I was really amazed at the uproar created by Tiger Wood’s apology this past week. Some people found it “offensive”, some “insincere”, and other’s like Donald Trump wondered why he would feel the need to apologize. It seemed to me that more people were analyzing his apology than were concerned about his behavior. The only thing people seemed to agree on was the question: “when are you going to come back and play golf, Tiger?” Since I do not know the man or the treatment plan he is engaged in, I took his apology at face value- an important part of the treatment process he is still working through. There is tremendous power in owning responsibility for our actions and choices. Several comments made in his 13 minute speech were interesting to me. One was about his wife Elin’s comment. “A real apology won’t come with words, he quoted her, but through his actions over time.” I agree. In another part of his speech, Tiger talked about the issue of entitlement:

“I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have to go far to find them.”

From my perspective as a therapist, he is working the program, gaining insight about himself and the consequences of his behavioral choices.

Finally, to those who say it was “scripted” I would ask: “could you do a thorough accounting of a highly emotional subject for 13 1/2 minutes without having it written out?” I know I couldn’t!

-Larcy