By STEVE SUSI
Special To One Great Season
Just as Tiger claimed to wonder how the Augusta practice-round patrons would receive him at the first tee this morning, I had no idea what to expect from Monday's press conference, his fourth interaction with the media since IdiotFest 2009 opened for business last Thanksgiving in the front seat of his Escalade. I can also admit I had zero expectations too.
Nothing Tiger's done so far -- the wooden, ingenuous, no-questions-allowed farce of a press conference he staged for select media personnel and friends (and his mother, who looked more sedated than Bob Geldof in "Pink Floyd The Wall") at his home clubhouse at Isleworth; Tom Rinaldi's playing of 20 Questions with Tiger in five minutes, which generated nothing new but endless ESPN replays and Rinaldi's heir-apparency as the next FedEx super-fast-talking guy; and a similar interview with Kelly Tilghman of the Golf Channel, who asked a few more relationship-centric questions but received as precious little as her ESPN counterpart -- appeared genuinely contrite, just annoyed.
(And we can't blame those two reporters for asking those questions. It's their job. They had to, though they also had to have known they were going to be the first two people in a long time who wouldn't be getting any from Tiger.)
But then, today, something finally changed. Tiger was laid-back, engaging, humble. Maybe it's because I'd much rather hear about golf than about another of the million pro athletes who cheat on their wives, but I saw a veil lifted. For the first time, he wasn't outwardly angry —- more a consequence of getting caught than of regret this whole time. He took the questions and accepted all responsibility like a man. Maybe it's because he has the "I was wrong" answers down cold by now, or the fact that he'd just played a practice round with the coolest guy ever, Freddy Couples, but he was different. He was ready.
He was relieved.
And when an inquiry about his dealings with Canadian HGH shill Dr. Anthony Galea arose, he didn't bristle with anger at the mere implication as he'd have done a few months ago. He just answered, a heretofore-novel approach. Good job, Tiger. Keep it up. That's called "credibility."
The one thing I did find a bit disingenuous, though, was how he claimed he was "blown away" by the gallery's reception this morning. Now, the fact that Tiger got caught, and the circumstances leading to his discovery (sending text messages to a dozen low-life moneygrubbers with arrogance and impunity), are the definition of sheer stupidity. But even he knows that no man on earth -- certainly not in or around golf, the essence of the "old boys' club" mentality -- is going to boo him for stepping out on his wife. Sorry to drop the news on you, ladies, but if anything, the guy's an even bigger stud to men out there. No male I know even talks about the cheating part, only the "getting busted" part. So I found this faux surprise a bit coy. No one would have had the Titleists to boo him out there today, and Tiger knew it.
And now that Day 1 of his return to the sport is behind him, there should be no questioning why he smiled and even laughed at times under the press tent today. There, in front of exactly 206 journalists, it all finally dawned on him: "I'm still a billionaire, I'm still married, and I'm still the best golfer on the planet."
"I got away with it."
Susi is the founder of the brand consultancy Brand Spanking New York and is a special contributor to OGS. Give him a follow on Twitter @BrandSpankingNY.