PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods’ mother sat in the front row, arms folded across her black sweater, eyes fixed on her son as he apologized again for letting so many people down with his infidelity.

Kultida Woods usually is seen, not heard.

Friday was different.

After Woods and all but a few of his 40 associates left the room, his mother stayed in her seat.

“I would like to talk,” she said as three wire service reporters approached.

She did not want to discuss details – “this thing is a family matter,” she said – only to reveal she was upset. Mostly, however, she is angry at media outlets.

“Some of media, especially tabloid, hurt my son bad,” said Woods’ mother, who moved to America about 40 years ago and speaks haltingly. “Sometimes think there double standard. He didn’t do anything illegal. He didn’t kill anybody. But he try to improve himself. He try to go to therapy and help. He change that and making better.

“When he go do all this thing, he will come out stronger and better person.”

Woods walked directly to his mother when he finished his 13 1/2 -minute statement. After they embraced, she placed her hands on his shoulders to speak to him. She said she whispered in his ear: “I’m so proud of you. Never think you stand alone. Mom will always be there for you, and I love you.”

Along with Woods’ apology – to his family, friends, business partners, foundation, parents of kids who saw him as a role model – his mother was pleased to hear him say he would return to his Buddhist faith.

“Since he was young, always Buddhism,” she said. “Buddhist teach go inside deep to soul and correct bad thing to be a good thing.”

The handful of golfers willing to talk about Woods as they entered the clubhouse for the third round of the Match Play Championship in Marana, Ariz., offered their support.

“I was moved by how difficult it seemed to be for him,” Stewart Cink said. “But it’s a big part of the process to go through that difficulty and face up to what’s happened.”

Woods won the Match Play in 2003, 2004 and 2008, and his star power is sorely missed.

“I agree with a lot of guys that were out here,” Nick Watney said. “Just more concerned about when he’s going to get back on the golf course, not necessarily everything in his personal life.”

Marketing experts say rebuilding Tiger Inc. will be possible only when he returns to the golf course.

Woods’ televised apology left the timing of that in doubt – though he didn’t rule out coming back this year.

“I don’t think anyone would want to rush out for someone, who by his own words, says he still needs treatment,” said Rick Burton, former chief marketing officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee and now a sports marketing professor at Syracuse University.

Vada Manager, a Nike executive for 12 years before leaving to start his own company, said Woods’ statement included the essential ingredients: a sincere public apology, accountability for his personal behavior and a prescription for how it would be remedied.

“Winning, good behavior and time can be his friends in the long term,” Manager said.

Experts in communication and branding liked Woods’ focus on taking ownership of his problems and protecting and defending his wife and children.

“The critical things that were missing: When exactly will he return to golf? And Elin not being there did say a lot,” said Laura Ries, president of Ries and Ries, an Atlanta branding firm.

“Nobody can blame her. But had she been in the front row with his Mom it would have helped show that she is taking a step towards forgiving him.”