Tiger Woods Statement: Is He Lying?

A security officer guards the area in front of Tiger Woods house in Windermere, FL where he crashed into a fire hydrant and a neighbor's tree early in the morning Friday, November 27, 2009.

Tiger's Statement:
As you all know, I had a single-car accident earlier this week, and sustained some injuries. I have some cuts, bruising and right now I'm pretty sore.

This situation is my fault, and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I'm human and I'm not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again.

This is a private matter and I want to keep it that way. Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.

The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.

This incident has been stressful and very difficult for Elin, our family and me. I appreciate all the concern and well wishes that we have received. But, I would also ask for some understanding that my family and I deserve some privacy no matter how intrusive some people can be.


My Analysis:

Tiger is in fact lying, or at the very least not telling us or the police the entire story. It is within his legal right to not speak with the state police, they have no jurisdiction. If he is smart he should not give any interviews and if he had been smarter he should have consulted with someone beyond his lawyers when preparing this statement, because there are definite flaws in his statement that led me to question even more what happened.

He states he has had an accident, then goes on and says, "I will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again."

If it was an accident then how does one go about making sure it will not happen again? Leads me to believe there is something within his control that contributed to the accident.

This lie can be best defined by a lie of omission: perhaps he did have a fight with his wife, or had been drinking, or any other things- since he is not telling us the entire story we have the luxury of filling in the blanks for him and allowing our imagination to run wild... my money is on, he let the family pet do the driving, or maybe this was an elaborate scheme to upset the folks at Buick who dropped him as a spokesman when the auto industry needed bailout money... or Cadillac paid him to do it for the publicity- I want a Cadillac now that I know that is what Tiger drives (well owns) not sure about the "driving" part. I'm just having fun, but this is an important concept when interrogating suspects, don't tell me the truth then you let someone else tell the judge what happened and from experience if you let a prosecutor tell the story they tend to paint a picture much worse than what actually happened. The truth is always the best way out.

Now onto the rumors... he states, "I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible."

What he doesn't say is the rumors are untrue or false, just they are "irresponsible." Rumors do not have the grammatical right to be "irresponsible" people only do. This part of the statement implies the rumors are false, but no where does he in fact state that they are false; he say many are false... which ones are true I'm wondering...

I like Tiger and always feel a bit uneasy whenever someone who is so famous cannot make a mistake like the rest of us, without it being the lead story on the news, especially since he appears to NOT be a guy who is seeking attention like some other celebs...◦

Tiger Woods Statement: Is He Lying?