World number one golfer not getting bogged down in latest saga.
Tiger Woods is “moving forward” after a Golf Channel analyst who insinuated he cheated went on TV to admit he had made a mistake.
Mark Steinberg, speaking at an appearance in Singapore, signalled the world number one was keen to draw a line under a row which had raised the threat of legal action.
“We’re not going to comment any further, we’re done,” said Steinberg, as Woods held a clinic for young golfers and dyslexic children at the Marina Bay Sands casino-hotel.
“We’re done speaking about it. I’ve got a lot of work to do ahead of me and Tiger’s got a lot to do ahead of him, so we’re just moving forward.”
Steinberg had said he was considering a libel suit after analyst Brandel Chamblee wrote an article accusing Woods of bending the rules following a series of penalties this year.
On Wednesday, in his first televised comments on the issue, Chamblee admitted he “went too far”, but stopped short of making a full apology.
“Cheating involves intent,” Chamblee said. “There’s no way that I could know with 100 percent certainty what Tiger’s intent was in any of those situations. That was my mistake.”
Chamblee’s explanation mirrors his initial response to Steinberg, when he issued tweets admitting he had been unfair to Woods, but then said he stood by his comments.
Woods, who is in the midst of a series of promotional engagements in Asia, had earlier indicated he would leave it to the Golf Channel to act on Chamblee.
“The whole issue has been very disappointing as he (Chamblee) didn’t really apologise and he sort of reignited the whole situation,” he said in China on Monday.
“But so as far as I am concerned I’m going to put it behind me and move forward, so the ball really is in the court of the Golf Channel and what they are prepared to do.”
Woods did not speak to the media during his appearance in Singapore, which coincides with the $8.5 million WGC-HSBC Champions, dubbed “Asia’s major”, in Shanghai.
Organisers are reportedly disappointed that Woods, who also made two lucrative appearances in China and Macau this week, is missing the tournament for the second year in a row.
Steinberg admitted that Woods had known for “more than a year” — before he skipped last season’s edition — that he wouldn’t be present in Shanghai.
And he added that it wasn’t certain that Woods would attend next year, with his 2014 schedule not yet finalised.
But he insisted relations remained good with title sponsor HSBC, and there was no extra pressure to attend what is Asia’s richest tournament.
“We had a number of other corporate engagements that I’ve had scheduled for quite some time, well over a year, throughout Asia,” Steinberg said.
“It was just a straight conflict, that was it… We’ve had a terrific relationship with HSBC for many, many years. It’s strictly a scheduling issue.”
Such is the appeal of Woods that his attendance can have a major impact on the profile of a tournament, boosting the visibility of its sponsors.
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