Tiger Woods Accident Clippings, Vol. 4

The good news for Tiger? Most of the written conjecture has shifted from the particulars of the accident to a focus on his handling of the crisis.

The bad news? Most experts and non-experts alike think silence is not the way to go about putting this to rest.

Joseph Berger and Larry Dorman talk to criminal defense attorney Mark O'Mara (yes, really) about the investigation and the talk of warrants for medical records:

O’Mara said that if the injuries were serious enough, the police could investigate what caused the accident and perhaps obtain records. Such a request can be done with or without a search warrant, he said, depending on the severity of the civil infraction or crime.

“If they are truly investigating a criminal offense, they have more basis to seek medical records,” he said, noting that the police would need to show probable cause. The police have not indicated that a crime has occurred, he said.

Mark Lamport Stokes offers a rare "analysis" and writes:

Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, believes Woods should have "come clean" immediately.

"The first rule is tell it all, and tell it fast," Argenti said. "With the addition of social media to the mix, this has become even more important.

"The blogosphere and crackpot gossip-mongers now control this story. Why would Tiger Woods want that? He is a public figure and as such the speculation will not end until he discusses what really happened."

AP's Nancy Armour also talked to image gurus who say look to David Letterman, take control of the story and offers this:

“Men and women have been forgiven by their public for misbehavior or misstepping, and even philandering,” said Gene Grabowski, who guides high-profile figures through public relations crises as a senior vice president with Washington-based Levick Strategic Communications.

“But what they have never been forgiven for is the cover-up,” he said.

Mark Bradley appears to be the lone writer agreeing with Tigers lawyers.

Should he paint himself into a Clinton-esque corner by wagging a finger and saying, “I did not have sex with that woman”? Should he risk being caught in a lie? Or should he admit to being an adulterer and thereby expose his already-exposed family to deeper public humiliation? Where’s the upside in that?

Steve Elling talks to Orlando attorney Joel Wilson who says not much can come of this on the legal side:

The way Wilson sees it, even if the Florida Highway Patrol is hopping mad about being stonewalled and has David Caruso and Laurence Fishburne tracking the investigation, Woods is likely facing the legal and social equivalent of a one-shot penalty.

"Everybody wants to blow this into something bigger, and while we can all speculate about what may or may not have occurred, when you get down to it, I don't believe they have any witnesses and aren't going to be able to bring any criminal charges against Tiger," Wilson said. "I don't think they have anything, really."

Bill Fields at GolfDigest.com suggests that the golf media's attitude to the story may not be impacted by concerns of access to Tiger in the future:

Some time ago I wrote something mildly critical of Woods. It's not unusual for people to write in when the topic is Tiger, who can be a lightning rod for people on either side of an issue, but this reader phoned, concerned that Woods might get upset and stop talking to the press. I had to inform the gentleman that Tiger wasn't in the habit of giving me -- or anyone else, for that matter -- one-on-one interviews. Woods gives pre-tournament press conferences and post-round post-mortems as obliged, and he can be expansive when talking about the game that he has come as close as anyone to mastering. But he prefers to let his play and his life speak for themselves, as DiMaggio and Hogan, among other American sports icons, did.

Alan Shipnuck believes Tiger's handling is straight from his playbook, not that he thinks it's a good idea:

The official word that Woods is taking his ball and staying home came in a terse statement on his eponymous website, which declared Tiger was "unable" to play "due to injuries sustained in a one-car accident last week." Oh, really? The dude won the U.S. Open with a broken leg but can't play in a glorified exhibition because of a fat lip? The World Challenge is the fifth most important tournament in golf to Woods — behind the four major championships on which he's built his legacy — and for him to skip it is evidence of how seriously Tiger is taking the first misstep of a very public life. It is also the only logical endgame for an image-obsessed control freak.

Jason Sobel and Bob Harig also debate Tiger's WD from the Chevron and the ramifications for next year while Michael Arkush ponders what all of this means for Tiger's quest to win more majors than Jack Nicklaus:

Tiger Woods had an aura about him. He maintained it with all his effort and intensity. It worked for him on a self-motivating level and was also an intimidation factor against his opponents. It was the same off the course as he never showed any cracks in the armor.

Now it’s different. There is controversy and drama and more scrutiny than ever. And seeing him clearly not know how to handle the situation has made his vulnerabilities even more apparent. If it doesn’t die down soon, the aura perhaps will have been shattered for good, and there’s no telling how that might impact his performance.

Lawrence Donegan says Tiger's WD this week will make for a less enjoyable week for top players:

The likes of Ian Poulter and Padraig Harrington may have made the long journey to southern California concerned only with winning a very sizeable cheque, but now they find themselves in the centre of a media maelstrom. Without Woods to talk to, the press will turn their attention to his fellow golfers.

James Corrigan suggests that withdrawing this week was a mistake:

Yet the suspicion that Woods may be trying to hide something will inevitably now only grow after he pulled out of the event and, perhaps more pertinently, out of the press conference he was due to give at the Californian country club today.

Randell Mell suggests that no matter what happens, it's going to be a long 60 days for Tiger.

He likely won’t play a tournament until the Century Club of San Diego Invitational, which begins on Jan. 28.

That’s 60 days.

Check that. That’s 60 hellish days if Woods doesn’t address the mysterious circumstances surrounding his crash.

You know who will relish those two months if Woods remains silent about the events that night of the crash? TMZ, National Enquirer, Star Magazine, People and other celebrity news and tabloid journalism outlets. They’ll be more than delighted to try to fill in the missing details Woods won’t provide.

Speaking of TMZ, they say Tiger is not exactly ingratiating himself to the neighborhood now that the area is on lockdown and one resident had their camera memory card confiscated.

We've officially hit rock bottom: you can now wager on how Tiger's situation will play out.

And finally, Lisa Gutierrez reports the material George Lopez has added to his stand up routine. Should make for an awkward bump-in at The Lodge next year during the AT&T National Pro-Am:

Referring to rumors that Tiger's wife attacked him with a golf club, Lopez cracked: "My theory is you know a woman is pissed off when she wants to beat you with the thing that you make money with. She doesn't want to just hurt you, she wants that ass-kicking to be symbolic."

Summing up Tiger's predicament - the rumors about an extramarital affair, the car crash, etc. - Lopez said: "Let me put it in terms that golfers would understand. He played the wrong hole, had an errant drive and now he's got to get out of a bad lie."

And if that wasn't bad enough, Lopez pulled out a blonde Barbie doll wielding a golf club over a Tiger Woods doll lying crumpled on a golf green. "It's the Tiger Woods Ass-Kicking Trophy Barbie Doll," he said.