(ABC) With a 9,000-square-foot Florida home, Tiger Woods and his wife have ample room to avoid talking to each other, but Woods’ failure quickly to address the public continues to hurt his reputation as tabloids continue to, public relations experts say.
How will Tiger Woods’ growing problems affect his lucrative endorsement deals?
“He is beyond PR redemption. He is in public relations hell right now. There is not a PR man on Earth who can restore his image,” said public relations maven Howard Rubenstein.
Holed up for nearly two weeks, Woods has not once emerged from his home into public view. He has address-ed the public only through his Web site, issuing a vague apology days after the bizarre Nov. 27 car accident that raised questions about a fight with his wife and spurred nearly a dozen allegations of marital infidelity.
“Last week he had a big PR problem. I think it’s really changed this week,” Howard Bragman, CEO of Fifteen Minutes Public Relations, told “Good Morning America” today. “Now my gut is that he’s got a life problem. There are some major issues he has to confront.”
As the tabloids continue to add names to Woods’ scorecard of alleged sex partners, each further tarnishing the golfer’s once-squeaky-clean image, there is little the world’s leading golfer can do to staunch the bleeding, Rubenstein said.
“He’s haemorrhaging; even a transfusion won’t help. He can never re-establish that perfect image of a happily married family man. Never,” said Rubenstein. The best he can hope for is to re-establish his image as a golfing champion. If he wins consistently and doesn’t sink to 4 or 5, he’ll be applauded again – but just for golf. There will still be plenty of snickering behind his back.”
But even a return to the golf course could turn into a public nightmare for the man many competitors once feared.
“The aura of invincibility that Tiger had — how does he ever get that back?” ABC News sports consultant Christine Brennan told “Good Morning America” this morning. “Now he’s a laughingstock.”
Before the scandal, Brennan said, Woods’ only had to contend with screaming fans and questions from sports reporters. Now, she said, he’s going to be tailed as he enters and leaves the courses and as he simply lives his life.
“I think this fall from grace is so remarkable,” she said. “It’s not just about sports.”
But heading back to work could be a good thing for both Woods and his fans.
“I think just seeing him on the golf course again will be soothing for many people and it will be for him as well,” Brennan said.
Few confirmable details have leaked from the couple’s multimillion-dollar home in an exclusive community in Widermere, Fla. In recent days, his wife, Elin Nordegren, has reportedly moved out of the home, bought a $2 million mansion on a secluded Swedish island, and — according to the Chicago Sun Times — is negotiating a “hefty seven-figure amount” to remain married.
It is believed Nordegren was still living at the home with Woods when, early Tuesday morning, a woman called 911 from the couple’s home to report her mother had collapsed, and request an ambulance.
