TV ANALYST APOLOGISES FOR BRANDING TIGER WOODS A CHEAT

•  BY BOB HARIG, ESPN.com senior golf writer

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee apologized to Tiger Woods via Twitter on Tuesday for an online column he wrote last week insinuating that Woods was a cheater for his various rules transgressions this year.
Chamblee, a former PGA Tour player and frequent critic of Woods' swing under coach Sean Foley, had written an analysis for Golf.com in which he assessed several top players' years by giving them letter grades.
He gave Woods, who won five times this year on the PGA Tour, an F.
"When I was in the fourth grade, I cheated on a math test and when I got the paper back it had '100' written at the top and just below the grade, was this quote, 'Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!' It was an oft-quoted line from the epic poem 'Marmion' by Sir Walter Scott, and my teacher's message was clear," Chamblee wrote.
 "Written once more beneath that quote was my grade of '100,' but this time with a line drawn through it and beneath that an F. I never did ask my teacher how she knew I cheated and I certainly didn't protest the grade. I knew I had done the wrong thing and my teacher the right, but I never forgot the way I felt when I read that quote.
"I remember when we only talked about Tiger's golf. I miss those days. He won five times and contended in majors and won the Vardon Trophy and ... how shall we say this ... was a little cavalier with the rules."
Below the summary was "100" with a line through it and "F" beneath it.
The suggestion that Woods cheated -- he had four high-profile rules issues, including three that resulted in two-stroke penalties -- angered Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, who told ESPN.com that he would consider legal action.
"There's nothing you can call a golfer worse than a cheater," Steinberg said Friday. "This is the most deplorable thing I have seen."
Contacted Tuesday night, Steinberg said via text message that he had not heard directly from Chamblee.
Chamblee sent out five tweets, one of which said he was not asked to apologize.