The accessories for a Tiger Woods press conference used to be a bottle of Gatorade and a Nike hat. When Woods meets the press today at Augusta National, a blindfold and a cigarette will do.
Facing a media firing squad for the first time in nearly five months, Woods undertakes the next phase of TW Image Repair.
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Since Woods slammed into a fire hydrant outside his Windermere, Fla., home on Thanksgiving night, triggering revelations of marital infidelity, reporters have been formulating questions. But will even the most targeted queries produce anything but stock answers from I, Robot?
Two weeks ago when Woods spoke to ESPN and the Golf Channel, he hammered home all his new catch phrases (core values, responsibility, entitlement, Buddhism) and established what subjects would remain off-limits (SUV accident, rehab and the dozen-plus women with whom he reportedly has had affairs).
Woods was fielding questions for the first time but didn’t stray from the bullet points of his uncomfortable mea culpa Feb. 20, described by one pundit as a “hostage tape.”
So when Woods meets the press Monday, don’t expect much. In a familiar setting, he will be more comfortable and in control than previous appearances. He’ll call some reporters by pet names — adding a “y” to their first or last names.
“I think most of the serious golf journalists will be there. Obviously, there will be some other journalists there from the underworld,” Ernie Els said last week at the Houston Open. “Whatever questions comes his way, you’re free to ask. It will be an interesting day. I’m sure he wants it over and done with.”
Expect this to be round one of a Woods’ rope-a-dope. A few more media free-for-alls at subsequent tour stops and the press will be all punched out and ready — as every scandalized athlete urges — “to just move on.”
