Tiger Woods said he's sorry. He pledged to try and work out the problems in his marriage. He said he's been in therapy and is going back for more. He said he'd probably return to play golf, but he didn't say when. Mostly he said he's sorry.

Sincere? That's for his wife to determine.

As for the rest of his heralded, choreographed statement before a select group of family and friends (but few members of the press - and none from the Golf Writers Association, which refused to be represented given the restricted, no-questions nature of the event), Tiger came across as the robotic, angry, controlling figure that has made him a force on the golf course and an unpleasant person off it.

Woods spent considerable time blaming the media for wrong reports and/or invasive coverage. He didn't acknowledge, naturally, that he could have short-circuited it by stepping before microphones and pads within 12 hours of Thanksgiving night episode that launched his downfall. He could have been in front of this story and he blew it. Nor did he point out the IDs of those few camera crews (read paparazzi) that followed his children.

Woods said nobody should blame his wife for his transgressions. Who was doing that? Certainly not the media, which correctly branded Woods' wife as a victim as a parade of women with whom Woods had cheated stepped forward.

At the end of the day, Tiger Woods doesn't owe the public much more than his skills on the golf course, for which he is admired and paid handsomely.

But based on what he said this morning, Tiger Woods didn't do much to regain our support as a person. He should ask for a mulligan.