Thursday March 25, 2010, 07:26 PM

Taking advice from golf legend Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods is set to answer questions at the Masters in his first news conference since becoming embroiled in a sex scandal last November.

Woods, who has not played competitively since winning the Australian Masters in mid-November, will speak on April 5 at 2 pm (1800 GMT), according to a tentative schedule released by Augusta National Golf Club.

And Woods could be looking at playing his first US PGA tournament since last September at the end of April.

Woods agent Mark Steinberg talked to Quail Hollow Championship tournament director Kym Hougham on Wednesday at Augusta, according to the New York Daily News.

Woods typically speaks on Tuesday afternoons before major tournaments along with many other players, but would get the session out of the way early and move on with the rest of the Augusta week under the plan.

Palmer said on the eve of his PGA event in Orlando that facing the media questions might help Woods the most.

"I suppose the best thing he could do would be open up and just let (reporters) shoot (questions) at him," Palmer said. "That might be the best way to move on."

Woods has not announced any schedule plans beyond the Masters, but he has played in the Quail Hollow event at Charlotte, North Carolina, before, winning the title in 2007.

The tournament also is not far from a Woods development property in the North Carolina mountains near Asheville. Woods' first US course design project is set for The Cliffs.

The Charlotte Observer reported last week that Quail Hollow has been making contingency plans should Woods play in the event April 29-May 2.

"We're trying to be proactive rather than reactive," Hougham told the Observer. "If we were his first regular tour event, that will make a difference."

© 2010 AFP/sid