Elin Never Asked for Tiger's Public Apology, Sources Say

Friday's public apology was a start. But Tiger Woods "has a long way to go" before his wife Elin Nordegren decides whether to reunite with him, a source close to the golfer tells PEOPLE.

"Elin has been very angry and had every right to be angry at him," says a source close to Woods. "She never demanded he make the apology but it was a gesture he was willing to do."

On Feb. 20, the night after Tiger's very public apology, the couple and their kids, Sam and Charlie, reportedly flew out of Orlando on a Gulfstream jet to Arizona.

For now, Nordegren will make it appear as if the family is together for the children's sake. According to a friend, she doesn't want the kids to sense "a split or any animosity" between them.

However, the source adds, "If it weren't for the kids and their future, she would be long gone."

Her opinion is so important to Woods and his team that even his handlers defer to her.

"They want to work around her and her desires," says one source who has spoken to Woods's inner circle. "She has to be involved and they want to keep her happy."

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Can Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren Save Their Marriage?

If Tiger Woods has completed his stint in rehab for sexual addiction, as some reports maintain, will he be cured? Not necessarily.

Several experts say that if the golf star and his wife Elin Nordegren, who have not been seen publicly together since before the fateful fight they had Thanksgiving night, will have to do a great deal to resurrect their relationship – if they can at all.

First, Woods is likely to have a tough time coping. Sexual addiction experts say it can be easier to give up alcohol or even heroin than sex because the body doesn't physically need the drugs.

"Sex is a biological appetite," Marty Kafka, a specialist in sexual addiction at the Harvard University Medical School, tells PEOPLE. "We need it for the species to survive."

Sexual addiction is more akin to food addiction because food addicts still need to eat to live. It's difficult for sex addicts to escape from thinking about sex, or from being bombarded with sexual imagery as seemingly tame as a Victoria's Secret ad.

"For sex and love addiction, there's no cage for that tiger," says Ava Profota, a licensed clinical social worker in Houston who specializes in sex and love addiction. "It's out there all the time."

Nordegren is likely to have an equally difficult challenge, though for different reasons: Her trust has been shattered. "Everything she knows of him is a lie except for the fact that he's the father of her kids," says Mary Jo Rapini, a sex psychotherapist in Houston. "They need to learn to trust each other again."

Experts advise that to clear that hurdle, Woods will need ongoing counseling and the couple will have to figure out a way for Nordegren to keep track of her famous husband's activities – no easy task since he will presumably eventually return to the golf circuit and spend weeks away from home.

The couple will also need some old-fashioned hope, says Kevin Leapley, a certified sexual addiction therapist in Denver. "Hope that he can become the man she hoped he was, and the man he always wanted to be."

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Tiger Woods Has Hattiesburg, Miss., Residents Talking

For folks in Hattiesburg, Miss., believing that Tiger Woods is in the town's Gentle Path sex rehab clinic is a bit like believing in Santa Claus. No one has actually seen him, but still, people have blind faith that he's there.

"I know people that know people that work there that said he was actually there, so I do believe [it]," says one resident who works in a retail shop.

But now, rumors are circulating in the news and through the town that the pro golfer might be leaving as early as later this week – or has already left.

"I heard [Tiger's wife] Elin flew to Hattiesburg and picked him up, and then they're going away for a few days before they sign anything," says local delivery person. "She's holding off on the divorce."

Still, security remains tight at Gentle Path, so a local business owner thinks Woods is still in treatment: "They [are] circling and doing what they do in tinted windows. They're doing what they can do to keep it under cover."

Only time will tell if Woods, elusive since he crashed his car outside his Orlando, Fla., home after a Thanksgiving fight with his wife, will emerge from Gentle Path and say farewell to Hattiesburg.

If he does, some wish him well. "If celebrities have issues and they know they've got issues, and he's trying to get fixed, then I'm proud of him," says a townsman.

Others have something they say is far more pressing on their minds: Sunday's Super Bowl where the town's favorite team, the New Orleans Saints, will meet the Indianapolis Colts. Then there are those happy to see him – and the snooping media – head out of town.

"Now I can actually drive down that road," says the delivery person of the road near Gentle Path. "There's a really awesome Thai place I haven't been able to get to in weeks."

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Tiger Woods Once Made "Profane" Digs About Black Athletes, Lesbians

The public shouldn't be so surprised by the Tiger Woods sex scandal, says Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger.

In February's Vanity Fair, Bissinger recalls a 1997 GQ interview that Woods gave when he was 21. The golfer, now 33, made a "series of profane quips" about women, sex and athletes that now provide "a sustained glimpse of the real Tiger Woods," writes Bissinger, who refers to Woods as a "sex addict."

At one point, Woods said during the tape recorded interview: "What I can't figure out is why so many good-looking women hang around baseball and basketball. Is it because, you know, people always say that, like, black guys have big dicks?"

Bissinger notes that during a photo shoot -- "where four women attended to his every need and flirted with him as he flirted back" -- Woods told a joke. He rubbed the tips of his shoes together and then asked the women, "What's this?" Woods then replied. "It's a black guy taking off his condom."

Woods also cracked that lesbians are "faster" at sex than gay men because women "are always going 69," Bissinger notes.

Bissinger writes that the interview "was the only honest and open one Woods has ever given. After that the steel wall of insulation came down, spearheaded by I.M.G.," his agency.

Joe Logan, a co-founder of a Web site called MyPhillyGolf.com, tells Vanity Fair that Woods -- who has an estimated net worth of $600 million -- fraudulently created an image so he could earn as much money as possible through endorsements.

"He held himself out to a higher standard he created and built and cashed in on," he tells the magazine. "Everyone feels duped and betrayed. It's not like some guy who got drunk and jumped in the sack with some waitress."


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