Tiger's Still the Man in the American Galleries

Here at the WGC-Cadillac Golf Championship at the famous Doral course in Miami the hottest ticket in town is strutting his stuff and being followed everywhere by adoring fans desperate for an autograph or a photo. Is it Martin Kaymer, the new world number one? Is it hell. Is it Lee Westwood, the Nottingham Forest supporting world number two? Nope. Then could it be Luke Donald, the winner of last week's World Matchplay that propelled him up to number three in the world rankings? Again, no. Neither is it Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy or the G-Mac, Graeme McDowell.

No, the man who is making everyone down their iced teas is Tiger Woods. Remember him? The former number one, the 14-time major winner, the man who utterly dominated his sport for ten years. The same man who suffered the most public of downfalls when he was caught playing away, and away, and away, and away, and is now divorced after shelving out a fortune to his wife and delivering an excruciatingly desperate apology on camera. In the process he has spiralled down to a mere fifth in the world rankings. The aura has gone, he is just another very fine golfer who should be challenging most weeks in tournaments.

All this does not seem to have fazed the American golfing public, however. Over lunch outdoors in the clubhouse the restaurant emptied when Woods suddenly appeared on the putting green opposite. Never mind the fact that Westwood and Vijay Singh had been putting away for the previous half an hour. When word got around that Woods had made an entrance it was akin to conservationists spotting a white rhino. The restaurant emptied and its previous habitants assembled around the practice green.

It seems Tiger, now sporting a goatee, can still do no wrong in the eyes of many American golf fans. I dare say the same will happen at the Open this summer in Britain, too. Whether it is sporting dominance or notoriety, the very last element of Tiger Woods' life will be human fascination in the man.