Woods wins this round of "chess with press''
Tiger Woods either hasn’t been getting good advice about his dealings with the press -- or else he has been ignoring it – but there’s a smart touch to his scheduling of his Masters press conference.
Augusta National Monday evening sent out a press release stating Woods will make himself available in the press room on Monday, April 5, at 2 p.m., which from his point of view is a masterstroke.
He, or someone, knows that the final game of the NCAA tournament is always held that Monday evening, and that many of the top U.S. columnists do not arrive at Augusta until Tuesday. Further, on the grounds that no one can be in two places at once and that most big-league newspapers restrict their columnists to write one piece a day, the men and women booked for the basketball championship won’t be at Augusta and won’t be writing first-hand on Woods.
“Chess with the press’’ is how a friend in the business describes Woods’s recent dealings with the media; first a corporate announcement with no interaction, then two five-minute interviews with reporters well known to Woods. He also has staked out his ground emphatically: Anything about what happened the night of his car crash is, he said, “in the police report’’although there is almost nothing in the police report because they did not talk to him. Remember? He took a powder and never did speak to the cops. On many other topics, Woods claims it’s a private matter between himself and his wife and, surely, there’s that element to consider in his behalf.
This move, though, will further dampen the impact of his “facing’’ the media; the basketball game is a huge event in the U.S. and it will take away much of the play from any Woods grilling. And vice-versa.
It’s probably no coincidence that one of his media handlers is Glenn Greenspan, former media relations director at Augusta National who knows better than anyone the press room at Augusta is no more than about 40 per cent full on the Monday.
Smart move for Tiger. Finally.
Augusta National Monday evening sent out a press release stating Woods will make himself available in the press room on Monday, April 5, at 2 p.m., which from his point of view is a masterstroke.
He, or someone, knows that the final game of the NCAA tournament is always held that Monday evening, and that many of the top U.S. columnists do not arrive at Augusta until Tuesday. Further, on the grounds that no one can be in two places at once and that most big-league newspapers restrict their columnists to write one piece a day, the men and women booked for the basketball championship won’t be at Augusta and won’t be writing first-hand on Woods.
“Chess with the press’’ is how a friend in the business describes Woods’s recent dealings with the media; first a corporate announcement with no interaction, then two five-minute interviews with reporters well known to Woods. He also has staked out his ground emphatically: Anything about what happened the night of his car crash is, he said, “in the police report’’although there is almost nothing in the police report because they did not talk to him. Remember? He took a powder and never did speak to the cops. On many other topics, Woods claims it’s a private matter between himself and his wife and, surely, there’s that element to consider in his behalf.
This move, though, will further dampen the impact of his “facing’’ the media; the basketball game is a huge event in the U.S. and it will take away much of the play from any Woods grilling. And vice-versa.
It’s probably no coincidence that one of his media handlers is Glenn Greenspan, former media relations director at Augusta National who knows better than anyone the press room at Augusta is no more than about 40 per cent full on the Monday.
Smart move for Tiger. Finally.
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