Experts: Tiger Interview 'Too Little, Too Late'
To ESPN, Woods said his wife and mother were "brutal" over infidelities.
March 22, 2010— -- Tiger Woods opened up more than ever before in an interview with ESPN this weekend, but to sports and public relations experts it was all "too little, too late."
"When Tiger [Woods] makes himself vulnerable, when he acknowledges his mistakes ... that's when he starts to repair the damage," public relations expert Howard Bragman told "Good Morning America" today. "This was a start, but this wasn't it... It's too little, too late."
Woods told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi in a five-minute interview Sunday that his wife and mother were "brutal" on him during the sex scandal the rocked the sports world and his marriage, and led him to take a hiatus from golf.
"They've both been very tough. Because I hurt them the most. Those are the two people in my life who I'm closest to and to say the things that I've done, truthfully to them, is ... honestly ... was ... very painful," Woods said.
"I had gotten away from my core values as I said earlier. I'd gotten away from my Buddhism. And I quit meditating, I quit doing all the things that my mom and dad had taught me. And as I said earlier in my statement, I felt entitled, and that is not how I was raised," he said.
While Tiger did not become emotional during the interview, Rinaldi said that before the cameras started rolling, it was obvious the scandal had taken its toll.
"He came in, he was composed, he was very cordial with me and the crew," Rinaldi said. "In that moment, before we actually rolled, you could see the weight upon him."
Regardless of the sincerity of his comments, ABC News sports contributor Christine Brennan said the format of the interview -- five minutes, standing only -- was telling.
"He's still a control freak, isn't he?" Brennan said. "That's Tiger wanting to be in your face, [saying] 'I'm still on top of this.'... The same questions still exist, how much has he changed?"
Those questions will still be in the minds of journalists and fans alike when Woods returns to golf at the Masters in Augusta, Ga., in April, Brennan said.
