What is it about golf and fatherhood? Jack Nicklaus was the super dad (of five) of his day. A few years ago it New Zealand whiz-kid Michael Campbell who carried the torch for family life. Now it’s Tiger Woods, poster boy for Father’s Day as he delights in the recent expansion of his family.

“I couldn’t be happier than where I am right now,” Woods told reporters after his second child, Charlie, was born in February. “Having the two kids is just unbelievable, how much fun we are all having, except the sleepless nights -- that can be a little tough at times. But other than that, it’s just been incredible.”

He talks about cutting short his practices to be with Charlie when he wakes up from a nap. He speaks of missing his children terribly when he is on the road, the joy of teaching them things when he is home and the hilarity of seeing his stubbornness duplicated in his daughter. “She doesn’t like for me to help her hold a golf club,” he said. “She’ll figure it out herself.”

Woods’ himself was the child of his father’s second marriage; his first produced two sons and a daughter and he blamed his divorce on military obligations (he was an Army lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam) that kept him away from home too much. He was retired by the time Tiger was born and was his full-time parent.

Woods expects that his wife, daughter and son will come to see him as he travels around the world to tournaments, and believes that seeing the world will be good for them. But the nine months he had to take off work recently because of an injury he described as an unexpected blessing, giving him the chance to bond with his daughter Sam Alexis, who is two.

“The best thing in the world was actually to watch her grow and, you know, each and every day have fun with that and teach her different things,” Woods said. “I really enjoy that type of life.” He added: “I love to teach, and to be able to teach Sam, and as soon as I can, start teaching Charlie a few things, that’s fun. I live to be able to do that.”

Life is so much better with kids than when he was just winning titles, he says. ~ Hat tip to Joe Atkinson.