On Monday afternoon, a goateed Tiger Woods faced more than 200 members of the media for his first public press conference since the Thanksgiving night accident that blew the lid off his scandalous secret life. (Photos:View a slideshow of Tiger Woods at Augusta.)
There were no restrictions on topics -- well, no spoken restrictions. Augusta National has a way of making its genteel voice heard louder than any scream. A reporter who tried to get too cutesy, a reporter who tried to embarrass Tiger or Augusta National -- well, the Powers That Be at Augusta "would not look favorably," as their parlance goes, on such a transgression.
And the result was a model of press conference decorum. Woods' demeanor was relaxed, confident, at ease. He was far more smooth than in his previous public appearances, and he no doubt won back many critics. That smile there at right? That's a pretty good snapshot of how the entire press conference went. There was honesty, light humor, and a sense of respect for both the game and the process.
Woods led off with a short opening statement in which he thanked the fans for his warm welcome, and noted how excited he was to be back playing golf. From there, 34 minutes of questions began.
To their credit, the media fired away from the word go. And to his credit, Woods understood the need to ask the questions, even if he didn't answer all of them.
The very first question was about the night of the accident and why Woods failed to disclose any more information than he did to the police and to the press. From there, the questions touched on potential HGH use, his behavior on the course, and his respect for the game. It was fifteen minutes before Woods got the first legitimate softball question: "How is your knee?"
Further questions focused on how he was able to lead a secret life (answer: not without regret) and his time in rehab. (See Devil Ball's live blog of the entire press conference right here.) Woods also specifically thanked and expressed his appreciation to his fellow players, who have had to bear the brunt of the media and fan crush since his absence.
We also got a look at the tragic -- if that's not too strong a word -- aspect of this entire case. He pointed out that the timing of his rehab forced him to miss his son's first birthday. You'd have to be a cold person indeed not to be touched by that.
The only question he completely shot down had to do with the presence of Ambien in his system on the night of the crash. He simply noted that he was fined $164 by the police, and that was that.
Woods left with his short, customary "thanks, guys" to the media, and initial reaction seems to be that Woods did a fine job. And, once again, Woods shows that underestimating him is never a good idea.
Provided Woods is telling the truth about everything he said -- and let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is -- this was a huge step for Woods in his campaign to rehabilitate himself and his image. Today, he went a long way toward closing the door on the sordid side of his life.
Source ---- By Jay Busbee
