Woods hiatus is ’scary’ for golf

Tiger Woods is taking an indefinite break from professional golf to tackle problems in his private life.

In a statement on his website, he said he was aware of the disappointment “my infidelity” had caused to his family.

The world’s top golfer said he wanted to “try to repair the damage done” and asked for privacy, the BBC reported.

His biggest sponsor, Nike, said it would continue to stand by him but Woods’s agent said it was too early to discuss any other business deals.

On his website, Woods said he was “profoundly sorry” and asked for forgiveness.

The 33-year-old said: “I would like to ask everyone, including my fans, the good people at my foundation, business partners, the PGA Tour, and my fellow competitors, for their understanding.”

Speculation about his private life has been intense since he was involved in a car crash outside his Florida home two weeks ago. Newspaper allegations followed about extra-marital affairs.

Woods has been married to his wife Elin for five years and they have a two-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son.

Australian player Geoff Ogilvy admitted the news that world number one Tiger Woods is to take an indefinite break from golf was bad for the sport and said: “‘Indefinite’ is a scary word.”

Woods has confessed to being unfaithful to his wife Elin and wants to take time out in a bid save his marriage.

Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion, conceded the news was a big blow to the sport and said: “I didn’t expect that actually so he’s obviously got some stuff to sort through. Indefinite is a scary word. Just the definition of the word is scary if Tiger Woods indefinitely doesn’t play golf that’s not good for us but I’m sure he’ll get it worked out.”

American golfer John Daly, who has had more than his fair share of turbulent times in his private life, believes the best thing Woods can do is to confess everything on national television.

“It’s tough and it’s going to be tough on him but if I was him and Elin, I would go to Oprah, get on a show, get this thing aired out, tell the truth. And then it doesn’t matter what the media says any more because it’s all out in the open and it would be a big sigh of relief for both of them.”

Daly felt Woods should have come clean sooner. “If he would have come out and made the statements a lot earlier I think it would have been much easier. I don’t think it would have been the jokes you see on the web, the craziness of how people can be so brutal to somebody,” he said.

Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, in an interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines programme to be aired in the US on Sunday, spoke again of his disappointment in Woods. Parnevik introduced Woods to Elin in the first place.

He said: “I told her this is the guy that I think is everything you want. He’s true. He’s honest. He has great values. He has everything you would want in a guy. And I was wrong.

“I’m sure she felt very lonely and very small in this whole hoopla and chaos when her whole world was just turned upside down in pretty much 24 hours.

“I was just shocked and pretty much very disappointed in the whole thing and I just really, truly felt for her and the situation she all of a sudden ended up in.”

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