After Tiger and Elin Woods divorced following his massive unprecedented cheating scandal, there were rumors that he was trying to reconcile with Elin and was begging her for another chance. It sounded ridiculous to those of us on the outside: who would take that guy back, no matter how many tens of millions were involved? Elin had her massive settlement, she stayed quiet for the most part and in the couple of times we heard from her she seemed too practical to fall back into old habits with Tiger. Only there were kids involved, and she surely had to communicate with Tiger. Plus Elin made it clear in an interview with People Magazine in 2014 (one of only two interviews she’s done since the scandal broke) that she was striving to have a good relationship with Tiger for their children’s sake. She seemed like the epitome of class and restraint, and I remember her incredible valedictorian speech, in which she said that she worked to keep her problems in perspective, all while she was furthering her education in her second language. (Elin is Swedish.)

Anyway my impression of Elin may not be far off, and the Enquirer might have been right about Tiger wanting her back. In a new interview with Time, Tiger practically gushes about Elin and it sounds like he’s still hung up on her. He also truly adores his kids and says that he lives for them now. Tiger is talking to Time because he’s injured, has otherwise been flailing on the golf course and is probably going to hang it up soon. He’s about to turn 40 and hasn’t won a major tournament since 2008.

You were at the center of the public eye when your private life was exposed in 2009. What would you have done differently before and after?
In hindsight, it’s not how I would change 2009 and how it all came about. It would be having a more open, honest relationship with my ex-wife. Having the relationship that I have now with her is fantastic. She’s one of my best friends. We’re able to pick up the phone, and we talk to each other all the time. We both know that the most important things in our lives are our kids. I wish I would have known that back then.

What kept you from knowing that?
Either that’s the position I was in, or I took advantage of opportunities. But, when it comes down to it, right down to it, it’s just having a more open, honest relationship with my ex-wife when we were married. Our frustrations would have come out if we had talked about it and been open and honest with each other. Which we are now, and it’s absolutely fantastic.

You tried to make it work for a while.
It was too tough, too tough. But now, in hindsight, as years and years have gone by, we’re like best friends. It’s fun. She talks to me about her life, I talk to her about my life. We try and help each other out on all occasions. And we work through it with the kids, the parenting program. She is one of my best friends now, and it’s all because of my kids. We’ve worked so hard, and I’ve shown her how much I love them. We’ve worked so hard at co-parenting, to make sure that their lives are fantastic. For instance, I’ve told her this, I’ve taken the initiative with the kids, and told them up front, “Guys, the reason why we’re not in the same house, why we don’t live under the same roof, Mommy and Daddy, is because Daddy made some mistakes.” I just want them to understand before they get to Internet age and they log on to something or have their friends tell them something. I want it to come from me so that when they come of age, I’ll just tell them the real story. But meanwhile, it’s just, “Hey, Daddy made some mistakes. But it’s O.K. We’re all human. We all make mistakes. But look what happened at the end of it. Look at how great you are. You have two loving parents that love you no matter what.” And I said, “You have no idea how lucky you guys are, to have two parents that love you so much. Unfortunately, we’re not in the same house, but the flip side is we love you no matter what you do. And I’m a parent, as the dad, who is always going to try to help you, guide you through life.” And so, that’s part of the initiative, hey, it was my fault too. I was to blame, and so I’m taking initiative with the kids. I’d rather have it come from me, as the source. And I can tell them absolutely everything, so they hear it from me.

Did Lindsey [Vonn, the ski racer whom Woods dated for three years until May 2015] say that was difficult with the two of you, that you were both so committed to what you were doing?
Well, with Lindsey, what was hard is we never had time together. We’re texting each other. It was a great relationship, but it was so hard, when I’m training to do my sport, it takes umpteen hours to do, and I can’t travel, except to my tournaments, because I’m here dedicated to my two kids. Meanwhile, most of her summer is spent in South America, at training camps in Chile and Argentina, and then you’ve got her season, which is mostly in Europe. And I can’t travel because I have the kids—my off weeks I’m devoted to my kids—and I have to be here. It’s a relationship that was fantastic, but it just can’t work on that level. It just could not work. It was doing an injustice to both of us.

Do you ever wish your name weren’t Tiger?
Put it this way. I’m glad my dad didn’t name me Richard. That would be a long day. Tiger is O.K., but Richard would have been tough.

[From Time]

I wonder if Tiger’s close relationship with Elin is ultimately why it didn’t work out with him and Lindsey Vonn. Lindsey surely overlooked all the cocktail waitresses and paid companions, so that couldn’t have been the problem. Plus she says she still loves him. Note that he says he texted with Lindsey and never saw her but that Elin is his best friend, they talk all the time and that it’s “fun.” Plus he says “we have worked so hard” on co-parenting. He sees himself and Elin as a team, which is great for their kids but probably not their outside romantic relationships.

Tiger sounds very thoughtful and wise here. It’s like he realizes his golfing career is waning and he’s wistful for how things could have gone if he was only able to keep it in his pants. He talks a good game and makes his indiscretions sound like a brief affair at the office when in fact he was sleeping with a different hooker in every city. We know this because so many of them talked to the media. Tiger’s addictive, self destructive behavior ruined his marriage and derailed his athletic career. He’s earned over a billion dollars though, he’s not hurting for money and he could have retired years ago. He’s still chasing that dream, even as golfers 20 years younger are dominating his sport.

photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet