Tiger Woods restores order

Atlanta: Rory McIlroy chose Twitter as the medium by which to slap down an irritant. Tiger Woods sent in the heavy mob, also known as Mark Steinberg, his agent-cum-enforcer, to restore law and Tiger order.

As a result do not expect any more bulletins from Steve Williams about the health of the golfing nation. He is a caddie very much back in his box. Woods may not win this week, though he says he is coming for the ‘W', but he left none at the US PGA Championship in any doubt about where the power lies in this game.

The media suite at Atlanta Athletic club was oversubscribed to the point at which the organisers were considering the airline option of offering cash incentives for ticket holders to surrender seats.

Woods is adept as flat-batting incendiary deliveries. He did not over-elaborate on his post-Bridgestone exchanges with Williams — Steinberg met with him on Monday.

Message conveyed

Rather, like a mafia capo, Don Tiger conveyed his message more by demeanour and tone. Asked about his view on Williams' post-victory oratory, Woods ducked the bouncer and said he was happy for Williams and Adam Scott.

"Adam has been a friend of mine, and same with Stevie. I sent Stevie a nice text after completion of play, congratulating him on his win. It was good to see them go out there and play as well as they did," Woods said.

But what about the conversation between Williams and Steinberg, Tiger? "They talked, yeah, absolutely." Just talked? "They talked."

Dead end

Few lead an inquest into a dead end like Woods. When asked if he had any regrets about the fallout, Woods said: "We all need changes, and this was a change, and as I told you guys earlier, I was at peace with it, and it was a decision and a direction I wanted to go, and that's it.

"All I can control is my life and how I feel, and that's it. I'm not going to speculate on Steve. Those are obviously his feelings and his emotions and his decision to say what he wants to say." In other words, no further questions.

It is at junctures like this, with Woods in absolute control of his environment, that we begin to understand how he won 14 majors, how he is able to conjure the intensity to compete time and again.

It is the same instinct that allows him to believe he has a chance to win the final major of the season when the evidence ridicules the thought.