"Not everything had been revealed. So I'm not sure how he could come out before there was full resolution to everything."

As Thanksgiving arrives, Doug Ferguson files a comprehensive recap of the events that followed Tiger's November 27th car accident and includes fresh comments from Team Tiger.

There was one interesting quote from agent Mark Steinberg, defending the PR debacle in the accident's aftermath.

Every expert in public relations and crisis management had a field day, blasting his management team for keeping him in hiding as rumors and innuendo filled the void. A year later, Steinberg isn't convinced it was mishandled.

"First of all, I don't think anyone has ever experienced this. There certainly was not a road map how to deal with this," he said. "We consulted with some people who deal with crisis management, and that was the consensus we got."

But there was more in play. What began with one mistress, maybe two, soon turned into many more. How many? Who knows? Even if some of the alleged mistresses were making it up, it's not as though the Woods' camp was in any position to deny it.

"You still had some of it true, some of it not true," Steinberg said. "Not everything had been revealed. So I'm not sure how he could come out before there was full resolution to everything. That's really the main reason."

How did Steinberg know then that "not everything" had been revealed when he supposedly knew nothing?

Steve Elling best sums up why the last week's PR campaign fell flat.

Woods' uncharacteristic appearance on the Internet, in national magazines and on cable TV chat shows last week brought his troubles bubbling back to the surface, and opinions raged as ever before. His mood on the ESPN show was variously described as subdued or humbled to completely insincere. In other words, the fan base remains acutely divided, and he just drop-kicked the hornet's nest again.

It was all pointless. Like his 6-under run over the closing six holes at the Aussie Masters earlier this month, it was too little, too late. In fact, if his scandal aftermath hadn't been absolutely butchered by his management at IMG, the media barrage of last week is a path Woods should have taken 10 or 11 months ago. Where was all this humility in January when the damage needed to be controlled and contrition offered?

And if you are looking for a giggle, Jay Busbee digs up his original post on last year's National Enquirer story that started the long, national golfing nightmare. The comments are great fun.

Comments

[camping tents]

As host said, it is really complicated. I can not judge a person before the fact is told. Now, waiting may be is the best way.

[david]

"No road map "? There have been literally dozens of instances in the past 10 years alone of major public figures getting caught with their pants down, it's not rocket science. Get it all out there as fast as possible to avoid extra damage, fess up, go on some kind of public show and pretend to be sorry ( maybe a trembling lip or tears if you've done something really bad ) and ask for forgiveness. DO NOT try and sweep it all under the carpet or retreat into your cabin as that will only make it look as though you have more to hide and prolong the curiosity of the media further.....

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Talk about a giggle, here is the first comment at the Busbee link:

"The whole world knows National Enquirer is full of crap and very little if any truth."

[Mort]

"Not everything had been revealed. So I'm not sure how he could come out before there was full resolution to everything."

To hell with a sex tape. We want the driveway tape. Yes we do.

[kenoneputt]

What's really interesting is that one of my favorite golf discussion boards (www.4gea.com) had a guy talking about Tiger's indiscretions FIVE years ago.

He told a story about a woman he knew being approached by Tiger's entourage in Las Vegas, and then spending the weekend with him in some secret VIP place at MGM Grand.

Everyone on there called him a fool for believing the story, but the details now fit perfectly, right down to Tiger's use of The Mansion at MGM Grand.

A year ago, we learned that stories like that weren't fantasies.

K

[Bar Fedora]

kenoneputt, you are right, lots of people knew about this for a loooong time before the Enquirer actually broke the story. Surprising that it was kept under wraps for so long.

So, a year from now, will purportedly grown men still be micro-analyzing every single little detail of this situation?

[Scotty O'Toole]

Yes.

[digsouth]

*Steinberg isn't convinced it was mishandled.*


On that note, and with discussion taking place now, a year later, it was OBVIOUSLY MISHANDLED.

TW needs to can these guys and walk away.

Immediate honesty would have netted TW publuc forgiveness, maybe not right away, but he is not ever destined to be anything but a freak, now.

I wish his peace and happiness. Everyone makes mistakes.

[Tighthead]

I tend to think it was mishandled, but those of us on the outside have no idea of what was buried by Team Tiger. If they managed to effectively bury stories about drug or PED use, than it was not mishandled I suppose. If they avoided some sort of armageddon PR situation, then maybe it was actually well done.

You have to limit your downside.

[Adam Clayman]

An oldie (now) but still a goodie.

Click on the url space Geoff provides.

[Wisconsin Reader]

I wonder how Sherwood C.C. is going to play in the Chevron World Challenger next week in Thousand Oaks, CA? They have always had trouble growing grass on those rock surfaces just beneath the roughs and fairways. The field appears strong with Furyk, Kaymer, GMac and even "Stricks" - since deer hunting season in Wisconsin will be over.

[I.M. Knott-Steiny]

Steiny was so in over his head. Tiger should've fired his ass. But could he afford to, given what IMG knows? The real killer was TW went to Arizona to fix his split lip for the three days after the crash. You couldn't get "out in front" of the story when your man's speaking through a fat lip that his wife allegedly didn't deliver when she caught him cheating.

[Buffett]

Ho hum... another Tiger rehash. Nothing else to talk about in golf.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

True. But it is generally Steiny who brings up this crap. Again and again. It would be more interesting to talk about how the Euros are dissing Tim Finchem. Wouldn't it? Or how the Road to Dubai leads to a boring golf course surrounded by prefabricated ruins in a desert that makes our own Sonoran look like the Garden of Eden. Anyway, I think Tighthead is right. Steiny has probably been masterful, so far, at hiding something much worse for Tiger's ultimate place in the Game than mere serial boinkage. When is Dr. Galea's trial?

[Tighthead]

Ky - they paid big money to Uchitel, and quickly. I wonder if she had some very damaging info? Women like that sometimes introduce other vices into the mix. The strategy may have been to let the other ones make a whole lot of damaging smoke, but to put the resources (5 or 10 million) into putting out the big fire.

As I said, I always thought it was poorly handled, but if they managed to bury some bones, it may have actually been effective.

[Zenyatta]

Oh, Ky---I'm swooning again...First, the references to Marshall McLuhan and the Princess Bride, then that you make macaroni and cheese your ownself, and NOW--serial boinkage!! Sigh...and a filly sound here.....

[dbh]

Ky, Tighthead,
I subscribe to a more reductive formula: The Vain Bozo syndrome.
Wherever possible, you have to eliminate bald ego and sheer dunderheadedness before you can assign more sophisticated motives.

There are umpteen examples but for starters:

'First of all, I don't think anyone has ever experienced this...' looks to fail the first criterion.

And the rollout out of the same basic PR campaign time and again looks to come up a little short on the second front.

[Tighthead]

dbh - that has been my thinking all along, but perhaps Steinberg was Kobayashi pulling up in the Jaguar during Woods' Verbal Klint moment?

[Aunt Blabbie]

I hope you're enjoying this time with your mom and kids, Tiger. Come out blazing in 2011. May Buddha bless.

[Miss Priss!]

Nice, Tighthead.

Verbal (to Tiger Woods): How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?