tiger wood returns

When the world last saw Tiger Woods, he was celebrating a dominating win at the Australian Masters and basking in the cheers of an entire continent.

It's just three months later, but already those scenes seem a relic of a past we'll never see again, as dated as old VHS tapes of Michael Jordan in a Bulls uniform. Less than two weeks after that Australian victory, the National Enquirer published allegations that Woods had been conducting an extramarital affair. One mysterious small-hours single-car wreck later, the entire carefully-constructed web that Woods had constructed around himself unraveled with stunning speed. Woods fell farther and faster from public grace than any celebrity in memory, tumbling overnight from icon to punch line.

Now he's preparing to make his first public appearance since the events of Thanksgiving, his first public statements not related via website. And while the arrangement of his Friday press conference -- limited media, no questions, close associates at his side -- would seem to indicate that Tiger still believes he can control his own image and destiny, the truth is that Woods is returning to a golf world that bears little resemblance to the one he left in November.

Certainly, he'll find solace and success on the course. Whether he's been practicing or not -- reports vary from "he's hit the driving ranges at night" to "he hasn't picked up a club since Thanksgiving" -- he's still in the prime of his career, and has the talent to win tournament after tournament, major after major.

But talent alone isn't the issue. Woods' mystique -- that of the infallible, indomitable supergolfer -- is gone, vanished along with the myth of his fidelity to his family. No longer will Woods enjoy a stranglehold on the minds of his fellow golfers; no longer will they simply fall apart just because he's charging up the leaderboard at them. He's a man, just like they are, and he can fall short like anyone else.

Woods also has several other parties who won't be regarding him with the same adoring eyes. The sponsors who stayed with him understand what they're getting into by having him as an endorser, obviously, and are willing to make that commitment. But anyone looking to back Woods now has to cast a careful eye at the bottom line -- any marketing slogan tied to Woods' name now can be reinterpreted in a thousand unflattering ways. More importantly, potential sponsors will see how Woods treated Accenture, the first sponsor to drop him, by making his announcement right in the middle of Accenture's major tournament and thus torpedoing them right off the front page. Is it worth striking a deal with Tiger knowing that if he turns on you, he'll go scorched-earth?

The media's role in Woods' ascent and descent will be a case study for years to come. But what's undeniable is that Woods has tried -- and, until November, succeeded -- in bending the media to his will. He revealed none of himself to the world, trafficking in boring cliches, and any time he was pushed, he'd simply freeze out the offending media member -- in the golf world, a fate worse than death.

Since the revelations of infidelity, some media members have de facto defended him by remaining silent on the matter, but many more have finally expressed disgust with how he's treated them for all these years. The fact that talk of a boycott of Woods' press conference because of the lack of questions actually saw light on Twitter is in itself astonishing; anyone who'd suggested such a thing even last year would have found him- or herself permanently on the outs with Tiger. But the golf media has been pushed around long enough by Tiger and his team, and -- perhaps emboldened by the kamikaze style of the tabloids -- many are ready to start pushing back.

There's also the matter of the fans. Many out there are just happy to see Woods return; they're not interested in the tabloid side of his life, they simply want to watch him pound golf balls. For them, their interest in Woods stops with his last Sunday putt.

But many others are disgusted by Woods, disappointed by him. They saw an inspirational figure drag the names of his family through the mud, turning his wife into a joke and creating headlines that his kids will have to live with the rest of their lives. He'll never stride through a gallery with the kind of adoring worship he enjoyed for so long. If you thought the fools hollering "get in the hole!" were bad, wait until you hear what people will start yelling now.

Millions of people will be thrilled to see Tiger return. But it's far from certain that he'll thrive in this world the way he did in the one that existed before November.