Peter Bills: Woods fails to deliver on his promise for better behaviour

Something happened to Tiger Woods at Augusta last week. Not so much on the golf course, but off it.

Was it that he failed to clearly deliver the expectation he had of himself? He told the world pre-tournament: "I have come here to win. That's all that matters to me."

Was it a sense of ignominy that his failure to land another Masters green jacket translated into in his own mind? Was he sick inside that he hadn't been able to prove wrong the critics who said the Tiger myth was no more?

How much did the biting sarcasm of English player Ian Poulter - who said even before a ball was hit Woods wouldn't win, wouldn't even come in the first five - matter to him?

He did just manage that, but in Woods' world, a tie for fourth place four shots short of the winner was failure. And didn't he show it?

Woods was this week excoriated by some US commentators for what was seen as his smart arse, one-liner replies to an interviewer immediately after he'd come off the 18th green on Sunday night.

Some said such an interview at so difficult a time wasn't fair. The guy should have been allowed to cool off first. But there were two things wrong with that argument.

The first was that Woods, like every other player, is perfectly used to immediate, vox-pop interviews at the end of his round.

It goes with the territory, whether it's Augusta National and the Masters or Pebble Beach and a US Open. And he's done enough of them to conduct them in his sleep.

Second thing was, Woods had been taking cheap shots at people, making sneering remarks for much of the week. He'd publicly rubbished one question from a British media guy in his only pre-tournament interview in the Augusta media centre on the Tuesday of Masters week.

And then he was at it again after Sunday's final round, apparently trying to belittle CBS interviewer Bill Macatee. Tuesday's New York Post charged Woods with lousy manners.

"He was visibly rude to Macatee, ignoring his questions and delivering terse, one-word answers" said writer Mark Cannizzaro. "You cannot win over the public by treating people like that.

"His behaviour on that TV interview was inexcusable, particularly for a man who begged the world for forgiveness and pledged to become a better person only a year ago.

"As for his off-course behaviour, it's difficult to see where Woods has changed as he promised he would a year ago when he sat chagrined before the nation following his sex scandal. Woods certainly didn't do himself any favours with that Macatee interview."

There could be two possible reasons for his behaviour at Augusta last week. Maybe, deep down, he blames the media for all his much-publicised troubles over his sex scandal and eventual divorce.

Perhaps he harbours hatred for the people who ensured it became worldwide headline news.

The second possible explanation is that all the frustration of being unable to find his game, certainly on a consistent basis, is getting to Woods.

Maybe it's the taunting of people like Poulter and that since the sex scandal, he no longer possesses the aura he once used to such deadly effect on the course. Maybe he doesn't know whether he's ever going to rediscover that aura, and that is making Woods short tempered.

The alarming swings of form in his game cannot be argued. Friday at Augusta he shot a superb 66 to get himself in contention. On Saturday, not a putt dropped as he laboured to a dismal 74. Then on Sunday we saw the best and worst of Woods in a single round, on and off the course.

First, he snapped up five birdies in his first eight holes to go from -5 overnight (and seemingly out of contention) to -10 and a share of the lead. That seemed to set up an inevitable Woods' charge down the back line that would send him soaring to victory.

Yet nothing happened. It was as if the magic had died. He never got further than that same -10 and missed out to South African Charl Schwartzel by four shots after his 67, a massive margin in Woods' world.

You have to say, he handled it badly afterwards. He came across as a smart arse, petulant and ill-tempered. Couldn't handle missing out? Eaten up inside and angry at the gnawing frustration? It sure looked that way to a lot of people.

Woods' next assault on a major will be at the US Open at Bethesda, just outside Washington, in June.

You have to hope that he has by then learned a bit more humility and better manners.

Trouble is, after promising he would 12 months ago, nothing much seems to have changed. So don't hold your breath now on that score.

* Peter Bills is a writer for Independent News & Media in London.