It was obvious something had changed, both in timbre and tone, manner and method.
When Tiger Woods appeared late Monday afternoon at Augusta National, he sauntered through a gauntlet of fans, a smile on his face and ear buds dangling around his shirt collar.
He hugged former Ryder Cup competitor Darren Clarke, former swing coach Sean Foley, former neighbour Mark O’Meara, then warmly greeted former caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan.
Fitting, since Woods in no way was acting like his former self.
He grabbed a few practice balls and hit a series of crisp chip shots onto the undulating greens on the Augusta National practice range, dancing in place to a beat from his MP3 player that only he could hear. He bobbed to the rhythm between shots, drawing stares of wonderment from fans and peers.
“Hip-hop,” Woods said of his musical selection. “I just wanted to rock out.”
Of course, any music aficionado knows that rap and rock are as mutually exclusive as the terms Tiger Woods and gregarious, but that is precisely the vibe that has emanated from the 14-time major champion since he arrived to play in his 20th Masters tournament.
After taking an indefinite leave of absence this year following the worst results of his career, Woods has tooled into Augusta nine weeks later and launched a charm offensive.
He signed autographs for fans after his two practice rounds. He met for an impromptu gab session with journalists, a group he has never held in high regard. He played in yesterday’s superfluous Par-3 Contest for the first time in 11 years, with his kids as his caddies. He has seemed almost … giddy.
It represents such a markedly different mood from his last stretch of self-induced exile, which ended at Augusta following his months-long scandal in his personal life in 2010, that he does not resemble the same person. The scandal left him embarrassed and annoyed at the world, but he was world No 1 then, and finished joint fourth, even after a four-month lay-off.
This time, though, given the apocalyptic quality of his play over the winter, the artisans who chisel marble headstones had already been contacted and his newspaper obituary had been prepared. Woods, who turns 40 in December, has been downright chipper, regardless of his professional free fall.
Since last May, he has plummeted from No 1 to No 111, a gap that is every bit as wide as the numbers suggest.
He is broadly considered a 50-50 proposition to make the cut. As first-round play begins today, 572 days have passed since he last finished under par in a 72-hole event.
He hasn’t won a major since 2008, or the Masters since 2005. No player ranked 70th or higher has won the Masters since the world ranking was introduced 30 years ago. He has played 47 competitive holes in 2015.
His head-turning charisma injection aside, however, his play in practice this week has been even more of a revelation.
Two months after he posted the worst score of his career, an 82, and seemed disinterested in a sport he once ruled with an iron fist, he seemingly has shaken off a debilitating case of the chipping yips and resurrected his game.
In Phoenix, he could barely get a ball on the green from 20 yards. He shanked a pitch shot on the range at Torrey Pines.
One TV analyst called his short game “catastrophic”, and no one argued. Woods went back to work during his break.
“He seems to be striking the ball very well,” long-time rival Phil Mickelson said on Tuesday. “He played in front of me today and I saw him hit some shots and it looked impressive.
“His speed is up, the ball is flying long and straight and it looks like he’s swinging free without any type of manipulation. It looks really good.”
Words not spoken about his game, lately.
O’Meara, one of Woods’s oldest pals in the game, played two practice rounds alongside his former running mate, and while his opinion is biased, he had the best seat in the house.
“It was so positive, the vibe that I felt from what he was doing out there,” O’Meara told the Golf Channel. “He looks good, he feels good. He hit a couple of loose shots out there, but not really that bad. The pitching looks fantastic.
“He’s a 39-year-old man now … everybody struggles at times in their life. No one is immune. Sometimes when you get on the other side of the struggle, you even feel better.
“I would never underestimate his ability of what he can possibly do and he seems in a real good place right now.”
Then again, Woods has not played a shot under duress on the notoriously punitive course, either. Indeed, many were surprised that Woods ended his hiatus at a venue where his short-game foibles could prove humiliating.
“When you’re just not playing particularly well for a week or two, it’s not a big deal,” said former world No 1 David Duval, who battled demons of his own after climbing to world No 1.
“Heck, back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, I don’t really remember hitting a bad golf shot.
“I hit a lot of them, don’t get me wrong, but that’s the way your psyche works and mentality works and you just forgot ... But as you continue to do that more frequently, that changes what you have in your short-term memory.
“What happens is, confidence starts to erode. And if there is one thing I have learnt in this game is that confidence has to be protected above all else. It’s more important than mechanics, than yardage, anything. It can overcome a lot of things.”
So it seems odd that Woods is walking around with something akin to his familiar strut.
Only one month ago, veteran Sean O’Hair said he saw fear: “I see it in his eyes and I see it in how he’s walking and I see it in how he’s playing, because that’s where I’ve been.”
Woods said he dug himself out of the deepest abyss of his career with hard work.
He had made one cut, finishing joint 69th, in his last six official starts. The methods of his latest swing coach, the relatively unknown Chris Como, finally began to take hold.
“It was sunup to sundown, and whenever I had free time,” Woods said on Tuesday.
“If the kids were asleep, I’d still be doing it. Then when they were in school, I’d still be doing it. So it was a lot of work.”
When Woods went on hiatus, in February, he said he would not return until he was capable of winning, which are immense words, even for a guy with a career grand slam on his CV. He proclaimed his readiness upon arrival.
“I feel like my game is finally ready to compete at this level, the highest level, and I’m excited to be here,” he said.
So far, he has hit all the right shots, said all the right things and behaved with impeccable decorum.
Then again, practice rounds with old friends on Tuesday are a far cry from live rounds against hungry rivals on Thursday.
“When you have battled some demons and stuff, grabbing a golf ball and firing away – this is something I have lived – it’s not that big a deal,” said Duval, who never recaptured his early form and now serves as a Golf Channel analyst.
“But it’s a long walk to the first tee. A very long walk.”
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