Tiger asks pardon for sins,says ‘I’ve let my family down’

“I have not been true to my values and the behaviour my family deserves,” Woods said on his website. “I am dealing with my behaviour and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone… Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions”

The cocktail waitress,Jaimee Grubbs,said she met Woods at a Las Vegas nightclub the week after the 2007 Masters — two months before Woods’ wife,Elin,gave birth to their first child. Grubbs claims to have proof in 300 text messages. She said that she met Woods in April 2007 and since then they have had 20 sexual encounters.

About three hours before Woods’ statement,the magazine published what it said was a voicemail — provided by Grubbs — that Woods left her phone on November 24,three days before his middle-of-the-night car crash outside his home in Florida. Woods did not offer details of any alleged relationship.

“I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves,” Woods said. “For all of those who have supported me over the years,I offer my profound apology.”

Woods has been subjected to more media scrutiny over the last week than when he first won the Masters in 1997 and set off the first wave of Tigermania.

“Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete,I have been dismayed to realise the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means,” Woods said. And he continued to say accounts that physical violence played a role in his Friday morning car crash were “utterly false and malicious”.

“Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect,” he wrote. His statement came one day after the Florida Highway Patrol closed its investigation into the accident — without Woods ever speaking to state troopers. He was charged with careless driving,which carries a $164 fine and four points on his driving record.

The story soon shifted from a patrol investigation to sordid allegations into his personal life.

In the voicemail released by the magazine,a man says to Grubbs: “Hey,it’s,uh,it’s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Um,can you please,uh,take your name off your phone. My wife went through my phone. And,uh,may be calling you. If you can,please take your name off that and,um,and what do you call it just have it as a number on the voicemail,just have it as your telephone number. That’s it,OK. You gotta do this for me. Huge. Quickly. All right. Bye.”