Tiger Woods' Press Conference Will Upstage Accenture Tournament

Tiger Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, released a statement today indicating that Woods plans a Friday morning press conference. Woods will use the press conference to apologize for his behavior and discuss his future (it is expected that Woods' first tournament will be the Tavistock Cup in March).

The term "press conference" is a bit of a stretch as the event will include no questions and only a small number of reporters present. In the statement itself, Steinberg says that Woods will speak to a "small group of friends, colleagues and close associates". It is reported that one reporter from three wire services will be present and that Woods has asked the Golf Writers Association of America to select a small number of reporters to attend as well.

While many will question what value there will be in a press conference that does not allow for questioning and with only a select group of reporters in the room, the fact is that it's probably unreasonable to expect Woods to allow for a media circus with him in the center ring.

More telling than the rules and controlled audience, however, is the timing of Woods' conference. It comes during the Accenture Match Play Championship that will be held in Arizona. Accenture was one of Tiger's biggest sponsors until dropping him earlier this year. As their tournament is one of the first major ones of the golfing season, it would normally get outsized attention.

With one perhaps strategically scheduled news conference, Woods has ensured that Accenture will definitely not get its money's worth from its tournament. While not having Tiger in it this year was problematic enough, the entire golfing world, and really it would seem half of the real world, will have their attention focused exclusively on Woods' press conference and the subsequent reaction.

It is very possible, in fact probably very likely, that Woods' press conference will be mostly a non-event featuring little more than a scripted statement from Woods professing his regret and plans for the future. However, it will serve to highlight that the Accenture Match Play Championship will be a shell of what the company would have expected a mere five months ago.

Without Woods, the face of golf and arguably the best player in the history of the sport, the tournament will hold all of the nationwide appeal that the Greater Milwaukee Open might. But with Woods making his first public appearance in while the event is being played, it will truly rub salt in the wound.

Could the timing of this have been calculated by Woods and his team? Is this a bit of payback to Accenture for not sticking with him? Woods agent denies it, saying that it is simply 'a matter of timing". Whatever that means.

Whether Woods and his camp admit it or not, the timing seems extremely coincidental. The press conference could have been schedule at any time before or after the Accenture event. While there would seem to be little to gain for Woods to purposely distract attention from his former sponsor, he may be subtly sending the message that he is back and wants to know who is with him and who is not.

While the words used at Tiger Woods' press conference will likely be conciliatory in nature, the timing of it could be the first sign that Woods is angry and ready to channel his anger on the golf course.

Source: newscore, "Tiger Woods to Apologize for Behavior, Discuss Future on Friday", nypost.com