Did Tiger Woods Ace the Public Apology?

Feb. 19, 2010— -- Many public apologies fall short, but in as he does it on the golf course, experts said Tiger Woods drove his apology farther than the rest.

Many officials have admitted wrongdoing in recent years, including singer Chris Brown and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, yet family therapists have not been so impressed by their performances. But some said Woods' statement may be the exception.

Woods made his points clear today in his first public event and apology in months since the media uncovered a series of extramarital affairs in November.

"Every one of you has good reason to be critical of me," Woods said early on. "I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.

"The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior," Woods said. "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame."

Beverly Engel, a marriage and family therapist and author in Texas, gave Woods a positive review based on a transcript, not the live performance.

"I would rank him pretty high," Engel said. "He's making it abundantly clear that she [Woods' wife] didn't do anything. It wasn't marital problems. He's not leaving any opening at all to even consider that she was at fault in any way. That could make her feel a lot better."

But after reviewing many of mea culpas in the news, therapists and psychiatrists questioned whether most of such public declarations are real apologies.

Click Here for a full transcript of Tiger Woods' apology.

A case in point is South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

Sanford disappeared for days on end last spring while his staff thought he was on the Appalachian Trail. But soon the world discovered Sanford had actually been in South America cheating on his wife.

He later held an extended press conference to explain his whereabouts and apologize.

According to therapists, there are key elements to an effective apology and common ways to duck out of really saying you're sorry.

"In real life, an apology goes, 'I did X,'" said Stanton Peele, a social psychologist and attorney based in New Jersey. "No apology by a public figure ever does that."