Woods’ Honeymoon Is Sailing Right Along

Five days after his wedding to Elin Nordegren in Barbados, Tiger Woods spent Sunday on his honeymoon on his 155-foot yacht called ‘Privacy’ and said, well, actually, he wouldn’t mind more of precisely that.

“We’re enjoying our honeymoon, diving every day and it’s the first time we’ve been alone for awhile,” Woods said. “We’re on our own and enjoying that.”

Woods, 28, who wed the 24-year-old Nordegren in a private ceremony Tuesday at the exclusive Sandy Lane resort on Barbados’ west coast, took time out from his honeymoon to conduct a conference call about his $5.25-million Target World Challenge on Dec. 9-12 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Woods’ wedding, which cost a reported $1.5 million, was a well-kept secret until almost the day before the ceremony and Woods took pride in maintaining the level of secrecy.

“We didn’t really tell anybody until the last minute,” he said. “We didn’t want it to get out.”

Woods employs a crew of seven on his luxury yacht and admitted that he is as relaxed as he has ever been.

“The wedding went great,” he said. “It was a very special occasion. We just had a great time, with all the families there.”

Woods invited only four players to the nuptials -- Notah Begay, Mark O’Meara, John Cook and Charles Howell -- and only Cook and O’Meara attended. Begay declined because of a back injury that makes travel difficult and Howell didn’t come because he was playing a PGA Tour event in Las Vegas.

Woods became engaged to Nordegren in December during a sunset walk at a game preserve in South Africa after he had played in the Presidents Cup. He met Nordegren three years ago when Jesper Parnevik, for whom Nordegren worked as a nanny, introduced them.

In the last six weeks, Woods has dropped from No. 1 in the world rankings to No. 3, for the first time since 1999. He has not won a full-field tournament event this year and critics have used his impending marriage and the theory that he may be distracted as an explanation for why he has not dominated the tour as he has in the past.

From the 2000 U.S. Open to the 2002 PGA Championship, Woods won seven of the 11 major championships played, but he is winless in his last 10 majors and has fallen in the rankings behind Vijay Singh and Ernie Els.

Woods said marriage isn’t going to make any difference in the way he goes about his business.

“It’s not going to change the way I play golf. I’ve been with Elin and happy together the last two years. Just because you’re married, it doesn’t change the relationship,” Woods said.

“I just hope I can get the ball in the hole a little faster.”

The last full-field, stroke play tour event that Woods won was the Western Open, more than 15 months ago, and Singh appears to be a lock to win the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for player of the year, which Woods has won five years in a row and six of the last seven years.

Woods, who has been working on his swing on his own, said he is encouraged by his recent play and expects greater results.

“Hopefully, things will come together faster than they have been. I just need to solidify the rest of the year,” Woods said.

Woods has said that a great year is defined by winning a major, but there may be an addendum to that now that he is married.

“As far as off the golf course, yes, it is a great year,” he said.