Golfer Tiger Woods broke his silence by making a public statement on Friday, February 19, 2010 at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. See 13+ minute video statement below – view speech text here.
Woods was adamant that the Friday event was NOT a news conference. The event was covered by all major networks.
According to Steinberg, “Tiger plans to discuss his past and his future and he plans to apologize for his behavior. This is all about the next step. He’s looking forward to it. It’s time to make amends and to publicly do that.”
Tiger’s planned statement comes some 10 weeks after he disappeared from public life. The majority of that time was spent at a Mississippi clinic for sex addiction.
He will speak to “a small group of friends, colleagues and close associates” at a gathering that will begin at 11:00 a.m. and will be broadcast from PGA Tour headquarters. It seems doubtful that Woods will entertain press questions beyond what is being characterized as the delivery of a short prepared statement to his invited guests.
Tiger’s website also carried this new statement: “While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between him and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him. He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends, and that’s what he’s going to discuss.”
Veteran golfer Tom Watson recently broached the subject of what Tiger needs to do before rejoining the PGA Tour.
View Tiger’s public statement on video report below.