Tiger Speech, What Went Right #PGA

There are as many opinions about Tiger Woods' performance at his 'press conference’ last Friday as there are newspapers, (if they still had newspapers), TV networks, and blogs. Here’s one more.

Woods got a few things right in his 13+ minutes in front of the world, and he got a bunch of things wrong.

First, what Tiger did right:

He finally spoke up. It may have taken him three months to do the right thing, to find his courage and defend his family. The adage holds true; better late than never. It would have been much more effective, more real, had he done it right after he smashed up his car, but something is better than nothing. Barely.

He said he was sorry. Again, something is more than nothing. There was even a moment or two where he seemed like he was two percent sincere. He actually came close to genuine human emotion a for nearly a second or two. Bonus points for that.

He stated that he was not sure when he would play tournament golf again. This was the most telling statement of all, for me. If he really does miss the Masters, or either of the Opens, then maybe he really is trying to make it right. The guy has been programmed from the time he was able to walk to win those events. To willfully give up chances to win majors, especially at Augusta, Pebble Beach and St. Andrews, would be like depriving himself of food, water, and air. You know, assuming he was a real human being.

He looked awful. This was big. The last thing he wanted to do was show up looking like he was rested, refreshed, and ready to take on the world. After sex addiction detox you shouldn’t look like you just came off the beach in Cancun. If you spend 18 hours a day in a conference room under fluorescent lights, confessing your pancake waitress woes, you need to have some bags under your eyes. I am sure there was a team of make-up artists on hand to make sure he looked appropriately haggard. Or at least that's what I would think if he weren’t such an upstanding honest citizen of the world. He would never even think of doing anything like that...as far as you know.

He didn't have his axe murderer caddy, Steve Williams, standing off to the side of the podium, ready to throw the first person who made eye contact with his Excellency out of the room.

Finally, he said that the details of what he did and who he did it with is no one’s business but his and his wife Elin. True. While we all would probably love to know (admit it, you want to know) what went down; dates, details, and names, we are never going to get that information. And we don’t deserve to. That’s between him, his harem and his wife.

To put a letter grade on this portion of his speech, I give him a C-. And I’m an easy grader.

What he did wrong is coming in Part II, which will be much, much, MUCH, longer.

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