's right. He was with us wherever we went.

Your first marriage--is there anything you regret, getting married young, having a family so early?

I would change things. It really taught me a lot. Tiger is the only one I've been able to spend his entire life with. The rest of them have big holes--I'm gone a year and a half, I'm gone six months.

Have you been able to repair that?

I tried to repair it when they were between 18 and 21. I gave them the option to come and live with me, and all three of them took that option. I called it finishing school. A lot of the damage had already been done. There was nothing I could do to catch up, but I did the best I could, and I sent them off and started them off right in life.

Seeing what's happened with you and Tiger, has there been any resentment from them?

The biggest problem they have is not fully understanding how preoccupied and how difficult the life Tiger lives is. They just don't understand why he doesn't have more time for them, and I try to tell them, "He doesn't even have any time for me." He really has to be a complete jerk just to get any time for himself. He's always gone someplace. He never even really knows where he is.

Even with those frustrations, does Tiger still have a pretty good relationship with your other three kids?

He used to. But remember, they're in their 40s and he's in his 20s. They're old enough to be his parents, and there's a lot lost in the generation gap. There are a lot of little things that can't be corrected now.

How has your relationship with Tida changed over the past 10 years?

One simple way: She lives in her house and I live in mine. Other than that, the relationship is the same. We're not separated, we're not divorced. I was reading in the paper, in The Chicago Tribune, that we were separated. That's news to me. We're family. It's just that she lives in one place and I live in another. Some people call that affluence.

You still live in the same house where Tiger grew up.

Yes. It's the family home, with some upgrades so that one day it can be turned into a National Historic Monument.

So you kept the room the same?

I've saved certain elements of it so that it could be put back--like the two doors. One has his growth chart, another has his awards from "That's Incredible" and a "Star Wars" poster--he loves "Star Wars."

Do you still have the chart where he marked his progress against Jack Nicklaus' achievements?

He's got that. It's just a newspaper clipping showing the years and months. He beat him almost every time.

After Tiger's third U.S. Amateur victory, you were quoted as predicting Tiger would win 14 majors. Do you want to revise that number now?

That was supposed to be a privileged conversation. We were at the U.S. Amateur and we were celebrating Tiger's win, and this reporter violated that.