A few hours earlier, Rory McIlroy sat in the same room and talked about the final round meltdown last year that would have destroyed a lesser golfer. He was alternately serious and charming, especially so when he talked about a conversation he had with Greg Norman about losing a heartbreaker at Augusta National.
"Sorry. I wasn't born," McIlroy said at one point, drawing laughter when asked if he and Norman discussed a near miss in the 1980s.
A tough act to follow, not that Woods even tried. He had his script, and he was sticking to it.
The questions were mostly friendly, the responses entirely sterile. An attempt at telling a story about his first Masters with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus had already been told many times, and seemed mostly an exercise in filling the time he was forced to stay in his chair.
That, too, was surely in the script. Better to fill time than to let one question slip in about how he had managed to overcome the emotional turmoil of his past to regain his position as the favorite to win his fifth green jacket this week.
His game is back, yes. That was perfectly clear two weeks ago when he wore down the field the way Woods always used to in his prime to win for the first time on the PGA Tour since a shocking sex scandal derailed his career and his life.
Took a while, and it came with a new swing. But it sure looked a lot like the same old Tiger we used to know and love.
He's not so loved anymore, though you wouldn't know it by the crowds who cheer his every shot. Maybe they just love his game. A survey by Nielsen and E-Poll's N-Score, which measures endorsement potential, showed only 17 percent of respondents said they like Woods, compared to 52 percent who thought Phil Mickelson was appealing.
Hardly surprising, because Mickelson feels genuine when he speaks. He's engaging when it comes to fans, and he signs everything put in front of him.
Woods doesn't, and he's got a sordid past to boot. Winning another green jacket isn't going to change that, even if it drives up ratings for CBS.
His bag used to be sponsored by major brands like Buick and AT&T. Now it carries the name of an obscure company that makes energy and vitamin supplements that dissolve under your tongue.
Nike still stands behind him, but other corporations who once stood in line hoping to get his signature on an endorsement contract want nothing to do with him. An occasional foray into a group of fans to sign autographs notwithstanding, he still comes across as aloof and arrogant.
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