Tiger Woods is one of the greatest golfers of all time -- if not the greatest. He's earned hundreds of millions of dollars, if not into the billions, in his career thanks to the game. That's enabled him to do practically anything financially for his family, particularly his children, Sam and Charlie.
However, as Woods explained on "The Today Show" this week, that doesn't necessarily mean both of his kids have great enthusiasm for the game of golf. In fact, Woods said his daughter doesn't have a positive view of golf.
"She has, I think, a negative connotation to the game," Woods said. "Because, at that time, when she was growing up, golf took Daddy away from her. I had to pack, I had to leave, and I had to be gone for weeks, and there's a negative connotation to it."
Frankly, that all makes sense. Sam was born in 2007, at a time when Woods was still very much the best player on the planet and actively chasing major championships and the PGA Tour's all-time wins record. He was breaking into the golf course design business.
Unfortunately, Woods' marriage to Sam's mom, Elin Nordegren, fell apart three years later amid revelations of Woods' infidelity. That could have happened regardless of Woods' stature in the game of golf, but his celebrity status as one of the best golfers ever likely played a role in that happening.
Sam, then, has a right to feel upset about golf and the influence it had on her and her father's life.
The good news is that their relationship has been strengthened outside of golf.
"So, we develop our own relationship, our own rapport, that's outside of golf," Woods explained. "We do things that doesn't involve golf."
Woods cracked a joke about how their relationship is different than how Tiger and his son, Charlie, bond.
"Meanwhile, my son and I do everything golf-related," he said. "He listens to me about golf, but he doesn't listen to anything else outside of that, because I don't know anything else, right?"
Sam Woods shared the introductory speech for her father when he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2022, and she delivered powerful, emotional remarks that could only come from a daughter proud of her father.
