General

Tiger Woods in Control of His Life, Media, Golf

Apr 5, 2010, 7:35 PM UTC

Tiger Woods is officially back, talking about golf and as much about the Thanksgiving car crash and subsequent fallout as he’s ever going to do. Now we can all get back to watching him hit golf balls while faceless drones yell “Youda man, Tiger!”â†µâ†µBecause like it or not, he is the man. He had the entire media contingent at the Masters wrapped around his fingers. They asked some great questions – good, pointed queries about PEDs and the involvement Ambien has had in his life, including on the night of the crash – but Tiger answered what he wanted to answer. And this time, he looked entirely human.â†µ

â†µâ†µHe talked about how many people in the room were his friends, which was likely a ‘thank you’ for some golf writers not outing his behavior in the past. Either that, or they were totally kept in the dark on this situation as well – some friends – and that was a ‘thank you’ for not crushing him like TMZ and all the entertainment rags have done.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe most telling moment of the presser was when Tiger said he wasn’t nervous in the press room – answering questions from golf writers and national types like Jason Whitlock trying to unravel him wasn’t hard – but Tiger did admit he was nervous about being on the tee. He was nervous how the fans would react. And so far, he said that everyone has been positive.â†µ

â†µâ†µTiger also admitted he needs to treat the fans better, and have a more even keel on the course than he’s had in the past. He says the days of him cursing on camera and throwing clubs are gone – he didn’t use those specific examples, but that was obviously to what he was referring – but with that could go a little of the youthful exuberance we all grew to love in his early years. Will we see a fist pump ever again? It remains to be seen.â†µ

â†µâ†µBy and large, Tiger stuck to his talking points about his family and how much he hurt them and how terrible things have been because of his actions. And he’s talked about how he’s different now. When asked how he fooled so many people, he brought it on himself yet again:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“I fooled myself as well. I lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people. Kept others in the dark. Rationalized. I even lied to myself. When I striped all that away, and started realizing what I’ve done – the full magnitude of it – it’s pretty brutal. I take full responsibility for what I’ve done and I don’t take that lightly.”â†µâ†µâ†µHe did better than expected, and was overly thankful to the fans and fellow players. Clearly the Tiger Woods reclamation project is underway, both spiritually and through the eyes of the golf world. Now let’s go hit some balls.â†µ

â†µâ†µHere are some of the top moments of the presser.â†µ

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