Tiger is back on the US Tour trail

but his game is lagging behind

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE

By OLIVER BROWN

Under the cover of a cold Carolina sunrise, Tiger Woods returned almost imperceptibly to regular US PGA Tour duty as a smattering of spectators applauded him politely on to the first tee at the Quail Hollow Country Club.
So much for the notion that Woods would endure a scalding baptism here, removed from the tight security that had made the patrons at Augusta fear for their Masters badges if they so much as whispered, "Get in the hole."
Officials in this God-fearing corner of the country had worried that a relaxation in security would allow any passing punter to pour scorn on the star attraction for his rampant adultery and even, heaven forbid, that one of his former paramours might turn up.
But those fears evaporated, as fast as the morning dew, as Woods flared his opening drive way to the right and received not a single cat-call in response.
The galleries, numbering not more than 500, betrayed only a mild curiosity at the novelty of his presence at the second event in a tentative comeback trail.
As many as one in 10 of them were armed guards thoughtfully, if utterly needlessly, laid on by the sheriff's office of Mecklenburg County.
"What are you doing here?" a fan dared to ask one of them. The sergeant merely shrugged.
Arguably the sense of restraint owed much to the obscurity of Woods's playing partners in the pro-am that marked the traditional prelude to this week's Quail Hollow Championship.
The announcement of the names of Kurt Kimball and Jim Rathburn induced a nonplussed reaction around the first tee: both were un-starry executives for local catering companies. When Woods turned up in Charlotte two years ago, he was in the company of Michael Jordan and the pair had been pursued by thousands.
There were refreshing signs, though, that Woods has chosen to behave with more civility to those who idolise him. He might not do so with the conviction of Masters champion Phil Mickelson, his main rival for victory over the next four days, but en route to the second tee he stopped to give a signed ball to a six-year-old boy.
Any suggestions that this signalled the emergence of Woods the role model, the family man, should be treated with suspicion. He has made great play out of the fact that, post-Augusta, he went scuba-diving with wife Elin and their two children, but over the next fortnight he is not seeing them at all.
Instead he heads straight from here to Jacksonville for the Players Championship as he goes back in business, back into the travelling circus, back on the road where temptation lies.
One inquisitor even had the temerity to ask if he felt he might succumb to the old urges, but he replied: "No, not at all. Not after what I've been through." And yet he continues to make the work of rehabilitation doubly difficult for himself.
First, he is making his latest plea for forgiveness deep in America's Bible Belt, where the highway linking Charlotte airport and the golf course is named after that notorious televangelist, Billy Graham, who once wrote: "The best way to avoid temptation is to flee from it the moment it appears."
These could be salutary words for Woods but they only hint at the level of hostility his misdeeds have aroused among the local disciples of men like Graham.
Second, Woods – or at least his agent Mark Steinberg, who joined him for a long conversation on the fifth fairway on Wednesday – should have known better than to advertise his 'treatment' for sex addiction by turning up at a rock concert last weekend.
As it transpired, Woods was only meeting his friends in the grunge group Nickelback, but it was a gaffe he compounded with a discordant note of self-pity. "I just had a great time," he said. "Unfortunately I got criticised for seeing my friends."
Better, though, to absorb lessons from life of Mickelson, whose only exposure after a stirring triumph at Augusta was to be photographed in the green jacket at a drive-thru Krispy Kreme, buying glazed doughnuts for his little ones. But then such effortless wholesomeness is simply not in Woods's nature.
How can it be, when the scrutiny of his movements never relents? "There's paparazzi everywhere at home, helicopters here and there, cameramen camping out in front of the gates," he explained. "That hasn't changed."
Small wonder, then, that he refused to shed much light on his likely schedule beyond the US Open in June, claiming tersely that he needed to concentrate on "personal things".
He added: "It's up to the air. I'm just trying to get back to normalcy." This loosely translated as a probable divorce battle with Elin that could cost him up to half his $500 million fortune.
A raggedness in Woods's play remains, too. After his howler of a first tee shot on Wednesday, he deposited his effort at the par-three second straight into the bunker.
He contrived to slice his third into the pine forest before some semblance of rhythm returned. The man is back on the march but his game, it seems, has yet to catch up with him.