The announcement that golf superstar Tiger Woods will be speaking publicly for the first time tomorrow since his car accident-turned-extra marital affair-scandal has sent the media into a new frenzy. Woods' agent Mark Steinberg said, "While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between him and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him. He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends, and that's what he's going to discuss."
However, two groups he is upsetting: PR flacks and journalists! Because Woods won't be taking questions and is only allowing a select group of reporters to the first stop of his forgiveness tour, they are furious. Ketchum PR executive Nick Ragone tells the Post, "This is a sham, through and through. The fact that he isn't allowing questions and is positioning his friends and handpicked reporters as props is the height of arrogance... At some point, he's going to have to speak to the media -- he can't hide behind this façade. He's got to do the real thing. At some point, he'll be shamed into doing a true mea culpa." The Daily News' Mike Lupica agrees and writes, "If speaking this way is the best Woods can do, he should skip us and go directly to the golf course.
It did not go without notice that Woods' 11 a.m. press conference is timed, as the NY Times reports, "during the third round of the $8.5-million match-play tournament sponsored by the first company to disassociate itself from" Woods— Accenture (one golfer, upon hearing the news, "curs[ed] loudly"). And Radar reports that Woods will indeed "ease" back onto the PGA tour.
TMZ says the photo of Woods in Nike gear with another person seems like a photo op, especially since it was taken by a Getty photographer; the Post thinks he looks pudgy (burn!).
