Tiger Woods Cheating Claims Brings Half Hearted Apology

Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel analyst who insinuated that Tiger Woods cheated this past season, has given a half-hearted apology via Twitter.  In his analysis on the playing patterns of 14 top golfing professionals this season, Chamblee commented on Woods’ five-win run and compared it to a grade school pupil caught cheating in a maths test.

Chamblee then wrote: “I remember when we only talked about Tiger’s golf. I miss those days. He won five times and contended in majors and won the Vardon Trophy and … how shall we say this … was a little cavalier with the rules.”

The comments caused outrage among Tiger fans and his entourage, including the player’s agent Mark Steinberg who threatened legal action against Chamblee. ” There’s nothing you can call a golfer worse than a cheater,” he said. “This is the most deplorable thing I have seen. I’m not one for hyperbole, but this is absolutely disgusting. Calling him a cheater? I’ll be shocked, stunned, if something is not done about this. Something has to be done. There are certainly things that just don’t go without response. It’s atrocious.”

Chamblee later took to Twitter to offer an apology of sorts, stating:  “What brought me here was the realization that my comments inflamed an audience on two sides of an issue. Golf is a gentleman’s game and I’m not proud of this debate. I want to apologize to Tiger for this incited discourse.”  He stressed that he had not been asked to apologize.

Tiger Woods took three two-shot penalties this season, in Abu Dahbi, at the Augusta National Masters and during the BMW Championship.  He also took a drop penalty.

In an interview prior to his apology, Chambless stressed that he had not said, per se, that Woods had cheated during this successful past season.