I’ve been stewing about this all day.

Billy Payne, the chairman of the Augusta National golf club board, chewed the daylights out of Tiger Woods. I admit he’s entitled to his opinion about the misbehavior of the world’s greatest golfer.

But the tongue lashing he delivered the day before Woods teed it up to start his 2010 golf season after all the scandal that has engulfed him for the past five months baffled me.

What did Payne say that hasn’t been said by thousands of pundits already? What new insight did he provide? What was the point of the lecture?

Woods’ problems are among the most documented of any athlete/celebrity in the past decade, or longer. The whole world, it seems, has an opinion of Woods’ behavior, his dalliances, his infidelity, his incredible arrogance. None of it is favorable to Woods.

So here comes Billy Payne to weigh in at the last minute. Why?

Payne has taken some grief from those who contend that he has no moral standing to lecture Woods about anything, given that Augusta National includes zero women among its members and only recently desegregated its ranks. That criticism has merit.

But my concern is that he said nothing that hasn’t been said already. He regurgitated the litany of well-deserved condemnation that has been heaped on Woods already. Had the chairman remained silent, he wouldn’t have exposed himself and his organization to the criticism they’re getting now.

There. I feel better.

Now, back to golf.