Tiger Woods Up Close And Personal

Golf Superstar Talks To Ed Bradley About Planning A Family

(CBS) 
Tiger says his father played a tremendous role in shaping him. "He's my best friend. And you know, having your best friend be your father is a very unique thing," he says.

And when he needed help competing against older, stronger boys, Tiger turned to Earl and his special forces training.

"I came to Dad. I say, 'Dad, can you make me tough?' He says, 'Yeah, and you're not going to like it. Are you willing to go through it?' And I said, 'Yeah,'" Tiger recalls. "And he would get in my grill. He'd really make you feel insignificant. And then he'd get to the point, the line - he'd never cross it, and back off. And then he'd keep pushing the next time, and it wasn't as far. And eventually, I looked at him and smiled, and [said] 'What are you trying to do here?' And he says, 'All right, you're done.'"

If Earl was coach, his mother Kultida was the disciplinarian and "official" scorekeeper. Born in Thailand, raised a Buddhist, she married Earl while working as a secretary in the U.S. Army office in Bangkok.

"My dad, ex-Green Beret, thinks he's this tough guy. My dad’s a softy. Mom was the one I was always afraid of," says Tiger.

"You've said that she gave you that competitive drive, and that she also gave you a killer instinct. What did you mean by that?" Bradley asked.

"Yeah, you have no idea how competitive my mom is. She would watch me compete, and you could see her over there on the side, and she would be living every moment, live - I mean die - on every shot," he explained.

"What about that -- step on their throats, fight till the death, show no mercy?" Bradley asked Kultida Woods.

"That's sport. You have to. No matter how close friend you are, you must kill that person. When it is over, you can shake hand, be friend again," she says.

Tiger says his mother could be tough on him, at times. "She was very strict. She said that if I ever crossed the boundaries that she set, there was always consequences."

Asked if he crossed those boundaries, Tiger says, "Oh, yeah. You always got to test it, you know, any kid. You always got to see what the boundaries are." What were the consequences? "I wouldn't be able to sit for a while," says Tiger.

Kultida was a stickler about Tiger’s education; she used to take away his golf clubs until his homework was done. But there was another lesson to teach.

"Did you experience prejudice when you came to this country?" Bradley asked her. "Yes," Kutilda Woods replied. "Where especially when I take him from the tournament to the country club. Some of them reject us."

Kutilda says they rejected both her and her son. What did she tell Tiger? "I said 'Tiger, it's their problem, it's their ignorance. You cannot control other people action or control their mind. You only control your own, and be proud of who you are.'"

"So how did you handle that, when somebody would give you that kind of look? They’d say, 'Hey man, you don’t belong here,'" Bradley asked.

"My parents always taught me never to waste any energy on that," Tiger replied. "Just go about your business, put the ball on the fairway, put the ball on the green and try to make a putt."