Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren walk down the catwalk during the Ryder Cup Gala Dinner at Citywest Hotel and Golf Resort on September 20, 2006 in Dublin, Ireland.David Cannon
Tiger Woods has found a way to brace himself against bad luck.
In his first one-on-one interviews since being embroiled in a sex scandal that erupted last November, Mr. Woods showed off a thin Buddhist bracelet on the Golf Channel on Sunday, noting that it may help stop him sending raunchy text messages to porn stars.
"It's Buddhist, it's for protection and strength, and I certainly need that," Mr. Woods explained. He added that he started wearing the bracelet when he began rehabilitation, and not only will he "absolutely" be wearing it at the Masters golf tournament next month, he also plans to wear it for the rest of his life.
The bracelet worn by Mr. Woods is known as a pirith noola and is believed to protect people from bad luck and give them power to perform certain tasks.
"Typically, in a Buddhist ceremony they will do a blessing of some kind and then they will give you a thread which you can either put around your neck or around your wrist, and it's a visual reminder that you've either taken a vow or you've received a blessing or you've made some kind of pledge or commitment," says Terry Hagan, resident teacher at the Dharma Centre of Canada, a retreat facility north of Toronto.
Most recipients only wear the necklace or bracelet for a few days. However, Mr. Woods may have reason to wear his forever.
"Sometimes people will take a pledge to do a certain practice for a certain length of time, and then they will wear the thread for the entire time they do it. I presume since his practice is not to be promiscuous, he's wearing it for as long as he's doing it," Mr. Hagan says.
On ESPN on Sunday, Mr. Woods, who was raised a Buddhist, blamed turning his back on the religion for his fall from grace. "I quit meditating, I quit being a Buddhist, and my life changed upside down," he said.
But now that he's wearing the bracelet, Mr. Woods has a permanent reminder of his misdeeds. Well, that and the text messages.