Babies Before Birdies, Says Tiger
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March 26, 2006 (CBS) The best golfer also wants to be the best father. Tiger Woods tells 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley in a rare sit-down interview that when he and his wife, Elin, have kids someday, he will have to make some changes in his golf schedule, because the children must come first.
Woods' interview, which is a double-length segment, will broadcast this Sunday, March 27 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"Without a doubt," Woods replies to Bradley's question about having children, and then allows that he will have to change his regimen to put children ahead of the game he says he's addicted to.
"I will have to obviously make adjustments in my playing schedule to make sure that I’m there as much as I possibly can so I can be there for their entire development, entire youth, their entire life," he tells Bradley. "I always want my kids to know their father."
"Family always comes first…always has been in my life, and always will," vows Woods.
Woods grew up very close to his parents as an only child and credits them with forming him into the man and the athlete he is today. His father, Earl, a former Army Special Forces soldier who fought in Vietnam, helped toughen him as boy, but his mother had just as strong an influence.
"Mom was the one I was always afraid of. Yeah, you have no idea how competitive my mom is. She would watch me compete…living every moment, live – I mean die – on every shot," he explains.
Kutilda Woods, a Thai who met Woods' father in Bangkok during the Vietnam War, was not only a disciplinarian, she put the killer instinct in him all top athletes need. "That's sport. You have to . No matter how close [a] friend you are, you must kill that person," she tells Bradley. "When it is over, you can shake hand, be [a] friend again," says Kutilda.
It was such a desire to win that helped him overcome a devastating stutter when he was a boy, says Woods.
"The words got lost, you know, somewhere between the brain and the mouth. And it was very difficult, but I fought through it," Woods recalls. "I went to a school to try and get over that, and I just would work my tail off." And he had some help from another source. "I would talk to my dog and he would sit there and listen, and he'd fall asleep," Woods tells Bradley. "I finally learned how to do that, without stuttering all over myself."
Remembering the parental support he had growing up, Woods has decided to put some of the record $70 million he has earned just on the golf course toward giving kids some of the same support. He recently opened the first "Tiger Woods Learning Center" for kids 10 to 18, using more than $5 million of his own money. "I guess because I had so many people influencing my life I wanted to cater this foundation to mentoring and guiding, because that’s ultimately how I got here."
The foundation in Anaheim, Calif., near where he grew up, offers courses in fields like computers, creative writing and rocketry – topics the children picked out themselves. He hopes through his own money and the additional support his influence can muster, he will open more such centers on a global basis. "This is so near and dear to my heart," he says. "This is more important than any golf shot that I can possibly hit."
Just as important, though, he has impressed his mother. "I am so proud of him, more than anything," says Kutilda. "He help other kids. Nobody give Tiger anything. He have to earn it. He have to do it. So the kids, when you give them a chance, opportunity, they can do it," she tells Bradley. |
