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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266830/Tiger-Woods-admits-left-California-tax-rates.html

Tiger Woods said today that the reason he left California in the mid-Nineties was because the state's taxes were too high.

The golfer spoke at a press conference on Tuesday about his decision to move to Florida in 1996.

Speaking at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, Woods said: 'I moved out of here back in ’96 for that reason.'

Woods, who is worth an estimated $600million, was referring to comments made by fellow golfer Phil Mickelson on Sunday that he will make 'drastic changes' because of federal and California state tax increases.

Referring to his rival, 37-year-old Woods added: 'I enjoy Florida, but also I understand what he was, I think, trying to say.'

Mickelson, who is worth an estimated $73million, released a statement on Monday saying that he regretted making remarks about his taxes which were a 'personal matter'.

'And I'm going to have to make some drastic changes. I'm not going to jump the gun and do it right away, but I will be making some drastic changes.'

The 42-year-old golfer said he would talk in more detail about his plans - possibly moving away from California or even retiring from golf - before his hometown Farmers Insurance Open, the San Diego-area event that starts on Thursday at Torrey Pines.

In November, California voters approved Proposition 30, the first statewide tax increase since 2004. Mickelson lives in Rancho Santa Fe.

'If you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate's 62, 63 per cent,' Mickelson said. 'So I've got to make some decisions on what I'm going to do.'