Gary Peterson: Woods must now handle his first unplayable situation

Since his coming-out commercial more than 12 years ago ("Hello, world"), Tiger Woods has been soliciting our interest — in his golf game, in the kind of clubs he swings, in the make of car he drives, in the credit card he uses, in the video game he fronts.

Mission accomplished. He has become a must-see franchise unto himself, a one-man New York Yankees, a human revenue stream. Forbes magazine recently pegged his personal fortune at north of $1 billion.

"I don't know where they got that number," Woods said two months ago during the Presidents Cup in San Francisco.

We do. He won close to $200 million of it on the golf course. The rest came from us — specifically our interest in him that made him so interesting to sponsors.

So it should come as no surprise to Woods, or anyone else, that we've taken a special interest in his moonlight drive of early Friday morning. Nor that we find the details of his automotive mishap to be almost comically implausible.

We don't have much to go on. Sunday, for the third consecutive day, Woods declined to meet with Florida state troopers. A statement was posted on his Web site, in which Woods took full responsibility for the one-car accident, credited his wife, Elin, with courageously assisting him after the crash, and asserted his right to privacy "no matter how intrusive some people can be."

As we all know, people can be pretty intrusive. According to reports from Florida, a clot of media has gathered outside the gated community where Woods lives. Mere hours after the accident, it was no great trick to go online and find copious photos of his damaged SUV, aerial shots of his mansion, candid stills of Elin driving with two big dogs in the front seat.

At some point that level of scrutiny can be too much. As for our benign curiosity, that's fair game. Remember, we didn't approach him. He approached us.

This is a dramatic new twist in his story. For one thing, it's his first false step as a pop culture icon. His golf has been beyond reproach. His public moments with his parents, wife and kids have seemed exceedingly genuine. His charitable foundation has lent credence to his late father's contention that Tiger could one day be the most significant figure in the human race. Until Friday, he'd kept his private life flawlessly discreet. Other than some recurring golf course profanity, there hasn't been much not to like.

Beyond the unlikely drama, there are the unanswered questions. And we get it — sometimes discretion beats the heck out of the unvarnished truth, for obvious reasons. But from where we sit, as intrigued with Tiger as we've ever been, this is quite a riddle.