Masters media tamed by Tiger
Tiger Woods delivered an assured but largely unrevealing turn at his long-awaited Augusta press conference yesterday, helped in some small measure by a fairly undemanding media.
Woods was undergoing his first open press session since lurid details regarding his private life emerged last year. In February, Woods had proffered a lengthy, scripted apology for his actions, and has since granted a couple of short one-on-one television interviews, but this was the 14-time major winner's first real skirmish with the media since his car accident and the resulting fallout. Understandably, but annoyingly too, it was an almost uniformly respectful one.
Woods struck a mostly apologetic tone, but this was also a confident performance, with answers that were mostly unenlightening, and occasionally downright evasive. After the half hour was up, the world No. 1 barely looked like he'd broken a sweat. In short, Tiger was off the hook.
When a few rare questions were deemed unreasonably hostile by Woods, he chose to answer in terms that were as succinct as they were unsatisfying. The scandal-hit golfer seemed confident that even now, no-one would have the guts to pursue the more uncomfortable details - perhaps the assembled audience had already recognised the futility of doing so.
That's partly because Augusta is renowned for its rather stuffy traditions - anyone who doesn't toe the line or behaves without the appropriate decorum runs the risk of being asked to leave. But the journalists' unwillingness to make an enemy of Woods by asking tough questions and demanding answers points to the golfer's undeniable power. Though Woods is hurting now, he remains the biggest deal in golf, with or without the scandal. For a journalist hoping to maintain a professional relationship with this biggest of hitters, riling golf's golden goose is a foolhardy endeavour, whatever eggs he may have laid most recently.
Grilled about the car crash that had proven the catalyst for his troubles, Woods confirmed he'd sustained injuries to his neck, and had stitches in his lip. But when asked about the reasons for his fall from grace, the 34-year-old was soon using familiar, weirdly impersonal and disingenuous-sounding language, talking about how he'd lost touch with his "core morals" and suchlike.
And barely a few minutes in, he was choosing to berate the press for harassing his family, when at least part of that media intrusion could have been avoided if Woods had stepped up earlier and taken responsibility at the time he was first revealed as a serial philanderer.
When asked how his conduct would change in the future, Woods said he'd be working to ditch some of his more negative traits on the golf course - referring to swearing and tantrums he occasionally indulged in when his shots were letting him down, presumably.
But it was clear from his conduct in the room that Woods still felt entitled to remain silent on select issues, giving cop-out answers accompanied by the cold stare that journalists have become familiar with over the last decade - when a journalist brought up his "obviously sockless" state at the scene of the car crash, for instance. And when asked about his management team's knowledge of his infidelities, Woods answered with a qualified denial of sorts, saying only that he had "lied to a lot of people".
Asked about his connection with Dr Anthony Galea, the Canadian physician being investigated by the FBI over allegations that he supplied athletes with performance-enhancing substances, Woods denied taking any kind of illegal drug. He maintained that his involvement with Galea was purely in a bid to make his knee and Achilles injuries heal quicker, using a legitimate technique known as blood-spinning.
Woods did admit to taking prescription drugs, saying he took Ambien and Vicodin to deal with pain from the knee injury that kept him out of the game in part of 2008, and also to help him sleep after his father died. But he continued to refuse to specify what therapy he was currently undergoing, saying only that it was "personal".
Woods also insisted that his comment at February's public apology, where he implied a return to golf was a long way off, had been sincere, claiming: "When I gave my speech in February, I had no intentions of playing golf in the near future at all. And I just had barely started practicing two days prior to that. That was the first time I hit balls. And then I started hitting more balls and more balls. And I started getting the itch again to start playing again."
If Woods' performance is unlikely to have satisfied the more exacting inquisitors of the press, it must have proved heartening to his most ardent supporters. Earlier in the day, Woods had played a practice round with Fred Couples at the Augusta National course, and the golfer paid tribute to the fans in his opening statement, claiming the reception he'd earlier received "blew him away".
Woods smiled broadly when asked about his chances at the Masters this week, stating "Nothing has changed - I'm going out there to try and win this thing".
If he can make good on that promise, it will surely make for the most stunning Masters victory since - well, since he first won it back in 1997 by a record 18-under. Free of distractions and focused on his golf, if anyone can do it, it's Tiger. Just don't expect a captivating or revealing interview afterwards.
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