Less than two weeks ago, a shaken-looking Tiger Woods broke his public silence to apologise for cheating on his wife with a string of women. In his thirteen-and-a-half-minute mea culpa, golf seemed almost an afterthought, with Woods touching only fleetingly on the sport that has made his fortune.
The 34-year-old said that he planned to return to golf "some day", adding that he didn't "rule out a return this year”. That hardly sounded like a man whose most pressing concern was getting his game back into shape in time for the Masters at Augusta in April.
The world No. 1 held his infamous press conference on the same day the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship was in full swing, apparently not because he bore one-time sponsor Accenture any ill-will (the consultancy firm dropped the golfer soon after the revelations about his private life emerged), but because it was the only window Woods had in his calendar, what with an immediate return to therapy on the cards.
A return to therapy that has lasted for a grand total of one week. Despite Woods' pressing schedule, the golfer is apparently already done with his latest stint of rehab, is back home in Florida - and back on the golf course. Fellow professional Charles Howell said that he spent an hour with the golfer at a driving range across from Woods' house on Monday, where Woods "looked as good as ever," according to a report in the Independent newspaper.
The news that Woods was returning to therapy seemed to indicate that when it came to trying to sort out his issues, the golfer was in for the long haul. A week and a half later, that verdict seems questionable. Could Woods have deliberately been overstating his need to undergo therapy, in order to add a sheen of gravitas to his apology?
That might seem too cynical for some, and indeed, it's difficult to see how Woods could retain any credibility by implying his return to golf might not come for many months, only to contest a major a few weeks later. But the truth is that even before his apology, there were rumours that Woods could ease his way back into the game by playing the Tavistock Cup this month, before competing at the Masters - rumours that have begun circulating again with the news that the golfer is apparently done with therapy and practicing in earnest once again. And let's not forget Woods' caddy Steve Williams' suggestion that Woods could return to golf sooner rather than later - a suggestion he made just hours after Woods apology.
Perhaps the timing of Woods' public apology was less to do with his packed therapy schedule and more (to Woods' mind) an unpleasant chore that would have to be got out of the way before the golfer could make his comeback.
The Masters is five weeks away. Time enough for the 14-time major winner to get back to the top of his game? Let's face it, it wouldn't be the most astonishing development you'd heard in the last six months regarding Tiger Woods.
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