Tiger's fate

[Apollo]

Making his first public comments since before his long-running sex scandal began three months ago, world No. 1 Tiger Woods will make a press statement on Friday morning outside Jacksonville, Fla.

Woods, who has been romantically linked with more than a dozen women, has been on an indefinite break since the scandal began with a mysterious solo car crash outside his Orlando on the morning after Thanksgiving. His only comments have been made via his website and he hasn’t said anything since Dec. 11, when he announced he was withdrawing from tour competition.

It was unclear what Woods plans to address during the announcement and he isn’t planning on fielding any questions, a PGA Tour official said Wednesday.

Woods will make his statement at 11 a.m. at tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

CBS Sports

What is he going to say?

[Mack North]

It should be interesting whatever it is. I think he'll make some sort of apology and then announce he'll be returning before The Masters in April.

[Doc]

It should be interesting whatever it is. I think he'll make some sort of apology and then announce he'll be returning before The Masters in April.

+1

I was about the say the exact same thing.

[cornbreadd]

That will be the most awkward interview in golfing history

[Apollo]

The timing of Tiger Woods' first appearance since his car accident and subsequent admission of marital infidelity -- on Friday in Florida, while the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship is in full swing in Arizona -- does not impress one of the game's best-known players.

"It's selfish," former U.S. Open and British Open champion Ernie Els told Golfweek magazine. "You can write that. I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday. This takes a lot away from the golf tournament."

The timing is peculiar at best. Woods' appearance will take place during the third round of the Arizona tournament, sure to steal attention away from the first big event of the year. The tournament is sponsored by Accenture -- coincidentally, the first sponsor to drop Woods when the scandal broke.

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said the appearance during the tournament was "a matter of timing." Asked if it could have waited until Monday, he said, "No."

"There is a very good reason [to do it Friday] ... and not do it next week," Steinberg said, according to Golfweek.

"He also let down his fans. He wants to begin the process of making amends and that's what he's going to discuss," Steinberg said in an e-mail.

"He's got to come out at some point," Irish golfer Rory McIlroy said. "I suppose he might want to get something back against the sponsor that dropped him. No, I don't know. It just went on for so long. I'm sick of hearing about it. And I'm just looking forward to when he's getting back on the golf course."

"Tiger has to take ownership of what he has done. He must get his personal life in order. I think that's what he's trying to do. And when he comes back he has to show some humility to the public," Tom Watson said before the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this month.

"I would come out and I would do an interview with somebody and say, 'You know what? I screwed up. And I admit it. I am going to try to change. I am trying to change. I want my wife and family back,' " Watson said.

ESPN.com