Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Tiger Woods is officially back, talking about golf and as much about the Thanksgiving car crash and subsequent fallout as he's ever going to do. Now we can all get back to watching him hit golf balls while faceless drones yell "Youda man, Tiger!"
Because like it or not, he is the man. He had the entire media contingent at the Masters wrapped around his fingers. They asked some great questions – good, pointed queries about PEDs and the involvement Ambien has had in his life, including on the night of the crash – but Tiger answered what he wanted to answer. And this time, he looked entirely human.
He talked about how many people in the room were his friends, which was likely a ‘thank you’ for some golf writers not outing his behavior in the past. Either that, or they were totally kept in the dark on this situation as well – some friends – and that was a ‘thank you’ for not crushing him like TMZ and all the entertainment rags have done.
The most telling moment of the presser was when Tiger said he wasn't nervous in the press room – answering questions from golf writers and national types like Jason Whitlock trying to unravel him wasn't hard – but Tiger did admit he was nervous about being on the tee. He was nervous how the fans would react. And so far, he said that everyone has been positive.
Tiger also admitted he needs to treat the fans better, and have a more even keel on the course than he’s had in the past. He says the days of him cursing on camera and throwing clubs are gone – he didn't use those specific examples, but that was obviously to what he was referring – but with that could go a little of the youthful exuberance we all grew to love in his early years. Will we see a fist pump ever again? It remains to be seen.
By and large, Tiger stuck to his talking points about his family and how much he hurt them and how terrible things have been because of his actions. And he's talked about how he's different now. When asked how he fooled so many people, he brought it on himself yet again:
"I fooled myself as well. I lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people. Kept others in the dark. Rationalized. I even lied to myself. When I striped all that away, and started realizing what I've done – the full magnitude of it – it's pretty brutal. I take full responsibility for what I've done and I don't take that lightly."
He did better than expected, and was overly thankful to the fans and fellow players. Clearly the Tiger Woods reclamation project is underway, both spiritually and through the eyes of the golf world. Now let's go hit some balls.
Here are some of the top moments of the presser.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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wow, i wanted to talk a bit and then follow the thread, but when i saw that ‘scurds’ was on, i knew that everything that i had hoped for was down the drain.
you see, scurds hasn’t ever been interested in truth, he has only been interested in ‘the quarrel’, and in this i say, scurds, you win. you always are a winner. because intelligent people read your stuff, and just leave.
let’s see, what was your billiant comment tonight???? ahhh yes, you said, ‘whores, whores, whores’. wow, what a great comment. very insightful.
very original, thank you for your insight. with this (these) insightful comments, are you refering to tiger, his wife, his ladies, or the tour sponsers who could not wait for him to rejoin the tour???? we lesser people cannot always follow your greatness.
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by timpani25 on Apr 5, 2010 10:07 PM EDT reply actions
@timpani25 – we agree. scurds’ post has been deleted.
by mdinitto.tsn on Apr 5, 2010 10:40 PM EDT reply actions
I am looking forward to watching the Masters tournament. its such a cool venue that I would have watched it anyway but its much better when the best player in the world plays.
by pistolpete2009 on Apr 6, 2010 12:07 AM EDT reply actions
great that tiger is back. it will be more interesting to watch golf tournaments.
купить ЖБИ
by ToddisFO on Apr 6, 2010 11:33 AM EDT reply actions
I went back and refreshed my memory on the terms of use, which does have a statement that offensive postings are prohibited. Not having read scurds’s post before it was deleted, but having read many of his other posts, I’ll concede it was probably offensive to some, and perhaps even totally unproductive, but there are others regularly posting on this site that are routinely far more offensive and unproductive than scurds, and their posts are not removed. In the interests of fairness, I should also say scurds frequently brings a needed "other" perspective to issues, which the dialogues benefit from.
I applaud some policing of the postings with the goal of fostering productive discourse, but it would be nice to see this policing happen in a relatively evenhanded manner.
Oh dang, there’s that pesky terms of use statement again which says they are not obligated to be even handed.
by qscft6y on Apr 6, 2010 11:48 AM EDT reply actions
This creep did not return from a dangerous tour in Iraq to build houses for the homeless. He is apologetic because he was caught repeatedly endangering the life of his wife with potential HIV/AIDS and now he is "back" to play golf… He is scum. period.
by Tait74 on Apr 6, 2010 12:01 PM EDT reply actions
-timani25
Don’t be fooled by this gesture against the fair-haired boy – the eternal child and the intentionally moronic/disruptive posts have wide support.
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How to turn Mr. Hyde into Dr. Jekyll: (1) define new persona (robotic/low-key) (2) insulate new persona by adding protection in immediate environment (80 extra security thugs and warning to public ) (3) enlist media (rig yet another "press" conference and write favorable articles).
However, the wolf can be seen in sheep’s clothing. Consider the following odd quote:
I take full responsibility for what I’ve done and I don’t take that lightly.
First, the three "I"s show who the focus is on – which is to be expected, since under the surface, NOTHING HAS CHANGED, everyone in this individual’s life is a distant second (like on another galaxy). Second, to "take FULL responsibility" means the issue is now under his control, which means it is closed. He is just waiting for the noise to die down.
by sportsFan on Apr 6, 2010 1:20 PM EDT reply actions
Unlike those who feel that Tigers transgressions are so great that they might possibly change the course of mankind forever, I welcome the worlds greatest golfer back. He will be dominating the sport of golf again in no time.
Darn, I missed another one of scurds super intellegent comments? What a shame, as I am sure it was both thought provoking and riviting, as usual.
timpani25: Your assessment of scurds is spot on.
sportsfan:
1) scurds is an attention seeking child and has proven that time and time again. I find 99.9% of his posts to lack any substance at all.
2) So no one is capable of bettering themselves? Fail once and you’re a failure forever? Get a clue; hundreds of people turn their lives around every single day.
by rbdonovan on Apr 6, 2010 3:12 PM EDT reply actions
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