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Tiger Woods practices golf outside his home on Thursday in Windermere, Florida. Woods will make a statement at the PGA Tour headquarters on Friday morning. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Tiger Woods is to return to therapy after he speaks publicly for the first time about his infidelity, according to a letter from PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem that was obtained by The Associated Press.

Finchem’s letter to the PGA Tour policy board and other officials clarified why Woods chose Friday to make his first public comments, which are to be televised live by all the major networks.

Woods’s statement comes during the Match Play Championship, sponsored by Accenture, the first company to drop Woods as a pitchman.

“As we know it, Tiger’s therapy called for a week’s break at this time during which he has spent a few days with his children and then will make his statement before returning,” Finchem said in a letter Thursday. “Accordingly, there was very small flexibility in the date for the announcement.”

Woods is to speak at 11 a.m. ET from the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA Tour.

The letter shed no light on whether Woods plans to return to the tour anytime soon.

Patrick Chan, seen in warmups, fell on his second triple Axel attempt in Thursday’s free skate. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Canada’s Patrick Chan had a better free skate than small program, but some mistakes will likely keep him out of the medals with a very strong final flight of skaters still to come at Pacific Coliseum on Thursday.

Skating to a selection from Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Chan started with a strong triple Axel-double toe loop combination and fought hard on his next jump — a triple flip.

A slight stumble on a triple Lutz led into his step sequence and sit spin, but Chan then landed hard on the next triple Axel.

Unbowed, he finished the program strongly to earn a free skate score of 160.30 to push past Takahiko Kozuka of Japan into first with 241.42 points. It was an arguable placing given that Kozuka landed a quad toe loop, although the Japanese skater also had an awkward fall on a triple attempt.

With an incredibly strong crop of skaters in the final fleet, the 19-year-ancient Toronto native will likely have to look to future competitions for better results.

Still to come are defending champion Evgeny Plushenko of Russia, 2009 world champion Evan Lysacek of the United States and Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka. The trio are separated by less than a point, with Plushenko in first.

The flight is rounded out by former world champion Stephane Lambiel, Japanese leaper Nobunari Oda and artistic specialist Johnny Weir of the U.S.

Chipeur puts on strong show

Edmonton’s Vaughn Chipeur was 17th after three flights. Chipeur landed a pair of triple flips and a triple toe loop, but that sequence was sandwiched by bailouts on plotted triple Axels.

The 25-year-ancient place forth a spirited end to the program with a triple-double combination and a strong combination spin.

He achieved a score of 113.70 to place his overall total at 170.92.

Chan was seventh after his small program, and will end no worse than that overall. He fell on his first triple attempt in the small program, and more surprisingly, stumbled during his footwork sequence, a specialty. To boot, he went over the two-minute, 50- second time limit, earning a deduction.

Chan won silver behind Lysacek at the 2009 world championships in Los Angeles, but started this season with a calf injury and then changed coaches, leaving Don Laws for choreographer Lori Nichol.

Chan was far from the only skater whose Olympics was, to place it mildly, a learning experience.

Abbott, Joubert disappoint

Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic, fourth at the worlds last year, fell on a triple Axel, popped out of another attempt, and then fell on his stomach during his footwork sequence.

The greatest disappointment was probably either two-time American champion Jeremy Abbott or 2007 world champion Brian Joubert of France.

Both attempted quads unsuccesfully, though Joubert was much closer to the goal.

Abbott then got tentative in his free skate after the missed quad, opting out of a triple flip before pulling it together over the final two minutes of his program. He was in third place before the final fleet.

The outspoken Joubert sat in 10th. Joubert has blamed his poor recent results on unspecified problems in his personal life.

The men’s competition includes four world champions and eight world championship medallist.

A B.C. couple has placed a webcam in the den of a hibernating kermode bear. (bcspiritbear.com)

People around the world can now go online to peek inside the den of a rare kermode bear in British Columbia while the animal hibernates.

A couple from the community of Rosswood installed the webcam after they learned the den while hiking early last year.

It took about a year of technical challenges before they managed to get the camera working and live-streaming video onto the internet, said co-discoverer Stephanie Waymen.

Waymen said she called the B.C. Environment Ministry to let staff there know about the camera.

Large-carnivore specialist Tony Hamilton advised her to ensure it’s not a female bear, which could abandon her cubs if she notices the camera, Waymen said.

The couple believes it’s a male bear, and have named the animal Apollo.

The kermode is a member of the black bear family but has a recessive gene that causes its fur to appear white or cream coloured. It’s found only in B.C.’s north and central coast areas.

It’s not certain how many kermode bears there are.

Rosswood about 1,300 kilometres north of Vancouver.

With files from The Canadian Press