Woods suffered some minor cuts and bruises when his Cadillac Escalade hit a fire hydrant and a tree as he left his Florida home at 2:25 a.m. Friday. The damage to his wholesome reputation could be worse because of reports about trouble in his marriage.
Without responding specifically to a National Enquirer story of an affair with New York nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel, Woods posted a statement on his Web site blasting "the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me."
Woods praised his wife, Elin, saying she "acted courageously." Police said she told them she used a golf club to break a back window of the SUV and pull her husband out of the vehicle. But according to a TMZ source, the two were arguing about the Enquirer report, and she ended up chasing him with a club as he drove away.
"This is a private matter, and I want to keep it that way," Woods said in his brief statement two days after the crash. He called off three meetings with the Florida Highway Patrol. Woods is not required by law to speak to police and "simply has nothing more to add and wishes to protect the privacy of his family," his agent Mark Steinberg told The Associated Press.
The blog TalkLeft called Woods' decision not to talk to state troopers a "smart move" and noted "the Fifth Amendment applies as much to celebrities as anyone else." And with no serious crime or career-threatening injury involved, the story is utterly ignorable, added blogger Conor Friedersdorf. "Except in the most extreme circumstances, athletes shouldn't be treated as public figures" when they're not competing, he wrote for The Daily Beast.
Other commentators argued that Woods' bunker mentality is hurting the golf great's billion-dollar image.
"Woods has profited mightily from people's fascination with him," said True/Slant's Kashmir Hill. "When a highly successful golfer, who makes millions per year helping companies sell us stuff, is in the rough -- on the course or off -- we're going to be interested. And we have every right to be."
FanHouse's Jay Mariotti said Woods now has to "sell himself to a doubting public." Staying mum just makes matters more mysterious and fuels gossip, he added, which damages the credibility of one of the world's top athletes and product endorsers.
"If Woods is going to market his image so aggressively and relentlessly, part of the deal is addressing a negative issue when it surfaces," Mariotti contended.
Gawker's Adrian Chen pointed out that White House party crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi are using the same say-nothing PR strategy as Woods for "exactly the opposite reason." By keeping quiet, the reality-TV wannabes drive up the asking price for their first interview.
"The only way Tiger's strategy makes sense is if he comes out tomorrow demanding $500,000 from NBC for an interview about the crash and a spot on 'The Real Housewives of Orange County, Florida,'" Chen said.
