Tiger: ‘I ask you to one day believe in me again’

In an extraordinary and touching display of humility and remorse, Tiger Woods finally broke his silence today and announced that his sex addiction therapy must take precedence over his golf career. He hopes to return "one day" to golf, and did not rule out that it might be this year. But he made it clear it would not be soon, as many had hoped.

He told a roomful of friends and associates in Florida, with his mother sitting in the front row, that he was deeply sorry for his behaviour and that everyone present had reason to be critical of him. "I have let you all down," he said. "For all that I have done, I am so sorry. I have a lot to atone for."

He also apologised to the public. "I have let me down my fans," he said.

He asked the press to accept that his wife, Elin Nordegren, never attacked him on the night of November 27 when he crashed his car outside his Florida home and the whole saga of infidelities began to unravel.

"Elin never hit me that night or any night," he said. "Elin has shown enormous grace and poise throughout this ordeal. She deserves praise not blame.

"I was unfaithful - I had affairs - I cheated. I am the only person to blame."

He also asked the press to leave his wife and two children alone, clearly upset that his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter had been followed by journalists to her school.

He said that he had spent 45 days in therapy and the reason for speaking today was that he would be returning to in-patient therapy tomorrow. "I have a long way to go," he said, "but I have taken steps in the right direction."

He finished his statement by saying: "I ask you to one day believe in me again." ·