Woods to end two-month silence

GOLF NEWS:TIGER WOODS is to end his two-month silence tomorrow by making a statement at the headquarters of the US PGA Tour. The world number one, in hiding since the November 27th car crash and subsequent lurid allegations about his private life, is expected to make a public apology and reveal when he will make his comeback.

But it is understood that Woods will be taking no questions from press and television reporters invited to attend.

Woods has been fighting to save his marriage to Elin Nordegren and was reported to have attended a sex addiction clinic after his admission of “transgressions”.

The likeliest date for his return to the sport is the made-for-television Tavistock Cup match between the star-studded members of the Isleworth and Lake Nona clubs in Florida on March 22-23rd.

Woods plays at Isleworth and they are the hosts this year. He might follow it with his PGA Tour return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational later the same week.

The Masters is in April and if he plays there as well he will have the chance to move three behind Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors.

A statement from Woods’s manager Mark Steinberg read: “Tiger Woods will be speaking to a small group of friends, colleagues and close associates at 11am (4pm Irish time) at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Tiger plans to discuss his past and his future and he intends to apologise for his behaviour.

“This will not be an open media event. However, it is understood that there are many media who are interested in what he has to say. In order to accommodate as best we can, we are working to arrange pool coverage of Tiger’s remarks. There will be network pool cameras providing coverage of his talk. The feed will be available live to any network or station that wishes to air it.”

Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA Tour, said he does not believe the timing of Woods’s appearance is designed to clash with Accenture’s sponsorship of the World Match Play in Arizona. They are one of the companies who stopped using Woods in their advertising.