Tiger Woods Apology – Did You Buy It?

A contrite Tiger Woods at today’s press conference. (photo courtesy of Reuters)

At a carefully choreographed press conference this morning at 9am EST, the world finally got to hear the Tiger Woods apology. And yes, he admitted cheating on his wife. And yes, he looked straight at the camera and said those magic words “I’m sorry”. And we all expected that. After all, the apologetic press conference has become a common sight whenever celebrities are disgraced by partaking in steroids, drunk driving or sex with a few dozen women that aren’t his wife.

So why did he do it? In Tiger’s own words: “I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life, and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt that I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have far to go to find them.” Well, from the looks of some of the women he cheated with, it’s not that he didn’t have far to go…it’s just that he didn’t look very hard.

Besides apologizing, Woods also took the opportunity to go after the media. He said that his bad behavior doesn’t give reporters the right to stake out his young child and harass his family. And he’s probably right about that, but it was also probably a really bad idea to go on the attack when he was supposed to be on the defensive.

And speaking of attacking, he also spoke with some passion to deny reports that his SUV crash on that fateful night was the result of a four iron shot to the head by his wife Elin Nordegren. Woods said she didn’t hit him and never has.

So what’s next? Tiger squashed the rumors that he might be back in time to play the Masters by saying he has some work to do before he gets back to golf. He said he’s going back into therapy and isn’t sure when he’ll come back to the game. He did, however, say that it’s not impossible that he’ll be back on the links before the end of the year.

Reaction in the media seems mixed, but the most important question is whether or not the public bought it. Did you? Do you think he’s learned his lesson and will now become as good a husband and father as he is a golfer? Do you even care?