Repentant Woods getting back to basics

THE world met the all-new, all-clean Tiger Woods last night and, if he’s to be believed, it is the same Tiger that first wowed Augusta National back in 1997.

That was the year Tiger won his first Masters and an awful lot has happened since. There have been 13 other major titles for a start but listening to the world’s best golfer talk softly and with contrition on his return to the public arena after taking an indefinite leave from the sport on December 11, Woods would gladly give them all back if he could undo the harm he has caused his nearest and dearest.

He was speaking to the media for the first time since a Thanksgiving night car accident last November that opened the floodgates on a stream of damaging allegations about his private life. These have been lurid in the extreme, costing him not just endorsement deals but respect.