Tiger's Emotional New Commercial

Tiger's perfect day," read the headline above Rick Reilly's piece for ESPN.com and the consensus among the US press would certainly suggest that Tiger Woods's return to golf at the US Masters had been a triumphant one. Making his first competitive appearance since details of his extra-marital affairs emerged, Woods hit a

four under-par 68, his best opening round score at Augusta.
"Turns out, he is what they say he is," wrote Bill Plaschke in the LA Times. "He is what they shout. He is what they crave. He is what they believe. No matter how much his sleazy behavior has betrayed everything he claimed to be, Tiger Woods is still The Man."
Woods's demeanour was being watched almost as closely as his shots, with several writers remarking that he seemed to be doing his best to keep a lid on his emotions. "His full charm offensive – still in hyper mode, still somewhat phony – was active," noted CBS Sports's Mike Freeman. "He smiled more. He engaged the gallery possibly more than ever in his career. There wasn't a single hole where he cursed. Those were the ways he looked different."
Reilly hailed Woods for keeping a lid on his emotions so successfully. "That 68 is preposterous and historic and unthinkable when you put yourself in his shoes for one minute. Imagine the emotional bloodshed he has gone through, albeit self-inflicted. He not only hadn't played a tournament the entire year, nor faced the public after five shameful months, but he was trying out a whole new serenity-now personality on the course.

"There were times when you could tell he wanted to bite a hole in his lower lip. On the sixth, he missed a makeable birdie putt, took his putter behind his neck and looked as if he was about to punish it harshly for misbehavior – Old Tiger Style – when he stopped himself. On 14, he hooked his second shot and, just for an instant, looked as if he might bury the thing deep enough to plant tulip bulbs, but checked himself and just gently dropped it behind him instead. On 18, he missed nearly a kick-in for birdie, screamed silently … and came into the press building anyway."

But Woods wasn't the only one under scrutiny. The crowd's reaction to his return was of at least as much interest as Woods's performance itself, and, for the most part, they seemed to be supportive.
"He was embraced, encouraged and applauded," wrote Fox Sports's Robert Lusetich. "We saw Thursday that forgiveness is possible; that people are willing to give Tiger Woods a second chance."
Plaschke added: "We don't want our sports stars to enlighten or influence, we want them to entertain. We judge their morality with a stat sheet and their integrity with a scoreboard. Woods's first round in 144 days was his best first round ever at Augusta. Now that's remorse.
None failed to notice the plane that flew overhead trailing banners that read "Tiger Did You Mean Bootyism?" and "Sex Addict? Yeah, Sure, Me Too!" Freeman confirmed that there were dissenters in the gallery, too, saying: "Not every fan was cheering Woods. A woman said loudly she wished Woods would get struck by lightning."

Christine Brennan, in USA Today, added: "As I stood in the gallery, I watched people clap and cheer for Woods, then turn their eyes to the sky and point and laugh at the sign.

"A word about how to interpret the reaction of fans: We probably shouldn't try. Tiger has been paying close attention to the reception he has been receiving and says he is heartened by it. But there's probably a more nuanced way to analyse the actions of spectators. We should come to the conclusion that many of them are there for the spectacle, and leave it at that."
The one aspect of Woods's performance that was universally criticised, however, was his new Nike commercial, in which a voice over of the golfer's late father is set over a black-and-white image of Woods staring into a camera. "[Woods] has complained about his family being dragged through this mess by the news media, when it's all his doing," added Brennan. "If it's a private, family matter and Tiger doesn't want to talk about it, which is his right, then why make an ad about it? Is it all about the money for Tiger and Nike? We probably already know the answer to that one."