"The emotional toll will present a significant challenge to Woods' eventual return to golf."

Post-Tiger statement-reading, I expected Jaime Diaz's March April Golf Digest story on Tiger to not be as timely considering it was probably filed weeks before Tiger's public appearance. However, it remains a fascinating read highlighted by some intriguing conclusions from Diaz, who appears to have more access to the the Woods team than anyone else in the media.

The emotional toll will present a significant challenge to Woods' eventual return to golf. His greatest advantage as a player has long been the otherworldly knack for playing his best when he needed to most. It came with a clean mind free of baggage, serene under pressure. It was an ability he believed he earned through diligent practice on the right things. One that made him feel crucial eight-footers on the 72nd green deserved to go in, one that made him feel good about himself. "If you walk up to a mirror, look at yourself and say, with no hesitation, 'I love myself,' then everything is fine," he told me during an interview in 1999. "That has never been a problem my entire life." Now, however, it's reasonable to surmise that it is.

Alan Shipnuck offers a far different take on the statement-reading in this week's SI:

Woods said he doesn't know when he will return to golf, and judging by his fragility, it won't be any time soon. At some point he will reclaim his destiny as a golfer, but it is now an open question whether he will be the same player he was. Part of what made Woods such a relentless achiever was his selfishness. He gave nothing beyond his performance. He played the gentleman's game in a controlled rage, hocking loogies, chucking clubs and dropping f bombs. If you didn't like it, too bad. All his recent soul-searching, though, has convinced Woods that he is not exempt from golf's code of conduct. "When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game," he said on Friday. Easier said than done, perhaps: Tiger is not Arnie, who could play with controlled fury, then throttle back once the final putt had dropped.

The Miami Herald's Greg Cote makes a strong case that the statement reading was far more humiliating than many have realized.

For circumventing a news conference he's the manipulating control freak. But if he had a news conference and chosen not to answer the most intrusive questions, he would have been decried as dodging. The majority of media -- insulted by Woods being in control, angry over the many weeks of silence or simply not wanting to appear soft -- was predisposed to blast Woods' statement as a sham before he ever uttered a word.

Get this straight: No law required that Woods submit to media interrogation as if on trial. He was perfectly entitled to handle it the way he did without the presumption of disingenuousness just because reporters were not there to cross-examine.

The biggest insult in my line of work is to be seen as soft or gullible, but sometimes you need to risk those labels to get to any place close to compassion.

For an iconic athlete of this echelon, especially one who grooms his image so carefully, the public shame alone is the greatest punishment.

"Too Much Sex Can Be a Bad Thing....For Little Tigers Too. Help Keep Your Cats (and Dogs) Out of Trouble: Always Spay or Neuter!"

Eloísa Ruano González of the Orlando Sentinel reports on the most brazen attempt yet to milk Tiger's misfortune. This one probably will end with an angry letter on really, really nice stock stationery.

The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals is searching for a local advertiser to put up a billboard in Windermere, which will include an image of Woods and text: "Too Much Sex Can Be a Bad Thing....For Little Tigers Too. Help Keep Your Cats (and Dogs) Out of Trouble: Always Spay or Neuter!"

It will be a challenge to find an advertiser to put up the sign, acknowledged Virginia Fort, a campaigner with PETA who is working on the project.

"It's a fun, tongue-in-cheek approach. We hope these billboard companies will understand," Fort said.

She said the billboard isn't meant to offend the golfer, his family or fans, but to prevent millions of cats and dogs from being euthanized at shelters each year.

Then again, Tiger's bio on his own website isn't helping matters, as reader Jon noticed this line: "In addition to his playing exploits, Woods is busy off the course, too."

"This is why they became rock stars, so they don't have to apologize. God bless them."

A different take on Tiger from Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle:

But here's the bigger truth: Tiger wasn't apologizing to actual people, to his wife or kids or even his confused fans. Tiger was apologizing, straight up and to the bone, to capitalism itself. To his own brand. It was a scary attempt to shore up the multimillions in endorsement deals, his future as a billion-dollar icon. Tiger the man was apologizing to Tiger, Inc., mostly for tainting its earnings potential.

It's the golden rule of capitalism: Don't f-- with a hot brand. It's blasphemy of the highest order, made doubly potent by the fact that we're the ones who helped create the brand in the first place, who bought into the saccharine lie and absurd marketing BS of Tiger's impossible squeaky faultlessness.

It's a bit like Coca-Cola stepping forth and admitting, "Gosh, so sorry for making everyone obese and contributing to global diabetes rates, but you know what? You buy our garbage, don't you? You actully believe the silly commercials with the polar bears and the singing children. You really think sticky goopy chemical-laden high-fructose water is refreshing and healthy? Really?"

It also points up a terrifying trend, a broad and rather pathetic theme in our culture: Precious few are the celebrities, politicians, sports icons or rock stars who would dare step in front of a camera after some sort of "scandalous" misbehavior and smile, or even laugh, shrug it all off and tell everyone to lighten the hell up and go worry about something important. Well, maybe a few rock stars. This is why we love them. This is why they became rock stars, so they don't have to apologize. God bless them.

"For all of the Tiger idolaters out there, it must have been like finding out that ice cream sundaes give you gonorrhea."

Contrary to what some think, Dan Jenkins wrote this piece weeks ago (those of us who received it virally can attest). Yet his thoughts on Tiger Woods remain timely.

Life as Tiger has known it is over. His reputation is ruined, possibly forever. His name that once meant mastery over competitive golf now invokes cringes, giggles and all the Internet jokes you want to pass along.

Sure, he can come back and even win again, if he man's up, but if he does he will only be a hero to the "you-da-man" and "get-in-the-hole" crowd. And I can't imagine him coming back as a "humbled man." That wouldn't be the owner of a yacht insultingly named Privacy, the guy the press has still slobbered over for these past 12 years.