Tiger hypocrisy: ‘family first’ interview revealed

It seems Tiger Woods did the right thing when he decided to quit golf and disappear. Otherwise he would be facing accusations of the deepest hypocrisy following the broadcast in New Zealand today of an interview he gave just days before he crashed his car outside his Florida home on November 27 and unleashed a torrent of revelations about his extramarital affairs.

Asked about his wife Elin Nordegren and their two children, Woods told sports broadcaster Murray Deaker: "It's been great actually, it's been the best thing that ever happened."

Deaker asked: "In every interview I've seen with you it's family first and golf second - always be like that?"

Woods replied: "Always, always."

The golfer, who it is alleged has taken as many as 11 mistresses since his marriage to Nordegren in 2004, told Deaker that family life had had a big impact on his game.

"Certainly I don't practise as much as I used to, I don't spend the amount of hours on the golf course like I used to," Woods said.

"But my focus is so much more intense than it ever used to be because I don't have the time. I know I have to get done whatever I want to get done in a shorter amount of time."

The Sky TV interview had been scheduled for broadcast on Christmas Day but was pulled forward to today. Deaker conducted the interview during the Australian Masters in November, during which, it has since been reported, Tiger was booked into the same Melbourne hotel as Rachel Uchitel, a Manhattan party organiser.

The "family first" interview was shown in New Zealand only a day after New Yorker Cori Rist told the American network NBC that Tiger would complain to him that he was unhappy at home with Elin. "Because of his reputation and the image he had, he had to uphold that," said the 31-year-old who began an affair with Woods after they met in a Manhattan nightclub in 2006.

Rist denied she was a prostitute after Jason Itzler, self-confessed 'King of All Pimps', claimed she worked for him as a $1,000-an-hour call girl.

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