Tiger Woods explains daughter Sam’s name
In a press conference for the AT&T National earlier today, golfer Tiger Woods explained the meaning behind Sam Alexis, his 2-week-old daughter’s name. As many expected, it does tie-in with his late father.
We wanted to have a name that would be meaningful to either side of thefamily, my side or Elin’s side, because she was born [the day after]Father’s Day. It just happened to fit. My father hadalways called me Sam since the day I was born. He rarely ever called meTiger. I would ask him, ‘Why don’t you ever call me Tiger?’ He says,’Well, you look more like a Sam."
Tiger also described the stressful weekend preceding Sam’s birth — Elin was hospitalized in Orlando on Thursday, June 14th while Tiger was playing in the US Open.
It wasn’t life-threatening or anything, but shejust had a few problems and had to be admitted. It wasn’teasy. It was not easy, because I wanted to be there. And the doctor andElin said, ‘There’s nothing you can do. So go out there and just get a ‘W.’ Well, came close. But that night was infinitely more rewarding than any ‘W’ ever could have been.
I flew, landed in Orlando, went straight to the hospital and next thing you know, we have Sam Alexis in our arms [in the early morning hours of Monday, June 18th].
Tiger spoke about his newfound fatherhood, saying,
It’s just time management and understanding where your priorities are,and our priorities are Sam. That’s the one priority. Andfrom there, you work it out from there. It’s been fantastic these last couple weeks to have Sam Alexis as partof our life. It was a dream come true for both Elin andmyself. I’ve been changing diapers and doing feedings. I definitelydon’t sleep now.
I think Elin and I talked about it on our first night, ‘How can you love something so much that didn’t exist theday before?’ We never experienced anything like that. That was special and something that we want to experience again.
And he’s starting her off early — Sam has already held a golf club, albeit in her own way.
[I put a golf club in her hand.] She couldn’t quite hold it. But it was there. [smiles]
- Posted on Jul 3, 07 at 5:50PM
- Permalink
- 12 Comments
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Wow–I get tears in my eyes reading this…first of all how proud is Earl right now–watching down on his son–and the little girl who is named because of him…and hearing Tiger–and I think we all know how private he is about things like this…hearing him gush about this little girl who came into his life and how in love he is with her–it just makes my ovaries ache…he and Elin are just going to be amazing parents and Sam is going to be one loved little girl–you can tell he’s just one of those hands on parents…and the golf club–well that is just hilarious–I LOVE IT and come on, did we doubt she would have already! LOL I love it! ADORE the Woods’ family! Can’t wait to see and hear more–and all the OTHER additions that are to come to this fabulous family! They are doing it right!
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Aww, I love reading this! And it’s sweet that he named her in honor his dad’s name for him, tying his father into his granddaughter that way. I’m sure his father loves that, and if Sam ever asks, she’ll know she was named partly for her grandfather.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Wow… isn’t it amazing, the GREAT TIGER WOODS isn’t blasted for playing gold while his wife is hospitalized for complicated the WEEKEND before the baby is born. But LeBron is ridiculed on this blog for playing basketball when his fiancee was brought to the hospital. Double-standard much??
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:25 pm
And I am not surprised that Tiger is already trying to rub off his love of golf onto his daughter already. It’s cute that she was “holding” a golf club.
Forgot to add that in my last post!
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:37 pm
So, his wife was at her due date and hospitalized and he didn’t join her?? My husband was with me every minute of all four of my births–wouldn’t have it any other way. I can’t imagine being with a man who chose golf over me.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Aww You can just tell that this little girl is going to be spoiled with love. I love the meaning behind sam’s name since tiger and his father were so close. yogadaisy I highly doubt that tiger would chose golf over sam and elin. He is just over the moon about the ladies in his life.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I don’t think there was anything wrong with what either Tiger or LeBron did. They’re great fathers, wonderful husbands. Sometimes you just have to make those hard choices. Like Elin said, what could he do? His wife knew that he was thinking about them and she supported him being at the US Open.
My dad wasn’t there in the delivery room when I was born. Doesn’t matter because he’s been there for every minute after and that’s what we remember.
July 4th, 2007 at 1:40 am
I just wanted to say that maybe Tiger had some reason for staying to golf. He’s sponsored by a lot of different companies so maybe he had to be there. Not defending his actions though.
I think it’s really sweet why they chose Sam as a name. What a great way to honour his father.
July 4th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Elin told Tiger she wanted him to go and play in the tournament – what’s wrong with that?
Anyway, Sam is adorable! I love reading Tiger talk about her, and it’s very sweet that her name honors his father:)
July 4th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
yawn………
August 28th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
So happy for Tiger, Elin and Sam! Please keep us posted on photo’s of Sam; you know, 3 months, 6 months, etc. We want to see her progress while we watch her dad do the golf thing he does so well. I’m such a fan! You give us good things to enjoy in this crazy world. Bless all of you.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
i think Tiger’s baby is ADORABLE and is so sweet to name the baby after her grandpa! Besides they both made the choice to have Tiger play in the tournament…plus Tiger would NEVER give up on his baby and Elin for golf…he did it because Elin felt there was nothing he could do at the hospital and Tiger would be better off playing in the tournament. Tiger is the best!!! They will make great parents to the CUTE Sam Alexis! :]