It seems to me there are only three reasons to WANT Tiger to sit and answer more in-depth questions: (1) you sincerely want or need the information contained in his answer, (2) you would find it entertaining to watch him squirm over difficult/intrusive questions, and/or (3), you wouldn’t necessarily be entertained watching him squirm, but you feel some responsibility for seeing to it that Tiger is punished for his misconduct and making him squirm is one of the few forms of punishment he stands to face. Frankly, I don’t find any of those three things particularly compelling.

There’s obviously nothing Tiger can do or say, at least in the short term, that’s going to undo the damage that has been done to his image. In fact, he has actually said as much. If you listen to what he’s saying, he is making no attempt whatsoever to defend or explain away his conduct. Since he didn’t commit any crimes, I don’t understand why he’s even required, in the minds of some, to “come clean” and spill all the details of his sordid affairs. Again, to use myself as an example, I’ve done things in my life that may have been mean or hurtful to other people. Does that create an affirmative obligation on my part to make a complete, uncensored confession of those things to any stranger who demands to know the details?

There really is no huge mystery here. Tiger had the means and opportunity to go on a years-long sexual escapade with a series of loose women who enjoyed the attention from one of the world’s great celebrities. You’re right: he did it because it was fun and exciting, and he probably figured that Elin and the public would never find out, so what the hell. He didn’t set out to hurt anybody.

At this point, now that he’s been caught, he’s probably regretting the whole thing, but most especially, the part where he got caught. Had he never been caught, I doubt he would have ever lost much sleep over what he did. And having been caught, he probably figures that he’s already paid a pretty handsome price for all the stuff he did (”Please God, can’t we just call it even now and move on?”)

I think the reason these interviews are so unsatisfying isn’t because the interviewers aren’t asking the right question or Tiger isn’t giving the right answers, but rather because there’s nothing further to be gained from the exercise. We’re waiting for the arbitrary moment when the public decides that this story has run its course and Tiger can just go back to being a professional golfer.