In his first major news conference since his sex scandal broke, Tiger Woods apologized again for humiliating his wife and family by having numerous flings with various women.
Speaking to reporters Monday at the Augusta National, Woods, 34, said that "a lot has happened in my life in the past five months," but the hardest part was "having to look at myself in a light that I never wanted to look."
"The pain and the damage I caused my wife, my mom, my kids … Going forward, I am going to have to explain all [this to them] … but that's my responsibility. I did it." (Where was Tiger's wife during the conference? Click here.)
He declined to reveal why he went to rehab for 45 days, but he said it allowed him to "to take a look at myself … I've come out better. I am certainly a much better person for it."
He said he never considered going to rehab before the scandal broke. "I hadn't hit far enough on the bottom to make myself look at what I had done," he said.
Asked what he learned through it all, he said he felt entitled over the years and lost track of his core values in light of all the fame.
"What I was thinking was not correct," he said. "I was rationalizing. I was in totally denial at times….
"I fooled myself. I lied to myself, kept others in the dark…." he later added. "When I stripped all that away and realized what I had done, the whole magnitude of it, that is pretty brutal. I take full responsibility."
One of the lowest points came this past February: He said he had to miss his son Charlie's first birthday due to rehab.
"That hurts. That hurts a lot," he said. "I can't go back to where I was. I want to be a part of my son and daughter's life. I missed his first birthday and [that's] something I regret and will probably regret the rest of my life."
He said he will continue with his treatment.
"I am not going to stop it in the near future, that's for sure," he said.
He said he needs to be "a better man … I am trying as hard as I can each and every day to get my life stronger. Along the way, I want to help more people who aren't ready to help themselves, as I was."
Woods, a Buddhist, said he has been meditating "religiously. I need to do these things the way I used to do it, and unfortunately, I got away from that … and lost my life in the process."
