If You're Expecting Tiger to Come Clean, You Haven't Been Paying Attention

Tiger Woods sure has left a lot of unanswered questions, chief among them, did Elin over-club?

Inquiring minds -- not to mention Florida Highway Patrol investigators -- want to know exactly what happened on the way to Woods being hospitalized after crashing his Cadillac SUV into a fire hydrant and neighbor's tree early Friday morning inside the gated Isleworth community outside Orlando, Fla.

Good luck with that.

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On Sunday, for the third straight day, interview requests by the FHP were rejected, this time by attorney Mark Nejame, who informed law enforcement officials he is representing the family and Woods will not be answering questions.

When troopers arrived at the Woods' residence, Nejame was present and provided the troopers with driver's license information, registration and current proof of insurance as required by Florida Law. Nothing more.

There's a reason Woods named his 155-foot $28 million yacht "Privacy," and not "Wanna Know My Secrets?"

It's no secret Woods has long gone to great extremes in an effort to protect his privacy. Friends who are invited into Woods' tight circle are loyally quiet about all things Tiger, or they are no longer in the circle.
Besides, who among us at least once has not been chased out of the house by an angry spouse wielding a 4-iron and preferred not to talk about it?

OK, not true. For most everybody else, it's a frying pan.

Because Woods was pulling out of his driveway at the odd hour of 2:30 a.m. and two days earlier the National Inquirer had reported an alleged affair by the squeaky-clean, image-conscious golf star with a New York club hostess, it's easy to let the story write itself.

And most of the public has been doing just that.

Loosely translated, much of the speculation involves lovely wife Elin playing a knockdown wedge off Woods' melon.

Although unavailable for the FHP -- he is not required by law to provide details -- Woods did post a statement on his website, attempting to defuse speculation.

"This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way," Woods' post read in part.

"Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.

"The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false."

As long as Woods leaves the story to public imagination, no amount of denial will change perception. The less Woods says, the more everyone else will talk.

This is something the highly polished, media-manipulating handlers who surround Woods undoubted know. When it comes to image damage control, silence typically is anything but golden. This time, however, instead of getting out ahead of the wildfire of speculation, Woods' camp circled its wagons. And the story took on a life of its own.
Woods is willing to make that tradeoff.

It's no secret Woods has long gone to great extremes in an effort to protect his privacy. Friends who are invited into Woods' tight circle are loyally quiet about all things Tiger, or they are no longer in the circle.

Woods' media interviews also are rarely revealing, typically producing evasive, board responses to any questions not directly regarding golf.

It has long been amazing to reporters regularly covering the PGA Tour how cooperative and insightful Woods will sound during interviews, only to find he provided absolutely nothing new when they later read over transcripts and notes.

So the idea Woods is remaining quiet about the first real challenge to his image is surprising only to those who know little about the man.

Think what you want, but don't expect Woods to confirm it.

It was a one-car accident on private property with no other person involved. All the ingredients for celebrity gossip may be there, but there will be no explanation.

It's about privacy.

McIlroy Plans Double Duty

After big success this year on the European Tour, 20-year-old Irishman Rory McIlroy is planning to expand his schedule in 2010, playing fulltime on the PGA Tour and at home.

Few players have enjoyed significant success attempting to spread themselves so thin, but McIlroy, who finished second on the European Tour money list, says he made the decision for the purpose of improving the level of his game.

"Hopefully I'll be a better golfer this time next year than I am now, so I'd like to think that I can give myself the best chance to win on both tours," McIlroy said. "I made that decision because I wanted to become a better golfer, and the best way to do that is to play against the best players in the world every week. Sometimes that's in Europe. Sometimes it's in America."

Sergio Growing Up?

No question is has been a tough season for Sergio Garcia.

Not only did he fail to win on the PGA Tour, but for the first time in Garcia's career he went without a top-three finish and had only three top 10s.

But listening to Garcia at last week's World Cup in China suggests this might be the year that changed his career.

Garcia's "I-never-get-a-break" whine that had grown to tiring, hasn't been heard lately, and it's starting to sound like the Spaniard, now 30, may finally be maturing.

"It has been a hard year overall, but at the same time, I think it's been very positive," Garcia said last week. "I think that it's made me grow a lot, not only as a player, but as a person.

"Obviously looking at the results, it has not been a very good year. But I feel like my game probably in the past 3½ months has been improving, and that's a positive for next year."

Ishikawa Impresses Veteran

Japan's Ryuji Imada left home when he was 12-years-old to come to the United States and attend a golf academy, his goal always being a PGA Tour career.

Even so, after two years playing at Georgia, Imada needed five seasons on the Nationwide Tour before making it to the PGA Tour.

So seeing 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa, who played in the Presidents Cup, become a Japanese sensation more than impresses Imada.

"I'll say, if you asked a hundred (Japanese) kids, they all probably will say, I want to be like Ishikawa. Everybody wants to be like him," Imada said.

"It's amazing to see him play golf. He's only 18. I actually got to play with him when he was 17, and it's amazing, not just the golfing skills, but the way he handles himself on and off the golf course. I know it difficult for him as an 18-year-old to be able to handle the media, to be able to handle all of the attention, but he does it so well.

"I think he's going to be great. I don't know how great, but I know he's going to be great and he's going to do amazing things for Japanese golf."

Duval to Play

Looks like former world No. 1 and British Open champ David Duval, who finished outside the top 125 money winner this year and lost exempt status for 2010 has reconsidered and will play in this week's final state of Qualifying School in South Florida.

Duval originally suggested he'd rather take his chances next year acquiring sponsor exemptions rather than go through the six-round qualifying process. But he is on the starter's list when play begins Wednesday at Bear Lakes Golf Club.