Upset Tiger sets record straight

Tiger Woods does not often, if ever, discuss his private life in public. But on Wednesday, the world's No. 1 player felt he had to defend the honor of his wife after an Irish magazine published inflammatory comments and pictures purported to be her.

T.J. Auclair, Junior Editor
September 20, 2006

STRAFFAN, Ireland -- It wasn't exactly your typical pre-tournament interview as Tiger Woods, the world's No. 1 golfer and arguably the most recognizable athlete on the planet, took the stage to meet with the media on Wednesday, two days before the start of the 2006 Ryder Cup at The K Club.

In an arena typically reserved for questions about how the course is playing, how the Americans match up against the Europeans, what the atmosphere of the team room is like and what types of fun activities the team is participating in to bond, Woods opened with a heartfelt and firm statement to address an unfortunate and untimely article that ran in the September issue of Dubliner magazine.

Under the headline of the article, "Ryder Cup filth for Ireland," there is a photo of a topless woman, which the magazine contends is Woods's wife, Elin.

Here is how Woods opened his press conference Wednesday:

"I just want to make an opening statement real quick. That, you know, for me personally, and for my wife, things that have occurred over here, I'm very disappointed, not the fans, not the people here, not the Irish people. But very disappointed in how the article that was written, my wife, yes, she has been a model prior and she did do some bikini photos. But to link her to porn web sites and such is unacceptable and I do not accept that at all. Neither does our team. And I just want to say that doesn't deter or detract from the beauty of this event.

"The people here have been absolutely fantastic. Irish people have come out and supported us, and Europeans, and I just want to say, sometimes you shouldn't let -- I know the media can be a little bit difficult at times, but when you -- it's hard to be very diplomatic about this when you have so much emotion involved, when my wife is involved like this. I just hope that it was the right thing to do, and overall, as I said, I don't want that to deter from the beauty of this event."

The Dubliner article read: "Most American golfers are married to women who cannot keep their clothes on in public. Is it too much to ask that they leave them at home for the Ryder Cup? Consider the evidence -- Tiger Woods's wife Elin Nordegren -- pictured left -- can be found in a variety of sweaty poses on porn sites across the web..."

However, it has been reported that it is not the 26-year-old Swede who appears in the photo.

Later in the press conference, Woods was asked if an issue came up that involved just him as opposed to his wife, would he ignore it and move on.

"You do things for the people you love and you care about," said Woods. "My father got ridiculed for years and I always felt for my father and my mother the same way. My wife, we're in it together, we're a team and we do things as a team and I care about her with all my heart."