• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 19, 2010

Tiger Woods may have finally emerged from his self-imposed media exile Friday to make a public statement about his career-upending private life, but his Facebook fan page remains a blank.

Speaking to a carefully selected audience of about 40 including his mother, Woods expressed remorse for his repeated marital infidelity and said he was "foolish" to believe wealth and fame allowed him to play by a different set of rules. He also denied that domestic violence played any role in the Nov. 27 car accident outside his home that led to revelations of his numerous affairs.

The event naturally drew enormous coverage, including live broadcasts on the major U.S. TV networks and cable networks including ESPN and CNN as well as on YouTube. A transcript of Woods' nearly 15-minute talk was posted on his official site, TigerWoods.com -- but nothing about it on Facebook, where the world's top golfer has 1.35 million fans.

The "info" tab on the page contains only his location, birthday and a link to his official site.

Wall posts on the Woods' fan page have been turned off, so it's hard to know how they are reacting to the statement on Facebook. (So much for using the site as a listening tool.) But he's been nothing if not consistent when it comes to ignoring Facebook since the scandal around his secret sordid life broke. His last post on Nov. 6 was about shooting a public service announcement for his foundation.

Social media experts have said Woods has missed an opportunity with Facebook to communicate directly with core fans and to begin rebuilding his image. And with 400 million users worldwide, Facebook offers Woods the chance to reach a much wider audience than just his self-identified fans through content-sharing across the network.

But it looks like the Tiger Woods Official Store via the golfer's Facebook page is still open if anyone wants to buy his DVD set, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 game for the Wii or the AT&T National Trophy replica, among other Tiger paraphernalia.