Tiger Woods Finally Comes Out of Hiding

Tiger Woods has finally made an appearance after the blow-up over his infidelity.

Woods set up a very controlled and scripted press conference in which he hand picked only a handful of observers and very little press. There were no questions allowed from anyone in attendance with under 15 minutes of prepared speech by Woods.

Reactions to the scripted apology was mixed, mostly down gender lines. Most men reporting on the event saw it as "emotional" while women saw it as non sincere.

The only time honest emotion was obvious is when Woods spoke of his family being harassed by the press. He made it very clear that he wanted the press to "leave my family alone".

Woods did not address the women he had been unfaithful with, nor did he address what exactly happened the night of his car accident at the end of 2009.

He did make it very clear that the rumors of his wife, Elin, striking him had been fabricated and that there has never been any instance of domestic violence within his marriage at any time. Woods repeatedly stated that his wife was a victim of all the selfishness he was guilty of but that she was not to blame for any of the situation at hand. He had hurt his wife and children with his actions and anything else to be said about the matter was between him and his wife. From now on it was a private matter.

Woods seemed to think that he was above the constrictions of marriage and that he was allowed his indulgences and temptations through some type of celebrity narcissistic outlook he had given himself. He repeatedly called himself selfish and stated that he needed to learn restraint.

Woods stated that he had grown up in the midst of Buddhism which his mother had taught him but he had drifted away from it a couple of years ago. He went on to give examples of how his beliefs would now be revisited and integrated into his family life.

Woods also made a very slight mention of the rehab he has been involved in over the past several weeks and told the small gathering that he would be returning to therapy after he was done with the press conference. There were no specifics given about his therapy.

When all was said and done, Woods had made sure to mention that he would still support his foundation and that he needed to work on his family life first, perhaps returning to golf later (possibly this year).

It appeared that Woods' mother was taking this harder than Tiger was. The idea of "saving face" seemed to settle in as the camera panned to her, sitting in the front row. His wife, Elin, was not among the attendees at today's event.

Woods return to golf is a real possibility but it will take time to see whether he can actually achieve the sponsorship he once had. If Woods can return with a good game and also keep his behavior in check, he has a shot of fixing his image, and bankbook in the future.

Tiger Woods is just one of a multitude of American men who have proved to be bad husbands. It will be difficult for him to persuade the female population that he is sincere about being faithful and fixing the mess that he has created. The event today seemed less emotional than controlled and that is what began Woods infidelity in the first place...control.

The attempt that Woods made to not confront the issue for such a long time after it became public knowledge combined with the tight control held over Friday's news conference only increases the speculation and doubt for many.

One of the first defenses of those caught doing what they should not is religion. That is normally followed by the excessive use of the word "selfish" when speaking of oneself. That is usually followed by admissions of causing pain to those that supposedly mean the most to you. There is hope that the press conference was sincere and that Woods will follow through with everything he said he would do.

The way he handled the press conference after the way he behaved makes some of us think that maybe the only reason Tiger Woods was sorry is that he got caught.

It is understandable that Woods would seek to keep some sort of privacy to his life but due to the fact that he has enjoyed millions of sponsorship dollars he should also recognize that privacy flies out the door when your "celebrity status" pays that well.