Quotes from Tiger Woods

On that night in November last year

“I had a busted up lip (needing five stitches) and pretty sore neck and that was it. I did everything to the letter of the law, my lawyer gave me advice and I followed that.”

On the marital infidelities which led to his fall from grace

“I lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people. I fooled myself as well. The full magnitude of it, it’s pretty brutal.”

On human growth hormone (HGH) and his treatment by controversial physician Dr Anthony Galea

“He (Galea) did come to my house, he never gave me HGH. I had PRP (platelet rich plasma) treatment. I’ve never taken that my entire life. I’ve never taken any illegal drug, ever, for that matter.”

What was the most difficult part of his situation?

“Having to look at myself like I never want to look at myself, how far astray I got from my core fundamentals and morals my mom and dad taught me. All the denial and rationalisation, to cut through that took a hard look at myself.”

On the therapy he has been receiving during his self-imposed exile.

“Will I stop? No. I will continue with my treatment. That’s not going to stop in the near future. I’ve come out a better person for it than when I went in. I did it to take a hard look at myself and that is what I did.”

On his return to the game this week

“When I gave my speech in February I had no intentions of playing golf in the near future. I had only just practised two days prior to that. I started hitting more and more balls and started to get the itch to play again. Hank came down and it felt like old times. We were working on my game for hours and hours and that’s when I decided to come back.”

On his reception at Augusta

“Coming into today I didn’t know what to expect with regards to the reception. I tell you what, the galleries couldn’t have been nicer. The encouragement, it blew me away . . . Today was something that touched my heart pretty good.”

On why some of his sponsors had ended their association with him

“Do I understand why they dropped me? Of course. Hopefully I can prove to the other companies going forward I am a worthy investment.”

On his chances at this year’s Masters

“Nothing’s changed. I will try and go out there and win this thing. The fact I haven’t really played at all, that’s a little bit concerning.”