Elin visits Tiger in effort to 'keep family together'

In hopes of sparing her children from seeing their parents divorce, Elin Nordegren last week paid a visit to a sex addiction clinic where husband Tiger Woods is seeking treatment, according to celebrity website reports.

• Woods' womanizing no secret: Swedish golfer (24 Dec 09)
• Elin Nordegren to spend Christmas in Sweden (22 Dec 09)
• Tiger not yet out of the woods (19 Dec 09)

People magazine and RadarOnline reported Nordegren wants to avoid divorce, citing unnamed sources, after spending five days with the golf star as part of his rehabilitation treatment program in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Nordegren's parents divorced when she was a child and she wants to avoid having her children, two-year-old daughter Sam and 50-week-old son Charlie, face the same difficulty.

"Elin wants a solid family life," a source told People.

"She was a child of divorce and felt her dad slighted her. She absolutely does not want that to happen to Sam and Charlie.

"So she wants to keep her family together even if she and Tiger live together as friends instead of lovers."

US weekly reported that she stayed at the estate of American football star Brett Favre while in Hattiesburg and that she and Woods' management team pressured Woods into taking part in the six-week program.

Part of the Gentle Path program in the middle of six weeks of therapy and counseling is for a patient's spouse to visit for about a week for Disclosure Day, when Woods would have told Nordegren about all of his affairs.

Woods has admitted infidelity and taken an indefinite leave of absence from professional golf to solve his personal problems even as more than 14 women have claimed sexual relationships with the first billion-dollar athlete.

Woods wants to stay married to Nordegren, according to People's sources.

"Tiger wants to go back to being a golf star with major endorsements," the source told People. "He wants his clients, who have kids of their own, to think he is a good family man. He had hoped all along that his wife's initial furor would die down so they could discuss the situation and behave rationally.

"Keeping the family together is very important to Tiger so he is doing whatever it takes to keep Elin from leaving him and taking the kids."

Us reported that Woods is not allowed to play golf in addition to not having sex of any kind during the treatment program, meaning he is unable to prepare for a return to the PGA Tour or use the sport as an escape.

"He is used to going in this robot mode of hitting a ball over and over as a way to escape," a source told US.

"His dad taught him that at age 2. But he can't do that now."

RadarOnline, citing its own unnamed source, said Nordegren was pleased when she arrived home Sunday and has not filed divorce papers.

"She was happy when she came home. Things went well," the source said.

"He has told her he's serious about making it work and doing whatever he can. The stress has taken a big toll on her, but she's a strong woman."

Us reported she would fly home to Sweden in February to regroup but had not planned to move back to her homeland.

The Orlando Sentinel reported Tuesday that her daughter's pre-school has hired on off-duty deputy to deal with photographers causing traffic problems trying to take pictures of Sam.

Nordegren, 30, was photographed without wedding rings in Orlando on Monday, when news broke about a Daily Beast story purporting to detail her actions the night she learned Woods was having an affair.

The Daily Beast report had Woods warning his wife last November that a tabloid report would claim he had an affair with Rachel Uchitel, so he had the two of them talk for about half an hour.

Later, Nordegren found e-mails between the two on his cell phone, one of them reportedly from him to Uchitel saying, "You are the only one I've ever loved."

Nordegren sent Uchitel a message purportedly from Woods and later called from her husband's number, saying, "I knew it was you," when Uchitel answered.

Woods, who had taken a sleeping pill, was awakened to Nordegren screaming at him and locked himself in the bathroom. He later attempted to flee while barefooted as his wife chased him with a golf club, according to the report.