Because Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world and capable of doing things on a course that no one else can, there is a danger of believing that, in starting a family and experiencing the pleasure of fatherhood, he is doing something exceptional.

Most fathers could bore for their country — if not their continent — on the foibles of their offspring, even when they have half a mind on preparing to try to win a fifth Masters title at Augusta when it starts in 13 days’ time. And every father knows how traumatic the art of striking the right balance between work and family can be. All this, though, is new to Woods as he delights in Sam Alexis, his daughter, who was born last year.

More significantly, Woods, a famously private person, is speaking about it. The man who can spend an entire press conference talking a lot without saying very much, sounds besotted. “I never thought that I would feel this way,” he said. “You hear parents say it all the time, but you really don’t know until you actually go through it.”

Woods is discovering that getting his priorities right between his sport and his family is as challenging as golf. “This morning Sam was crying when I left,” he said. “That is going to get harder, especially when they start talking, when they get to school.”

For most of his professional career, Woods has become known for playing early practice rounds, often setting out soon after dawn. This ability to get his work done is useful to him now as he seeks to spend as much time as he can with Elin, his wife, and their daughter.

“I try and get my workouts in before Sam or Elin get up,” he said. “I go to the gym really early in the morning and get my lifting in and get my cardio done, and come back and have breakfast with them. I don’t want to miss anything.”

The challenge of organising his life, which also includes commercial commitments to his sponsors, has not weakened Woods’s desire for a larger family. “I want to be around as much as I can at home and especially since we are going to have more kids, it is going to be even more difficult down the road,” he said.

Woods does not talk much about the fact that he meditates, something he learnt from Kultida, his mother, who is a Buddhist. “In the Buddhist religion you have to work for it yourself, internally, in order to achieve anything in life and set up the next life,” he said. “It is all about what you do, and you get out of life what you put into it. So you are going to have to work your butt off in every aspect of your life. That is one of the things that people see in what I do on the course.”

Now that Woods has become a father, he seems prepared to talk a little more about the influences of his parents — Earl, the man who taught him to play golf and who died in 2006, and his mother, who still demonstrates an exceptional fire and drive. “My dad was a former Special Forces [soldier],” he said. “He was a pretty tough guy, very focused, but I have to say the more competitive one was my mum. You start talking to her and you will see I get my fire and passion from her. I get my calmness from my dad.”

There are no signs that his mother is about to let that passion cool. Woods said: “She still lives and dies over every shot. I just say, ‘Mum, relax, I know what I am doing.’ She says to me: ‘You’ll know what I am talking about when Sam gets older.’ ”