One Year After Scandal, Tiger Tries To Move On

Tiger Woods attends a news conference in Shanghai on Nov. 3 before the HSBC Champions event. A year after an early-morning auto accident led to revelations of marital infidelities, the world's former top golfer is trying to turn the page on his troubles

MELBOURNE, Australia - The dark sedan backed into a spot next to the clubhouse at the Australian Masters, trunk open, waiting to whisk Tiger Woods to the airport. Lingering behind the car was a friend who was still wrestling with divided loyalties - to Woods and his former wife.

They approached each other, awkwardly at first, then shared a quick embrace and quiet words.

Woods believes he finally is ready to move on after a self-destructive year that cost him his marriage, his mystique, millions in endorsements and, lastly, his No. 1 ranking.

What remains are relationships to repair, along with his golf game.

Still to come is Thanksgiving.

"I think it's going to be great," Woods said. "I'm going to be with my family. My mom is going to be there. We're going to have a great Thanksgiving. We've turned the corner, turned the page, and it's time to move forward."

He was not playing dumb.

Woods realizes the public might forever connect him and Thanksgiving with perhaps one of the most shocking downfalls in sports.

It started with the National Enquirer story of an affair with a nightclub hostess. Then came the still mysterious, middle-of-the-night accident Nov. 27 when he drove his SUV over a fire hydrant and crashed into a tree beyond his driveway. His wife tended to him in the street, the back windows of the Cadillac Escalade bashed out with a golf club.

On the 911 call was the chilling voice of his mother as she cried out, "What happened?"

One year later, that remains a relevant question.

No one really knew much about Woods except that he dominated golf like no one had before. Within weeks, everyone knew too much.

He was caught in a stunning web of infidelity, each discretion played out in public through voicemails, celebrity magazines, TV talk shows and even "sexting" on a porn star's website. He became a regular in the National Enquirer. He was on front pages everywhere, long after the major championship season was over.

Woods had spent 14 years carefully cultivating an impeccable image that brought him worldwide fame. Just like that, he went from being universally revered to roundly ridiculed.

"That's fine, totally fine," Woods said in Australia, leaning forward on a leather sofa, elbows resting on his knees. "I made my share of mistakes. People can look at that as what not to do, and if they choose to make fun of it, that's fine. I can't control that. All I know is that I can only control myself.

"And at that point in my life," he said, "I wasn't even able to do that."

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At a gala dinner in the Crowns Tower, the same hotel where the nightclub hostess was spotted a year earlier, Woods shared the stage with Shane Warne, known as the Tiger Woods of Australian cricket, on and off the pitch.

Warne built his legend as a wicked leg spinner - and a prolific womanizer.

"I think we've got a little bit in common," Warne said with a smile, pausing for effect. "I love golf, too."

Woods flashed an easy smile, breaking the brief tension in the room, and the audience quickly burst into laughter. It was the first time Woods has laughed publicly about such an embarrassing episode in his life, perhaps a sign that he had indeed turned the corner.

On the golf course? Not quite.

With two eagles on the last four holes of the Australian Masters, he at least managed fourth place, as good as he did all year. For the first time in his career, Woods didn't win a single trophy. Instead, he shot the highest 36-hole score of his career when he missed the cut at Quail Hollow, and the highest 72-hole score of his career when he nearly finished last at Firestone.

In so many ways, it was a year no one could have predicted.

"Frenetic would be a word that comes to mind," said Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG.

Steinberg was in California when he received word that Woods had been in an accident. He was aware of the National Enquirer story that had been released the day before Thanksgiving, and he was about to learn of an Us Weekly magazine story involving a cocktail waitress, and a voicemail from Woods suggesting his wife was onto them.

For three months, that voicemail was the only time the public heard Woods speak.

As his world was imploding, he only spoke through statements released on his website - first a "situation" that was embarrassing, then "transgressions" he regretted with "all my heart." No one saw him. No one even knew where he was.

Every expert in public relations and crisis management had a field day, blasting his management team for keeping him in hiding as rumors and innuendo filled the void. A year later, Steinberg isn't convinced it was mishandled.

"First of all, I don't think anyone has ever experienced this. There certainly was not a road map how to deal with this," he said. "We consulted with some people who deal with crisis management, and that was the consensus we got."

But there was more in play. What began with one mistress, maybe two, soon turned into many more. How many? Who knows? Even if some of the alleged mistresses were making it up, it's not as though the Woods' camp was in any position to deny it.