National Sports Journalism Center

Did the assembled sports journalists fail in their duty on the Tiger Woods watch?

Not at all.

On a Monday morning at Augusta National Golf Club, 200 of us were admitted to the club’s interview room for a press conference. The idea was, Woods would answer questions from the media for the first time since his personal life became public five months ago.

The hard news from the session was minimal. We now know he had five stitches taken in his lip the night he ran his car into that fire hydrant; at least, we know that’s what he told us. Similarly, we now know he has never taken any illegal drug and never ever used a performance-enhancing drug; at least, we know that’s what he told us.

Otherwise, nothing much in the way of hard news.

And I’m all right with that, for reasons I’ll explain later here.

Hard news that a subject wants hidden is never going to come from a press conference. What, are we going to water-board him? The man who agrees to takes questions goes in knowing he can turn aside any question, can do circumlocutions, can get up and walk away if he wants. It’s his world and he’s in charge.

Here’s an example from the Woods session. "You said earlier that you were in some form of a rehab." So began a strong question from Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times. It dealt with Woods’ many mentions of spending valuable time in rehabilitation therapy. "Can you talk about, are you still in rehab? And what you were in there for?"

"Yeah, I was in there for 45 days . . ." So began a Woods circumlocution that ended with his declaration that he was a better person for the rehab and he would continue his treatment – after which Plaschke quickly called out a follow-up, "What’s that for?"

A good question, entirely reasonable and fair, a simple question asking for a fundamental detail. Rehab for what? Drugs? Alcohol? Sex?

"That’s personal, thank you," Woods said. He snapped out the answer as he turned his head away, signal that he wasn’t going there.

Another example of a good question unanswered, this one asked by Steve Elling of CBSSports.com: "Did Ambien play a role in the car crash? You were described by the witnesses as mumbling, snoring, obviously sockless and according to the police hospital record, you were admitted as a possible OD."

OD, as in overdose.

Stonefaced, brusque and curt, Woods said, "Well, the police investigated the accident and they cited me 166 bucks and it’s a closed case."

There’s not a word of answer to Elling’s question, of course. It was only one of Woods’ many evasions in the 34-minute session. It would seem impossible for anyone to have listened to him and come away believing he told the whole truth about anything.

One more example, this one dealing with Woods’ wife, Elin: "Will Elin and the kids be joining you this week at the Masters, and if not, is that a sign that she’s not ready to support you get and should you be making this return so soon to the game?"

"Elin is not coming this week, no," Woods said. As to what her absence might mean, he didn’t deal with that meaningful part of the question.

Nor was there hard news in answer to a question from Christine Brennan of USA Today – yet the answer is worth hearing as another in a series of athletes protesting that, no, no, no, never ever have I used steroids, human growth hormone, or any such magic elixir. Brennan asked about Woods’ relationship with a Canadian doctor once arrested with performance-enhancing drugs in his possession: "Why did you feel it was necessary to have this particular doctor come to your home – and what did he specifically do for you?"

Woods talked about undergoing platelet-enriched plasma treatments, a perfectly acceptable process designed to speed healing. He also protested the very idea of drugs: "He never gave me HGH or any PEDs. I’ve never taken any illegal drug, ever, for that matter."

Clip and save.

It would be sad if it weren’t so pathetic. The man’s still unable to tell the whole truth. Even after describing himself as a liar worthy of shame and humiliation now determined to be a better person, Woods cannot put together a sentence that sounds like it came from a remorseful human being rather than a remorseless lawyer.

If we didn’t know that before, we certainly know it now. And we know it because the sports journalists in that room Monday asked questions that revealed it. Enough, then, with any sympathy for Woods. He’s the same man he was, sorry only that he has been exposed. Every time he spoke of being a changed person, within the next 10 minutes he said something that showed he had not changed at all. How can he be believed on anything when he says he has gained perspective – "[I]t’s not about championships. It’s about how you live your life" – and then leaves his wife and children – somewhere? Sweden? – while he dashes from rehab to Augusta twice in the last two weeks for four days of practice rounds and then says of his expectations: "Nothing’s changed, going to go out there and try to win this thing."

Nothing’s changed.

There’s the real news.

******

Last week I told about finding a check for $1,000 that I was given for doing a feature story for The Blood-Horse magazine in 1986.

Question was, was the check still good?

Answer is, you gotta be kidding.

The magazine’s financial officer said their records go back only to 1997. She also said it’s the magazine’s policy, when a correspondent’s paycheck goes uncashed for a year, to send a replacement check.

The English translation of that would go like this: "You might have been given a replacement check, cashed that one, and now are trying to double-dip. So get lost, kid."

Shucks, darn, and drat. She caught me. Yeah. I had waited 26 years to pull the scam. With that purloined grand, I was going to buy a yacht. I weep.

Dave Kindred’s next book will be "Morning Miracle," an inside-the-newsroom account of two years in the life of The Washington Post. Now a contributing writer at Golf Digest, Kindred is a Red Smith Award winner and member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame. He can be reached at inkstained1@aol.com. He can be followed at Twitter.com/DaveKindred and facebook.com/people/Dave-Kindred/509353295