Golfers slam Woods for timing of first appearance

Tiger Woods was back at centre-stage in golf today – and a lot of his fellow players are not happy about it.

As sport’s first billionaire prepared for his “state of the marriage” address in Florida, with wife Elin expected to be a notable absentee, a pretty big tournament was continuing in Arizona.

Sponsors willing to fork out millions in prize money and staging costs are not easy to find these days and usually every effort is made to gain maximum publicity.

Yet Woods has been given the platform of the US PGA Tour’s headquarters to speak about his problems of the past and plans for the future, inevitably reducing newspaper coverage of the WGC-Accenture Match Play for the third day running.

Ernie Els has called the world number one “selfish” for his timing – he is even understood to have telephoned Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, maybe on behalf of others – and England’s Oliver Wilson, hoping to reach the quarter-finals by beating compatriot Luke Donald, has added his normally quiet voice.

“It just seems very poor from everyone involved to organise it on a day like that – the sponsors are owed more than that,” said the Mansfield golfer.

“For the Tour to be setting it up in their HQ is not very good. I just don’t think it’s right.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing about it. I want him back on the course. He’s a legend and I want to play against him.”

Woods’ return to action is most likely to come at the behind-closed-doors Tavistock Cup, an unofficial two-day match between the star-studded members of the Isleworth and Lake Nona clubs in Orlando.

That is on March 22-23, close to the player’s home and, since he could remain there for the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting two days later, that looks on the agenda too – especially as Palmer was reported to be among the “friends, colleagues and close associates” invited to listen in person to his announcement along with a few reporters and one television camera.

Woods is not expected to take questions, yet amazingly the surviving players in Tucson were told by PGA and European Tour media staff yesterday that they could be bombarded by questions not just after their third-round games, but before as well.

However much they want to get their focus on their games and their respective opponents, the 16 have been spoken to in order “to request that they arrive at the clubhouse understanding that they will be asked to answer questions regarding Tiger Woods’ statement earlier in the day”.

Woods speaks at 9am Arizona time and the first match between Sergio Garcia and Tim Clark starts at 10.50am.

Not having been seen in public until this week since all the shocking sex allegations started coming out following his early-morning car crash on November 27, few people know what Woods is going to say.

He has already apologised for his actions on his website, so just a repeat of that will not satisfy his critics.

That came a week after the incident outside his house and started with the words: “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.”

Later came an admission of infidelity and his decision to take an indefinite break from golf – a break which has, by all accounts, included weeks at the sex addiction clinic in Mississippi.

Manager Mark Steinberg said intriguingly that the reason for Woods’ statement being made today would become clear when he spoke.

That raised the possibility of the 14-major winner playing next week’s event in Phoenix because entries closed at 5pm Florida time – just six hours after his announcement.

Another educated guess was that he could be going back to the clinic and part of the process was going public and facing the world at this stage.