Tiger Woods Gets Candid About What Went Wrong In His Marriage

The golf superstar says he wishes he'd been more "open" and "honest" in his marriage to Elin Nordegren.
Harry How via Getty Images

Tiger Woods doesn't hold back in a new, revealing interview with Time magazine -- and that includes dishing on his marriage to Elin Nordegren.

Woods and Nordegren -- who were married for nearly six years -- divorced in August 2010 in the wake of the golfer's heavily publicized 2009 cheating scandal. In the interview with Time, the 39-year-old admitted there are some things he wishes he had done differently while married.

"In hindsight, it’s not how I would change 2009 and how it all came about. It would be having a more open, honest relationship with my ex-wife," Woods told the magazine. "Having the relationship that I have now with her is fantastic. She’s one of my best friends. We’re able to pick up the phone, and we talk to each other all the time."

Today, Woods said the former couple are focused on their two kids, daughter Sam and son Charlie: "We both know that the most important things in our lives are our kids. I wish I would have known that back then."

When asked why he didn't recognize that before, Woods said, "Either that’s the position I was in, or I took advantage of opportunities. "

Tiger Woods greeting then-wife Elin Nordegren and their daughter Sam after winning the 108th U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf in 2008.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Tiger Woods greeting then-wife Elin Nordegren and their daughter Sam after winning the 108th U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf in 2008.

Woods, who turns 40 at the end of the month, also talked about what he's told the kids about the split.

"I've told [Nordegren] this, I've taken the initiative with the kids, and told them up front, 'Guys, the reason why we're not in the same house, why we don't live under the same roof, Mommy and Daddy, is because Daddy made some mistakes,'" he told Time. "I just want them to understand before they get to Internet age and they log on to something or have their friends tell them something. I want it to come from me so that when they come of age, I'll just tell them the real story."

Though famously press-shy, Nordegren has talked a bit about the exes' co-parenting relationship as well.

“My relationship with Tiger is centered around our children and we are doing really good -- we really are -- and I am so happy that this is the case," the former model told People magazine last year. "He is a great father."

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