Golf
Tiger Woods: Family values come first
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-26 16:31
"My dad was the calming one, very level-headed and very cool. My mom's very emotional. I'm more like my dad in that regard."
An intensely private man who craves the anonymity now denied him, Woods lights up when asked questions about his daughter.
He visibly relaxes and flashes his trademark smile as he gives his reply: "It's been fantastic to have Sam Alexis part of our life, a dream come true for Elin and me.
"On our first night, we both said: 'How can you love something so much that didn't exist the day before?' We've never experienced anything like that and it's something we want to experience again."
TIME MANAGEMENT
Comfortably the best player of his generation, Woods is known for his astute time management and ability to peak for golf's biggest events.
He competes in around 20 tournaments a year, fewer than most of his rivals, and generally winds down his playing schedule after the final major, the PGA Championship in August.
"It's just time management and understanding where your priorities are," he said. "Our priorities are Sam. That's the number one priority and you work out everything else from there."
World number two Phil Mickelson, like Woods a proud family man, also restricts his late-season schedule to spend more time at home with his wife Amy and their three children.
Many of the game's top players, however, compete in at least 30 events each year, and not always on the same continent.
Globe-trotting South African Ernie Els covers more miles in his private jet than any of his rivals, yet he and his wife Liezl appear to juggle their time better than most.
"I think our kids see more of Ernie than normal families get to see of their fathers," Liezl, mother of eight-year-old Samantha and four-year-old Ben, told Reuters.
"We have a very privileged life and, as a family, we try to travel as much as we can. Whenever there's a half-term or a holiday, we're on the road with them.
"The kids miss more but I try to join Ernie for say three days of a tournament so that he has some family support and to ensure that we're never apart for too long."
