Marital infidelity among elite professional athletes isn't news anymore. You might even say it's par for the course.

Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin, evidently have trouble in their marriage, a not uncommon occurrence for young couples. It's a private matter that Tiger and Elin will have to work through. That hasn't stopped the media from demanding answers or even speculating on the lurid details surrounding what's gone wrong in the Woods household.

Having met Tiger and spoken to him on numerous occasions at his foundation fundraisers, I can tell you he is one of the most affable and articulate pro athletes I have ever met, and I have met many in my nearly 30 years in the PR business.

Tiger is also genuine in his commitment to using his celebrity for the greater good, unlike many elite athletes who just show up for the photo op. Tiger's foundation has raised millions to help young people and he has given his time to countless charities. In short, Tiger is a good man who has allegedly done something bad.

On the golf course, Tiger has no peer past or present. He has devoted his life to being the best at what he does and, at the age of 33, he has mostly accomplished that goal. By professional golf standards, by the way, he is just getting started.

Tiger has carefully fostered a clean cut, All-American image since he arrived on the scene as a gangly teenaged phenomenon. It is that image that the media is seeking to contrast with his apparent marital indiscretions. The media wants to tell us a morality tale, one with a central theme of hypocrisy, the good man brought low. I guess we're supposed to feel better about our own lives by discovering that Tiger is human.

Golf is a lonely stage. It's a sport played by one man against the golf course before a gallery of tens of thousands of fans. Tiger has always conquered his inner doubts and fears to astonish us again and again, finding that extra gear and pulling ahead of the other contenders as he came down the back nine on the final day of the Masters or U.S. Open or British Open or PGA Championship. Can anyone who loves golf forget his magic on 16 at Augusta in 2005?

I'm sure Tiger has never felt lonelier than he does at this moment. No Stevie Williams to help. No adoring gallery to urge him on. Just Tiger and the media, tougher than any golf course he's ever played.

The media wants its public confession. The media wants its sound bite, complete with bitter tears of regret and hopefully Elin standing by her man. Maybe she'll even bring the kids! You can almost hear the media saying, "We made this guy! He owes us!"

At present Tiger appears only willing to issue a statement on his Web site, which reads in part, "I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves ... I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives."

Humble and sincere and maybe a little na ve, but it ought to be enough. It won't be.

Like it or not, Tiger will have to face the music and cameras when he finally gets around to competing. ESPN speculated Wednesday that might come as late as the end of February when he plays at Torrey Pines. Will this mess have blown over by then? Not if creeps like Matt Drudge have anything to say about it.

Tiger is on a new and strange golf course that used to be friendly and serene, the place where all he had to do was smile to win.

Now it's raked by shrieking winds and it's become long and arduous. The birdies won't come easy. Tiger will have to find that extra gear.

Kevin Foley is a public relations executive and writer who lives in Kennesaw.