Woods: What I did was unacceptable

Tiger Woods broke his silence today, saying he was "deeply sorry" for his adultery.

The millionaire golfer said he had been "so selfish... so foolish".

"Every one of you has good reason to be critical of me," he said, delivering a 15-minute statement, his voice at times charged with emotion.

And he added: "It's hard to admit that I need help but I do."

The world number one spoke in front of an invited audience of friends, family and colleagues at the US PGA Tour headquarters in Florida.

Woods, who answered no questions, said: "I want to say to each of you simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behaviour."

He said: "I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife's family, my friends, my foundation and kids all around the world who admired me."

Woods dismissed reports that his wife had attacked him on the night on his now famous car crash, adding: "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated... I'm the only person to blame."

Woods said: "I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules."

He added: "It's up to me to start living a life of integrity.

He said that after therapy he was now taking the "first steps in the right direction".

Woods said he understood that people wanted to know "how I could have done these things to my wife Elin and my children".

He said: "Elin and I have started the process of discussing the damage caused by my behaviour.

"As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words, it will come from my behaviour over time.

"We have a lot to discuss. However, what we say to each other will remain between the two of us."

He said he had let down his fans and caused worry to his business partners.

He revealed he had not ruled out returning to golf this year, but said he did not have a date, and he added that he would be returning for further therapy tomorrow.

"I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don't know when that day will be."

Woods said he had spent 45 days in inpatient therapy "receiving guidance for the issues I am facing".

The 34-year-old shut himself away after a mystery car crash outside his home on November 27 last year.

At the time there was speculation the collision took place after a fight with his wife, but Woods flatly denied that she would ever hurt him.

"For all that I have done, I am so sorry. I have a lot to atone for, but there is one issue I really want to discuss. Some people have speculated that Elin somehow hurt or attacked me on Thanksgiving night. It angers me that people would fabricate a story like that.

"Elin never hit me that night or any other night. There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage. Ever."

He praised his spouse for showing "enormous grace and poise" as lurid stories emerged of her husband's adultery.

Woods said he "ran straight through the boundaries" that a married couple should observe.

"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. I was wrong, I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules."

Woods said his Buddhist faith would help him to "be a better man" and "stop following every impulse and to learn restraint".

The golfer ended by hugging his mother Kultida.