Tiger Woods will hold a press conference this Friday at 11 am. at PGA Tour Headquarters.
My guess is this means he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Update:
It turns out that it won’t be a press conference, but that it will be a statement to a “small group of friends, colleagues and close associates.” He intends to “discuss his past, his future, and to apologize for his behavior.” The media isn’t invited, but there will be a single press pool camera providing coverage.
All of a sudden, he’s sounding a lot less than sorry. I think that this bombs as a public relations ploy. He’s still not facing his fans and the media—and they’re the ones who made him what he is.
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I sort of agree with him on no questions at this time. Whatever he says, it needs to stew a bit. You don’t want a reporter asking a question based on oh, perhaps something like what Gloria Allred is spewing:
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/tiger-woods-break-silence-friday/story?id=9865441
Basically, she wants Tiger Woods to specifially apologize to a porn star who he had a 3 year affair with. That just doesn’t need to be part of the conversation. (and I am not saying that for Tiger, for the PGA, or anyone other than Elin and the kids and younger fans). If Tiger is dumb enough to actually apologize to those women on TV- Elin will have a fit. (I actually would not be surprised if he announces that the marriage is over and to please leave his wife and children alone.)
Tiger’s handlers are going to try and work this into keeping a hands off and controlled atmosphere like he had before. Bad news for Tiger- that just isn’t going to happen.
If they try and keep Tiger isolated as he comes back, then they will invite on-air speculation and discussion. If they let Tiger answer questions it is going to be another nightmare. My guess is that they will try and limit it to reporters who are known to be friendly – Golf Channel, Golf Digest, the main golf reporters on the networks.
Given the time frame, I don’t think he is coming back for the Masters. He won’t go in cold, and if he goes to another tournament a week or two ahead, it will be a zoo.
My guess for a return is the Memorial – because other than the Masters, the best chance keeping the gallery in check can only come from Jack at his tournament. If Nicklaus comes out in support of Tiger’s return there, that might be the best possible option.
Unless he cancels the entire season, the only thing a five minute statement will do is fuel rampant speculation, with everyone trying to read between every line.
And I’d hate to be the organizers of whatever tournament he decides will be his comeback.
No matter what tournament he comes back in, no matter when, it is going to be a zoo. Athletes are entertainers and Tiger has proven both entertaining and profitable. The only media operation not making money off of this is Tiger (and the PGA?). Maybe Tiger and Elin should move to one of the states which allows a third party to be sued for contributing to the breakup of a marriage?
Tiger needs to appologize to those hurt by his action (that does not included the enablers and other participants) and admit that he’s a golfer, nothing more and nothing less. Then he needs to stick to that.
As for the bimbo’s, they know what business they are in, and everybody knows that pickups in a bar after 11pm are just that.
Perhaps The Who’s “Won’t get fooled again” would be appropriate?
If I was his PR guy, I’d advise him to announce that he’s taking the entire year off.
The only thing I want to hear is that he’s taking the rest of the year off. There’s no way three months is long enough to prove to anyone that he and his family are all better now. Maybe if there had been only one other woman, three months might make a difference. But there’s just too much there to overcome this quickly. As for apologies and explanations, I don’t want to hear those either. He needs to save them for his wife and kids.
It’s funny, when it was all Tiger all the time back in December and January, people whined that there was too much coverage (because it was all bad news for their hero Tiger – oh boohoo). Now, people are wanting him to tell all in press conferences (the obvious boys’ club let’s hear all of the details crap).
And as for the absurd notion that Tiger should apologize to all of the other women??? Please. They knew he was married. Men who cheat on their wives have a certain amount of disrepute about them. They aren’t going to be angels.