Woods' break from golf a clever move, says Clifford

Tiger Woods’ decision to take an indefinite break from golf was a “clever move” and his next step should be to talk about his problems on television with wife Elin at his side, publicist Max Clifford said today.

World number one Woods announced in the early hours of this morning UK time that he would take time off from the sport in order to save his marriage, after admitting to “infidelity”.

Clifford said it was the best move Woods could have made and that the golfing fraternity will miss him so much that they will soon be calling for him to return.

“It’s a clever move; he’s done the right thing,” said Clifford.

“He’s done it publicly so everyone will know exactly his thoughts and his feelings. It’s a step in the right direction.

“The second step would be that one major television interview. Hopefully he can go on something like 'Oprah', maybe even with his wife, to show that they’re making a real go of it.

“The clever move would be for him to say: ’I’m coming back when Elin tells me the time is right.’ That would be the masterstroke. That is the strategy that I would be advising him to take.

“The golf world will miss him more than he will miss them because you’re taking the world’s top player out, the biggest attraction, the one that everyone wants to see way, way above everybody else.

“That will encourage all of his fans to say: ’Come on Tiger, when are you coming back?’ The demand for him to come back will get greater and greater.”

Clifford accepted Woods will never be able to recover the image that he had as a squeaky-clean family man but doubted his appeal to sponsors will diminish, and claimed Woods’ representatives had been approached by luxury champagne brand Angel to endorse their product.

“He has still got at least 10 years at the very top. People who are saying he is finished are talking absolute nonsense,” he added.

“Sponsors will lose patience when his popularity fades. But this is a guy who is the greatest golfer we’ve ever seen, there’s only Jack Nicklaus who gets mentioned in the same breath. This guy is young, good-looking, charismatic and all of those things. So will sponsors drop him? No.”