Tiger Woods Needs To Come Clean For Sake Of Career

When high-profile individuals, be they politicians, entertainers, or sports personalities get into a tight spot it intrigues me how their handlers deal with the dicey decisions about how much information to give the public, and when to give it.  Much rides on how the PR game is conducted.  Play it well and it all may actually assist your career.   Slip and dodge less artfully and it could cause great long-term damage.  So the level of interest for me is running quite high this weekend about the way Tiger Woods deals with the matter of his car accident.    The options are clear I think, and the one with the fewest pitfalls is to clear the air and let the truth out about the matter.  To do so sooner rather than later takes the punch out of the rumor-mill, and stops the banter that is getting to be pretty outlandish.

Stonewalling is a bad option. Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez can testify to that. What Woods should do is take control of the story and explain what happened — good, bad or otherwise. Get it over with and let the ever-impatient news cycle find its fresh meat elsewhere. The alternative is weeks spent picking away at the many unexplained details of his crash. At best, the incident will be a minor glitch that is quickly forgotten. At worst, it could damage his carefully crafted public image.

Almost daily we see the dark side of the New Age Media, from Octo-Mom to Balloon Boy to Jon and Kate and everything Britney. Now it may be Tiger’s turn, even if this turns out to be just a simple traffic mishap. You know things are spinning out of control when the jokes are already starting to bubble up. I heard this one Saturday morning from a fellow golf writer: What’s the difference between Tiger Woods hitting a wedge shot and Tiger Woods driving a Cadillac Escalade? Tiger can back up a wedge shot with no problem.

Team Tiger likes being in control. That’s why they sued an artist who was selling paintings of Tiger, saying they owned his image. That’s why they sued (and won) when an Irish magazine published faked nude photos of his wife, Elin. That’s why they sued (again, successfully) his yacht builder for using Tiger’s name and photos of his boat in promotional material. But this latest episode isn’t contained to little-read Irish tabloids or brochures from boat builders. In the age of blogging and Twitter, innuendo can make its way around the world before Tiger’s lawyers pull their spikes on. The story is already threatening to race well beyond their control.

So what’s the big deal about a little car crash? A one-car accident in the middle of the night often raises eyebrows, if only among the neighbors. In this high-profile case, local cops said quickly that they didn’t believe alcohol was involved and that it was being treated as a traffic crash, not a domestic issue. The problem for Team Tiger is that there remain plenty of tantalizing questions, and precious few answers.

Where was Tiger going in his car at 2:25 in the morning? On a diaper run? To 7-Eleven for a Slurpee? The drive-through window at Wendy’s? And why did he crash? Most accidents occur within 25 miles of home, but Tiger’s was within 50 feet of his driveway. What caused him to go off-road so quickly and lose a game of pinball to a fire hydrant first and then a tree? We don’t know.

How badly was he really injured? Initial reports listed him in serious condition, but that is standard procedure for any patient who is hospitalized. Woods, who was reportedly unconscious for up to six minutes after the accident, was treated and released with nothing more serious reported than facial lacerations. Was he wearing a seat belt? We don’t know.

Why did Elin allegedly smash the back window of the SUV with a golf club to help her husband get out? Initial reports stated that she heard the crash from inside the house and went outside to see what happened. Wouldn’t it have been easier to grab a spare key or remote-entry device to unlock the doors, or at least smash in a smaller passenger side window? What was said in the 911 call to report the accident? We don’t know that, either, but we soon will. Authorities plan to release those tapes, perhaps as early as Sunday.

And what about the rumors? A National Enquirer story leaked two days before the accident linked Woods to a New York hostess and reported that she was in Melbourne with him (and allegedly staying at the same hotel) while he played in the Australian Masters two weeks ago. The Associated Press took the claim seriously enough to contact the woman, Rachel Uchitel, who strenuously denied that she has been having an affair with Woods.

It’s this salacious side story that has fuelled much of the coverage. At least one major entertainment website claims Elin Woods gave different versions of the accident to the Windemere Police and the Florida Highway Patrol. In a second version, told to FHP officers, the website cites an anonymous police source claiming that Elin caused Tiger’s facial injuries during an argument (apparently about the alleged affair) and that she chased him with the golf club as he attempted to drive away, striking the vehicle with the club and distracting her husband seconds before the crash. The website also reported that there was no trace of blood on the steering wheel or dashboard, suggesting that Woods did not suffer his injuries in the collision.