My first thought yesterday upon hearing the Tiger press conference news was that he’s trying to upstate the Match Play Championships to get back at Accenture for dropping him. I wasn’t the only one with that thought, including many writers and these players quoted in a GolfWeek article:
“It’s selfish,” said Ernie Els, mincing no words. “You can write that. I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday. This takes a lot away from the golf tournament.”
“Timing-wise it’s not the best,” Sergio Garcia said of Woods’ latest move.
Rory McIlroy, 20, sounded a louder horn. “I suppose he might want to get something back against the sponsor that dropped him,” he said.
Ah, youth. Rory speaks without parsing his words.
Mark Steinberg, Tiger’s agent, says that the announcement has to be made Friday. So the question is: What deadline are they facing? I suspect that he’ll announce he’s going to play in the Masters and a warm up tournament or two.
But why not make that announcement this past Monday, BEFORE the Match Play, or last week? Nothing in this entire series of embarassing events has been handled correctly by Team Tiger. Even if the timing of this press conference is totally innocent, it’s unbelievable that none of his PR guys figured out how it would appear. And what idiot decided to call a five minute press conference with no questions? That just makes it seem as though Tiger is a moral coward—unwilling to face the music. It’s going to create more questions than it will answer, adding to the fire, not extinguishing it. Just wait until the first love child shows up.
Woody should fire his entire management team.
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I wish Tiger was going about this differently. He will have to face the reporters at some point anyway. Why not do it now on this stage so that when he is playing again it is behind him and they will just ask about golf. The timing is questionable at best. This should have been done on a Monday or Tuesday out of respect to his fellow competitors.
I don’t see a problem with the timing. Is anybody watching the match play anyway? If anything this brings some attention to the tournament.
I also find the timing curious, but have an inkling that something Tiger-like, related to his golf prowess, will occur. Could this just be the perfunctory apology? Could be, but how “bland that would be? I look for something that will create a “WOW”
The timing is certainly curious. Martin has a point that if he is planning to play next week in Scottsdale, then making an announcement Friday might make sense. If he doesn’t play next week, then I am inclined to side with Rory.
In some ways, returning to golf at one of the most raucous events available could make sense. Let the goons heckle him and maybe create some sympathy with everyone else. If Tiger can concentrate and play under those conditions, he can play anywhere.
My track record at predicting Tiger’s actions has been terrible and I have no reason to believe I will be correct this time.
There’s no way he’s playing at Scottsdale. He’s much too sensitive for that.