By Don Goldberg | No Comments
Last updated: Monday, November 30, 2009

“The baby was sick, we were afraid he had swine flu, I was half-asleep, rushing to the pharmacy to get medication, and was so upset that I lost control of the car and crashed into the fire hidrant and tree.”

That’s what I told my wife over the weekend that Tiger would say (if he were listening to people like me).  It looks like he is taking a different route, and that one has risks and rewards.  This will be fun to see how it plays out.  Here’s the issue:

• All we know for certain is that Tiger went rushing out of his driveway (he had to be rushing to do the kind of damage he did, and also to have hit his head so hard that he was lost consciousness for six or seven minutes).
• It was 2:30 in the morning.
• He had to have been one of the following:  half-asleep; very mad; drunk; otherwise distraught.
• Several of those possibilities (the ones being speculated in the tabloids) aren’t good for his reputation.
• He has a golf tournament in California tomorrow and a scheduled press conference to face.

His options:

• Total disclosure.  Face the media, answer all questions.  This really only works if his excuse is something along the lines I outlined to my wife. 
• Hide behind the cloak of confidentiality that has marked his public career.

He appears to be taking the later course of action.  His lawyer has cancelled any interviews by the police (good move– whatever the truth, there is no up-side in talking with them, only the liklihood of leaks and losing control of the story).  He released a pretty good statement that:  ”This situation is my fault, and it’s obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I’m human and I’m not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn’t happen again. This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way.”  But given his world-wide popularity, it is hard to see how this is going to satisfy the media firestorm waiting for him to mess up.

My advice:  Tiger has been pretty successful over the years maintaining his privacy.  Associates who talk out of turn are quickly fired or shunned from his inner circle.  If there is an innocuous explanation for his crash, I would have one of my representatives put that out to a friendly news outlet attributable to “someone with knowledge of the facts.” That would provide enough context and information with wiggle room to perhaps satisfy the media.

If the truth, on the other had, involves anger and/or alcohol, I think the path he is taking may be the best decision, but it won’t stop the questions.  I predict he cancels tomorrow’s press conference.

[By the way, I discount claims that his alleged actions with another woman in Australia (as perpetuated by the National Enquirer) precipitated a fight with his wife and that she threw him out of the house, resulting in his angry, reckless departure.  I think in that case, his wife would have fled in anger, not Tiger.  My wife disagrees.]

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