Thoughts on Tiger’s Press Conference

Tiger Woods had a press conference today. You already knew that. Let’s get down to business.

This was exactly what I needed as a professional golf fan. And it only took a few minutes into the press conference to make me believe that this guy is functioning at a different frequency these days. Sure, the vast majority out there will call it an act. And that’s fine. I believe him though. Other people out there believe him too. If he proves us wrong again in the near future, then OK. I’ll admit I was wrong. But until that happens, I’m glad to have Tiger back in golf.

Once the thing started, we had some good questions. Tiger answered the questions about the car crash, his wife, his connection to Dr. Anthony Galea, and about his rehab. He didn’t go into great detail concerning all of the particular aspects. but that doesn’t bother me. It might bother those who feel the need to have the entire story of what happened the night of the crash, or know the middle names of all of the women that he had affairs with, but that is of no concern to me. It’s his personal life, and I simply don’t care.

The press conference lasted around 35 minutes or so, and once it got towards the final ten minutes or so, it got a little boring. You sort of felt like Tiger had already covered everything that needed to be covered, and I didn’t expect to learn much of anything else after that point. Every question after about the halfway point or so just seemed to repeat other important points early on, so it may have lost a few people along the way. But again, for me, it wasn’t so much about the detail as it was about the demeanor.

Tiger wasn’t angry. There was no backlash. He sat there and took questions, and then he answered them. He made apologizes where they were necessary (his family, fellow players, and fans) and didn’t apologize to those who he didn’t have to apologize to (the media). He wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t very far from it either. He might have stumbled on a question or two, but nothing that made me think any differently of the entire press conference as a whole. I didn’t expect it to go as well as it did, and again, his attitude and demeanor throughout the entire thing was certainly the most surprising aspect of the whole thing.

Those non-golf fans that have just jumped into this story from a National Enquirer-type viewpoint probably won’t believe much of what he said today, or won’t have their opinions changed by this 35 minutes of interviews. And again, that’s fine. I don’t expect people who haven’t followed Tiger over the years to understand the big change that occurred today in that press conference, so there’s no point in arguing about it. As a golf fan that has followed Tiger over the years, it’s like we witnessed an entirely different person today. It was a guy that took a deep breathe and swallowed his pride, and let it all out. As several golf analysts have said in their reaction: the man looked human. And that’s not a side of him that we’re use to seeing as golf fans.

So did today bring us some kind of closure on the whole situation? I doubt it. The questions about Dr. Galea will come up once the investigation on him starts to get more intense. And his wife Elin will still be a large focus throughout the weeks and months, as people wait to see what will take place within the Woods’ family. But today did bring us a relief of sorts. There will be plenty of reaction to the presser over the next few days, but after that, it will all die down as we get ready for what should be a great tournament this week at Augusta.

All in all, Tiger stepped it up today, and I was glad to see it. We didn’t see Tiger the robot, we saw Tiger the person. It’s about time. Now let’s get ready for the Masters.