The very last hope that somehow all of this was just a really weird series of coincidences and that there may be some sort of explanation that would not permanently sully the character of Tiger Woods ended today when it was announced that he would not be even attending his own charity tournament this weekend.

Now, there is no doubt about it. Tiger Woods is a lying coward.

Even after all the missteps of the past couple of days, if Tiger had shown up, done his press conference, finally told the whole truth, played his guts out and donated his winnings to to his foundation, it would have been possible to forgive him and perhaps eventually restore him to his place atop the lofty pedestal that he alone had seemingly been to born to occupy. We learned today that is not going to happen. 

Why is he not going to be there? The “explanation” given is clearly drawn from the same pile of horse manure from which almost everything from the Woods camp on this issue has come. He claims on his web site that doctors have advised him not to travel because of headaches and soreness from the minor car “accident” he was in over three days ago. 

So let’s get this straight. Tiger was released from the hospital Friday morning in “good” condition with “minor” injuries when his agent pronounced him “fine,” and now he can’t fly in his own private jet?

Please, if you believe that then you must also buy that the most likely explanation for Elin taking a golf club to Tiger’s car the day after allegations of an affair are revealed was to try and “courageously” save him. Heck, even Tiger’s mother knows that didn’t happen!    

This is the guy who won the U.S. Open with a broken leg! Even last year when he was recovering from that injury he was at least at this tournament to give out the trophy (which, btw, won’t happen for another six days! Gee, I wonder why he has to make that call now? Is someone else using the jet this weekend?), but apparently his fear of the media and the truth is so great that he has decided to completely and selfishly stiff his own charity and blatantly lie about why he is doing so.   

Think about this. Tiger Woods has chosen to badly hurt his own tournament and foundation (which had already been harmed by his absence last year) all because he is afraid to answer questions from the media. It is really hard to fathom how such gutlessness can come from a guy who on the course seems to have nerves of steel. I guess Tiger’s true character had never really been tested until now and we just found out it has a glass jaw.

The only small caveat to all of this is that it would seem that part of the reason Tiger is afraid to speak to anyone is that he is concerned about exposing his wife to further embarrassment and perhaps legal jeopardy (a theory that, while widespread, seems to be more than a  bit of a stretch since Tiger would obviously be needed to testify for any potential assault charges to stick to Elin).

For the “Pastor,” this announcement is actually by far the most important thing that has happened since the crash. It is the first time that there have been real public consequnces  to what happened (and make no mistake, many people will be hurt directly and indirectly by Tiger’s cowardly decision) and it also seems to seal off any legitimate question about how much Tiger is trying to hide here. For him to repeatedly refuse to speak to police and to blow off his own tournament out of fear of the media you know the story he is protecting must be REALLY bad (good?). His decsion to not even show up also puts the lie to his absurd “this is all private assertio” that some suck-ups in the media are still using to protect him. Elemets of this story may have ben private before his withdraw, but anything that led to this development is now most certainly very much fair game.

The media angle here has been particularly fascinating.  Tiger is used to totally dictating to the pathetic golf/sports press the terms of all of his interactions. Usually, they need him way more than he needs them.  I thought it was possible that Tiger may be able to stonewall his way through this week’s tournament and have the Golf Channel (which is carrying half of the event) dutifully swallow his company line and pretend that nothing was amiss.

However, it now clear from today’s coverage that this tactic would not have worked and, considering the closeness of the relationship between the Orlando based Golf Channel and Tiger, this may have even contributed to his decision to dodge the coming circus that he could not have controlled.

I was stunned that in a Golf Channel special on the subject today Tiger was portrayed in a very negative light and while the affair allegations were still being kept in the closet, very strong implications in that direction were made. In the latest example of the bizarreness of this situation, Tiger’s biggest defender on the show was former O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Shapiro!. Much like when President Johnson lost Walter Cronkite on Vietnam, Tiger’s strategy has to be greatly impacted as it seems he is even losing his grip on the Golf Channel.

While it is obviously not nearly as important a development, Tiger has already lost the Pastor of the First Church of Tiger Woods and I am willing to bet that I am hardly the only one of his former fans who are shocked, angry and bitterly disappointed at the deceitful and cowardly actions that Tiger continues to take as he digs his hole deeper and deeper.

He is certainly avoiding short term discomfort and maybe even protecting some of the things he holds dearest in the long run, but he has unquestionably and probably permenently squandered our trust as well as any  reason to treat him differently than anything other than just another selfish and spoiled athlete.

I will be making an official announcement about the future of this web site shortly.