Hidden Tiger Makes an Appearance

Tiger Woods is the most visible athlete in the world, yet for the past few months, we've probably seen more footage of where Osama Bin Laden is hiding out. Tiger Woods has decided now is the time to make an appearance. Tiger Woods has decided now is the time to clear the air. Tiger Woods has decided The Masters is less than 2 months away, and he needs to get somethings off his chest.

However, the way he is going about this much anticipated 'press conference' (I used that term loosely, since it's not really open to the press) is quite the head scratcher. Tiger is going to speak in front of a "small group of friends, colleagues and close associates", according to his agent Mark Steinberg. That sounds more like lunch than a press conference.

As for the few media members allowed to cover this event, well they get to be sequesters a mile away in the Sawgrass Marriott, where they will watch on closed circuit television. Huh? This reminds of going to an overly crowded temple for Yom Kippur services and being sent to the all-purpose room downstairs to watch the rabbi on television. If you are a media member, are you really flying down to Orlando to sit in a Marriott to watch something that will be readily available on ESPNews and U-Stream.

All this begs the question, who are Tiger Wood's advisers and why do they still have jobs? From day one, this entire story has been mishandled. It started out with a lie by Tiger as to what really happened that night. When you are Tiger Woods and you get chased out of your house with a 9-iron and crash your car into a tree, wouldn't your first call be to one of your advisers to say, "I think I just screwed up. How should I handle this?" Apparently the advice he received was to post statements on his own website. Not good enough.

He went "underground" for the next three months. Aside from an alleged photo at a sex rehab clinic in Mississippi, we didn't hear or see Tiger Woods. There is an old saying in my line of work (commercial real estate), "time kills deals." Well, in this case, time breeds questions. For three months Tiger has allowed too many questions be asked and too many cocktail waitresses to speak up. He had the chance to get in front of this story from day one (see David Letterman). He could have called a press conference within a week of the incident and asked for forgiveness and layout his plan to restore his image.

So here we are, three months later. What's left to say? "The sex clinic food was awful. Did 'Lefty' even win a tourny while I was gone?"

I understand this is all a personal matter and he really doesn't have to say anything. However, when you are in the public spotlight and you have created a brand for yourself, its pretty much your obligation to come forward to announce changes are coming (see Toyota).

Tiger will want to focus on the future. He will tell us what's next. Sure, there will be questions that need to be asked about his past escapades, his relationship with his wife, but those questions will only be asked amongst a small group of reporters tucked away, a mile down the road, hidden at the Marriott. I guess that seems appropriate, since those reporters will be covering a man who spent much of his private life tucked away, hidden at a hotel, where not many questions were asked.