Editorial: Tiger plays it safe and cynical

The first public appearance by Auckland Museum director Dr Vanda Vitali after the announcement of her resignation was at the Royal New Zealand Ballet's opening night at the Aotea Centre on Wednesday evening.

It was what might be called a safe environment: among the predominantly well-heeled and well-bred who dress up for such occasions, she could count on the most discreet behaviour - beaming smiles and no curly questions.

The same might be said for the return to golf of Tiger Woods. The man who went from star to shamefaced recluse said in February that he planned "to return to golf one day [but] I just don't know when that day will be." He added a pledge to be "more respectful of the game".

The conspicuously self-absorbed apology attracted criticism for being carefully scripted and delivered with all the conviction of a jellyfish, but the arrogance of his announced return - that "one day" turned out to be barely six weeks away - scales new heights.

Rather than making a quiet entrance in a second-tier tournament, he has chosen the Masters, at the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

The Masters, it will be remembered, is where Woods, then barely 21, announced his arrival in the firmament of sporting superstars, with his first major-tournament victory, by a blazing 12-shot margin in 1997.

It is also a club only marginally less exclusive than a Vatican conclave. Memberships - still male-only - are passed down through generations of WASPs; journalists who don't specialise in golf haven't a prayer of getting accredited; and it's about as hard to get tickets as it is to get into the the Royal Enclosure at Ascot.

Golfers, in short, may be assured of the crowd's complete discretion.

Woods' decision to stage his return at Augusta is certainly canny but it is scarcely the action respectful of the tournament - or the game.

His enthusiasm for the protection offered by the Masters' exclusivity is long on cynicism and short on humility.

After everything that has happened since November, he might have been expected to know better.