New Zealand's top golfer David Smail, who has been married for 25 years, revealed on Friday that he had an affair with a Japanese woman but said he was no Tiger Woods.
Smail, 40, told the Waikato Times, Hamilton, that the woman, Sato Kurihara, 27, threatened his life and her own when he repeatedly tried to end the affair, which he said was his only extra-marital dalliance.
His wife, Sheree, who received a phone call from Kurihara last week telling her about the affair and threatening to ruin their marriage, said she would stand by her husband. The Smails told their story after Kurihara sent intimate images of the couple to the paper, claiming she had "about 2,000" pictures and a sex tape to support her story.
Smail denied that she had 2,000 pictures. The paper said Kurihara described the golfer, who has been a successful player on the Japanese circuit for 13 years, as New Zealand's version of serial adulterer Tiger Woods.
Smail insisted that he had only one affair. Smail, who said that Kurihara was aware he had a wife and two children in New Zealand, said he ended the relationship "for good" three weeks ago.
"I've made a terrible mistake and had a relationship and that was unacceptable," he said. "I'm just really sorry to my family and friends. "If I had my time again, I'd change everything." Smail alleged that his former lover was stalking him and said he was taking legal action against her.
His wife vowed to stick with her husband. “f you love someone so much, you can't just stop loving them straight away, you just can't,” she said.