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Candid Cam: Golf talk finally emerging from Tiger’s media madness

I’ll give Tiger Woods a token golf clap for his dual — and duel — 5-minute interviews with ESPN and Golf Channel that both aired at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

They proved the equivalent of a gimme putt. No great feat accomplished. But had he missed, he would have faced more embarrassment.

All I’ve wanted him to hear him expand on for months is this four-letter word: G-O-L-F.

He finally answered some questions, even if he provided no stunning answers (and thankfully no salacious details of his extramarital escapades).

The best development Sunday is this: He is a day closer to his comeback at next month’s Masters. His words won’t back the public’s trust in him or truly rebuild his image. His on-course actions will. He is a golfer, not a saint. (Non-related sidebar: Wild golf claps to the Saint Mary’s Gaels for reaching the Sweet 16; tip o’ the hat to Cal, which lost in Sunday’s second round to Duke.)

On Sunday, Woods began voicing his expectations for his comeback. He made no mention of a fifth green jacket. He is, however, hoping for a pleasant reception from Augusta’s patrons.

“It would be nice to hear a couple claps here and there,” Woods told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi. “But I also hope there are claps for birdies, too.”

He sounded nervous. His voice quivered. He finally seemed personable, not as robotic (but still somewhat rigid). Part of that image makeover likely resulted from seeing him in a sporty setting — outdoors

nder a veranda at his home country club in Florida, with him wearing a white golf gap (still proud to display that “TW” logo) and a yellow collared shirt peeking out of his brown sweater.

Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman deserves kudos for asking more questions about golf than his personal life. Sure, golf is the name of her channel’s game, but ESPN’s Rinaldi focused too much of his five-minute shorty on Woods’ personal life.

Woods clued us in Tuesday — via a statement — that he will return to competitive golf at next month’s Masters, Ga. On Sunday, he seemed more sincere than that televangelist apology he read last month in a 14-minute, made-for-coporate-image show.

“I’m starting to get my feel back,” Woods told Tilghman about his Masters’ plans. “I know how to play the golf course. That helps a lot. I’ve just got to play it.”

We still don’t know where else he’ll play this year, and although he stated in both interviews that he’ll undergo more treatment for a still unspecified condition, it’s a safe bet he’ll show at Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open in June.

“That to me is a little bothersome, too, not knowing what I have to do,” Woods told Golf Channel.

Woods told ESPN he is excited to get back on Tour: “I’m excited to get to see the guys again. I really miss a lot of my friends out there. I miss competing. But still, I still have a lot more treatment to do, and just because I’m playing, doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop going to treatment.”

Friends? Will he have more or less now? Will his colleagues warm up to him more now that his image has proven mortal — and fraudulent, something they knew well ahead of the rest of the world.

As for all the private matters in his life, he didn’t open up much, nor should he. I don’t care how his marriage is, and I wouldn’t believe him anyhow. He said he and Elin are “working on it.”

He still didn’t reveal what exactly happened in the Thanksgiving Night auto accident that sparked his public demise. “I wasn’t going very fast but unfortunately I hit a few things,” said Woods, referring other inquiries to the police report and preferring to keep the rest private between he and his wife.

Tilghman was bold enough to ask Woods what his late father, Earl, would say to him. Woods admitted he missed his father’s guidance and “a very direct” conversation would have been in order to tell him to get his life in the right direction.

Woods denied that his entourage catered to his secret lifestyle. Was he telling the truth, or was take one for his team? Does it matter? Only in that he showed accountability for his actions.

“It was all me. I’m the one who did it. I’m the one who acted the way I acted,” Woods told Tilghman. “No one knew what was going on when it was going on. I’m sure if more people would have known in my inner circle, they would have stopped it or tried to put a stop to it. But I kept it all to myself.”

Bit by bit, interview by interview, he’s opening up a little more and more. He has a ways to go to win over the public’s trust, something that likely will be pulled off the instant he fist pumps after a victorious golf tournament.
[San Jose Mercury News]

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