LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – While speculation escalates  over when Tiger Woods will return from exile to competition, the  execution of his comeback continues to attract widespread  comment from communication experts and his fellow players.

The American world number one has been in hiding since  admitting on his website in December he had cheated on his  Swedish wife Elin and he has been roundly advised to answer his  critics in public before reappearing on the golf circuit.

“If Tiger wants to minimise the scrutiny he’ll get on tour,  he has to proactively manage the situation by doing an interview  before his first event back,” communications specialist Michael  Gordon told Reuters yesterday.

“Oprah (Winfrey) and ESPN would be two great forums for him.  Either way, he needs to speak publicly, be honest and apologise.

“By doing that, he can regain some of the control he’s lost  over his public image,” said Gordon, chief executive of Group  Gordon Strategic Communications in New York.

Eight-times major winner Tom Watson, speaking ahead of this  week’s Dubai Desert Classic, agreed.
“When he comes back, he has to show some humility to the  public,” the 60-year-old Watson told reporters at the European  Tour event. “If I were him, I’d come back not at a golf  tournament but out in public first.

“I would do an interview with somebody and say: ‘You know  what, I screwed up. I’m going to change, I am trying to change.  I want my wife and family back, I have to earn her trust back’.  That’s what Tiger is going to have to do.”

After becoming engulfed in a media frenzy following a  bizarre early-morning car crash outside his Florida home on Nov.  27, the American’s squeaky-clean image was torn asunder by  allegations of extra-marital affairs.

Although Woods was the most marketable player in the game,  his image will need to be carefully rebuilt if he is to win back  many of the fans he has lost since his stunning fall from grace.

“I really feel bad for the Woods family but I certainly feel  a little different about Tiger now,” Los Angeles-based golf fan,  student and mother Laura Maggay told Reuters.

“My son plays golf and I have to explain to him one of his  heroes, Tiger, is going through all this. And that’s difficult  to explain when it’s someone he has really looked up to.

“Tiger has to recognise that as well. There are a lot of  kids out there who look up to him.”

There is a possibility that Woods, a 14-times major  champion, could attract new fans now that his human flaws have  been so publicly exposed.

Previously he was put on a pedestal by many and viewed as a  remarkable but almost blinkered player who never really took the  galleries to heart in the way of a Phil Mickelson.

“It’s certainly a possibility,” said British Open champion  Stewart Cink, who jested Woods was made of nuts and bolts after  being pummelled by his fellow American in the 2008 WGC-Accenture  Match Play Championship final.
“When I said that about nuts and bolts, maybe that was  something a lot of people were also thinking. Now, maybe a lot  of people think if you open him (Woods) up, you see a beating  human heart. We all have our short comings.

“I guess that’s one reason why John Daly has been so popular  with the fans. They identify with him and his trials and  tribulations.”

Gordon felt Woods was capable of regaining his vast fan base  if he acted appropriately.

“Tiger does have a reservoir of good will as an athlete —  not as a husband — and over time he can return to his former  heights,” Gordon said.