Tiger Woods will talk Friday

Tiger Woods, once one of the world’s most bankable athletes but disgraced by his own infidelities, will put his face on public view Friday morning for the first time since the early-morning car accident in November outside his Florida home permanently altered his life.

He won’t be pouring out his heart to Oprah Winfrey or taking questions on “60 Minutes.” Instead, Woods will be in his own kind of tightly controlled comfort zone to say he’s sorry.

In front of a single television camera at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., home to PGA Tour headquarters, and with three wire service reporters and an undisclosed number of pre-approved golf writers present, the 34-year-old superstar will make his first statement since admitting in December he was unfaithful to his wife, Elin, and would take an indefinite break from the game that built him.

Woods will apologize for his behavior, his agent Mark Steinberg said Wednesday. No questions will be allowed.

“While Tiger feels that what happened is fundamentally a matter between he and his wife, he also recognizes that he has hurt and let down a lot of other people who were close to him,” Steinberg said in an e-mail. “He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends and that’s what he is going to discuss.”

With no questions being taken, it is up to Woods whether to address the countless tabloid stories alleging numerous affairs involving the golfer, as well as unconfirmed reports that he had checked into a sex rehabilitation clinic.

Wednesday’s unexpected announcement that Woods will come out of hiding came by way of his website and the PGA Tour’s website and Friday’s appearance will be televised live by ESPN and the Golf Channel, starting at 8 PST.

Rick Burton, former brand manager for Miller Beer and former chief marketing officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said Woods’ timing is notable.

“Interesting that he’s doing it in the middle of the Accenture and taking eyeballs away from his potential sponsor,” Burton said, referring to the Accenture Match Play tournament going on outside Tucson.

Accenture was one of the first sponsors to back away from Woods after the scandal erupted. Woods ended up losing or being cut back by other sponsors, including Gillette, AT&T and Tag Heuer.

Burton also said it is surprising that Woods has chosen this way of going public.

“When it first happened most of us thought it made sense to do your ‘mea culpa’ with someone like Bob Costas or Oprah Winfrey, someone considered safe or warm and loving, where Tiger could say, ‘I screwed up.’ This doesn’t appear to have that kind of father-confessor figure to help Tiger open up and make it seem more personal.”

Speculation had been rising about Woods’ return to golf, with the Masters approaching in April. He is expected to announce his next step.

Yet Gene Grabowski, senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications, a company that has helped clients as varied as the Vatican and Roger Clemens deal with public relations crises, said he isn’t sure Woods’ plan will be a winner.

“Doing it this way, accepting no questions, sort of putting his hand up and keeping reporters and public at a distance sends the wrong message,” Grabowski said. “It sends the message that I’m really not ready to face the music but I want to be able to call the tune.”

Grabowski pointed to how New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte handled reports he had used human growth hormone.

“Tiger should have taken a page from Pettitte’s book,” Grabowski said. “Pettitte answered questions, admitted to a couple of instances of using illegal substances, explained his reasons and that allowed the media to leave him alone. It was, ‘OK, we’ve tortured this guy enough, he’s answered the questions. . . .’ Tiger seems to be leaving that undone. I think he will still be hounded.”

Jerry Davies, assistant vice president of media and public relations for Farmers Insurance, which stepped in at the last minute as sponsor of last month’s PGA Tour event tournament at Torrey Pines, said he and others from Farmers will be paying close attention Friday.

“We’ll be very interested,” Davies said.

Dan Beeman, founder of the Woodland Hills-based Sponsorship Insights Group, a global networking and sponsorship consulting agency, said Woods’ best hope for rehabilitating his image will take “three R’s.”

“He needs to show genuine remorse, responsibility and rededication,” Beeman said. “But choosing this format will only lead to more questions instead of fewer.”

He said that for sponsors, Friday won’t matter.

“For them, the proof will be over time,” he said. “For them, they know it’s easy to say ‘I’m sorry’ and read from a quoted text.

“The hard part is doing the work and changing who you are and your image. For fans, it will be a matter if they believe what they see on Friday.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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