Gonzo: With a little help, Woods cashes in

AUGUSTA, Ga - Before the Masters began this week, before the crowds swelled at Augusta National Golf Club, before the players teed off and Tiger Woods ended a protracted 144-day layoff that included a highly publicized swing through a Mississippi rehab facility, there were questions. Lots of them. Not just about his transgressions, but about whether (and how) Woods would recover from the worst rough of his life.

"I learned something a long time ago," a friend and longtime golf writer told me. "Never underestimate what that guy can do on a golf course."

Woods has skill and guts - no doubt, and not just with a club in his hand.

Things are going well for Woods here in Georgia. He had another good outing on Friday and shaved 2 more strokes off his score, dropping to 6-under after two rounds, two back of leaders Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. It's been an incredible performance so far. Even more remarkable: He attacked his off-course issues with the same breathtaking bravado he used to birdie the par-5 15th hole Friday. (Walking past the water there was treacherous enough; trying to clear the hazard on just 2 strokes looked like madness.)

Woods hasn't been very cautious in Augusta. The smart, safe play would have been to face the media Monday, then vanish - only to surface for golf purposes. Instead, he's appeared in the interview room after each round, and his new commercial for Nike debuted on television Thursday and has been getting international attention ever since.

The ad features a black-and-white close-up of a forlorn Woods staring at the camera as the words of his now-deceased father play in the background:

"Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion," says Earl Woods, who died in 2006, in the ad. "I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are, and did you learn anything." The commercial ends with the ubiquitous Nike swoosh.

Stephen Colbert (among many others) immediately pounced: Woods, he said, is "still the best at bringing his steely focus to the thing he loves: endorsing products."

"I think it's very apropos," Woods said. "I think that's what my dad would say. . . . He's still helping me."

It's true that his father is helping Woods make more money and garner extra attention. But as unexpected and shameless as the ad might be, it's also brilliant. Tiger, who disappeared for a while when things devolved and got ugly after the Florida fender-bender outside his home, has apparently decided not to hide any longer. Rather than ignore the mess he created and wait for the world to forget (an unlikely scenario), he's chosen to address his issues and benefit from them.

Maybe you find capitalizing on his indiscretions unseemly, but his flaws - and the blatant way he's exploiting them - also humanize him. They've made us even more interested in a man who long ago captured our attention. (Masters TV ratings were up 50 percent from this time a year ago according to the Nielsen Co.)

You may not like it, but it's hard to deny the shrewd calculation by the Woods camp. Everyone is talking about Tiger. Everyone is taking advantage of his misfortune. Now he's doing the same.

On my way to get a beverage in the press cafeteria Friday, I saw ESPN's Rick Reilly talking to a security guard by the door. They seemed to be having a polite disagreement. The guard pointed to a sign listing which credentials gain reporters access to the pimiento cheese sandwich buffet and which don't. Reilly nodded and left.

I asked the guard what happened, and he informed me that Reilly didn't have a "working press" credential. "His says 'TV' on it," the guard told me with a smile. Then, half-joking, he added: "He's not working like you. He's a moocher."

When I relayed the story to Reilly, he laughed and asked for a favor.

"Can you get me a moon pie?" he said.

Matt Kuchar made an impossible shot Friday. It was a hole-in-one - though not the kind you'd expect. Kuchar's approach shot on No. 9 flew long and right and somehow landed in the beer cup of a patron standing in the gallery just outside the ropes. When I wondered aloud what the odds were on something like that happening, a veteran media member didn't hesitate. "Considering all the beer consumed here?" he asked rhetorically. "Pretty good." . . . Lots of women in impossibly short skirts and shirts with plunging necklines here. Not condoning what Tiger (allegedly) did, but it makes sense the more time I spend in the gallery. . . . Before Woods' long putt on No. 14 Friday, one of the Masters grounds crew members came out with a leaf blower and cleared the green. That naturally invited the gallery to make racy remarks at Tiger's expense. To calculate how many jokes were cracked, double the number in your head. Then multiply by 50. Then repeat. You're still short.