NO QUESTIONS ALLOWED AT PRESS CONFERENCE
February 18, 2010
Woods to Address His Past and Future on Friday
By LARRY DORMAN
TUCSON — In a development suited to the bizarre nature of the Tiger Woods scandal, his handlers on Wednesday released a statement to selected media outlets announcing plans for Woods to “discuss his past and his future” at a meeting on Friday at the PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. It also said Woods “intends to apologize for his behavior.”
The announcement, which was distributed to media outlets, including ESPN, the Golf Channel, The Associated Press and Bloomberg, was sent by Woods’s agent, Mark Steinberg, and his spokesman, Glenn Greenspan.
Woods has not been seen in public since Nov. 27, when he crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a tree in his neighbor’s yard at 2 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. In the days and weeks after the accident, Woods became embroiled in a scandal when he was linked to having sexual relations with several women.
Days later, Woods issued a statement admitting marital infidelities and announcing he was taking an “indefinite break” from competitive golf to work on his marriage. He was reported to have been in a Hattiesburg, Miss., clinic for treatment of a sex addiction during that time.
The announcement released Wednesday said that Woods would “be speaking to a small group of friends, colleagues and close associates” Friday at 11 a.m. at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach.
“Tiger plans to discuss his past and his future and he intends to apologize for his behavior,” the announcement said.
Bloomberg reported that Steinberg said in a telephone interview that Woods had taken some recovery steps and quoted the agent as saying, “Tiger feels as though it’s time to make amends and to publicly do that.”
Steinberg said no questions would be allowed at the meeting.