Tiger Woods' Speech: More Sales Pitch Than Apology

(MoneyWatch)  Talking slowly like a man recovering from a long illness, Tiger Woods apologized for his "repeated irresponsible behavior" in a weird press conference today in which he name-checked his sponsors, including Accenture, and tried to shore up his commercial empire:

In fact the speech was less about Woods' personal failings than it was about his business failings and the value of good PR. He started by saying:

My behavior has caused considerable pain to my business partners.

(He mentioned his family as well, of course.) Woods read his long, repetitive speech into the camera and didn't take questions. It was a masterpiece of PR spin. NPR reported that while Woods spoke from the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., the press was "corralled" into a nearby hotel where they watched the performance on video. The maneuver gave the public the impression he was talking directly to them in an unfiltered way, while avoiding awkward questions. (Having said that, there was virtually no part of the conference that wasn't awkward.)

He also cast himself as the victim of privacy invasions by the media. This is a central hypocrisy practiced by virtually every celebrity: After finding wealth, power and fame by relentlessly pursuing the limelight, Woods now claims the attention he is receiving is somehow unfair.

"I still believe it is right to shield my family from the public spotlight. I have always tried to maintain a private space for my wife and children. They have been kept separate from my sponsors and my commercial endorsements," he said.

This turns out not to be true -- Woods has used his kids in an ad for American Express. He then immediately admitted he released photos of his newborns to the paparazzi, for which he was paid.

Next, he gave a shout-out to Accenture, which dropped him as an endorser:

I would like to thank my friends at Accenture and the players in the field this week for understanding why I'm making these remarks today.

It will be interesting to see whether Accenture accepts that olive branch and re-ups his deal or snaps it in two over its corporate thigh. The conference upstaged the actual golf contest going on right now -- the WGC Match Play Championship in Arizona -- whose main sponsor is Accenture.

• Related:
• Tiger Woods Takes Petty Revenge on Accenture for Dropping His Sponsorship Contract