Tiger Woods Grows Up; Better Late Than Never

Yes, it was in front of a camera with the world watching, not enclosed in a darkened, cramped booth with just a priest as witness, but Tiger Woods just made an old-fashioned confession, complete with a promise to return to the Buddhist traditions from which he has strayed.

Maybe it was all an elaborate act -- the hangdog demeanor and string of apologies – but I don't think he's that good. As someone in the "it's between Tiger and his wife" and "just play golf" camps, the Tiger Woods statement, however stage-managed and pre-screened, seemed like more than something he had to check off on the list you craft in rehab. (On this point, I agree with my colleague Luisita Lopez Torregrosa.)

So Woods dutifully did it – in front of his mom. That had to be tough. He says he wants to get better and wants to focus on family, that is, if they want anything to do with him. "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated," he said.

"I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them." Seldom has an athlete been so self-aware about the perks of the life.

Yes, Tiger Woods controlled the setting and the audience. But when I saw him standing in front of that sad blue curtain, I realized that even he knows that he lost control of this story a long time ago, around the time mistress No. 6 – or was it No. 7 – told her story on TV or in a tabloid.

His apologies covered just about everyone -- family, friends, sponsors, employees and the staff at his foundation, fans and the children in his schools who look up to him. He's not invincible anymore. Before the scandal, he was only criticized in whispers by the press and fellow golfers. Now, nobody's afraid of him. On timing his Florida statement during the W.G.C.-Accenture Match Play tournament taking place in Arizona, Ernie Els said, "It's selfish." Els told Golfweek magazine, "Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday." Geoff Ogilvy said sarcastically, "Maybe we can put the whole tournament on hold for 10 minutes to watch."

Woods' explanation? He's returning to therapy, he said, as he thanked Accenture – a former sponsor that dropped him – for understanding. If he insulted anyone, it seemed, for the first time, that he didn't mean to.

He had no explanation for skipping the questions that usually define a press conference. That's one reason reporters from the Golf Writers Association of America boycotted. (You knew they were watching, though.) The plea to leave his wife and children alone rang a little hollow, considering it was his behavior that put them in the spotlight. But the defense of a wife who may yet decide to move on without him was right. And you had to like the Buddhist reference -- which David Gibson examines -- perhaps a little shot at Brit Hume, who counseled the golfer to turn to Christianity.

Recently, I caught the replay of a 1998 Larry King interview with Woods. When King asked the young golfer if he wanted to get married, Tiger Woods, the boy, answered: "Do I want to? No. It will happen. I'll surrender one day. No, I'm just kidding."