Tiger Woods not really winning a lot of friends over in the media

Tiger Woods and the media have never really mixed, ever since that infamous 1997 Esquire magazine interview that showed Woods actually being himself, but it seems of late the relationship has grown even colder.

On Wednesday at Atlanta Athletic Club, Tiger took to the podium in his usual pre-major press conference, but didn't exactly divulge a lot of information, pushing away any question concerning the recent comments by Steve Williams.

Woods said he was, "not going to speculate on Stevie," and, "Those are obviously his feelings and his emotions and his decision to say what he wants to say," and even said he was "surprised" by what Williams said following the win on Sunday by Adam Scott.

This all comes on the heels of a story that the AP's Doug Ferguson published on Tuesday from last week, that had Tiger walk off from a Thursday press conference, muttering, "That's why you guys listen and I play," after someone asked if winning was still his number one priority at Firestone after a three-month layoff from golf.

It isn't new information that the media and Tiger aren't exactly exchanging Christmas cards, but it seems lately that Tiger has gotten even colder to the media, brushing off any question that isn't about the golf course or his goals, and looking irritated and downright bored through most of it.

My biggest problem with the way Tiger handles the media is that he is smart enough to realize that these people have a job, and Woods is Patient X to anyone with a golf windbreaker or handicap card that gets paid to print about this sport. While I can understand not wanting to answer certain questions about his past caddie/player relationship, it seems giving most of the questions the proper respect isn't hard and should be something he understands.

And as for the comments from the Bridgestone? This is something we battle with all the time between athletes and journalists. Writers and broadcasters have no idea what it must be like to stand on the free-throw line or over a 7-iron on the 18th hole, and that's true, most of us don't. But we do understand the game, and the players, and the situation, and most of the people sitting in that press conference room have covered as many golf tournaments as Tiger has played. While "the moment" might fly over our heads, the situation sure doesn't. Most have seen it all, and have tried to relay that action onto paper so that the person at home can see it and relive it. That's the job, and trust me, they all wish they could hit a 3-wood like any pro in the game. Some people run, other people write about it. That's just the nature of the business.