FOR TWO days the crowds adopted him as they would a prodigal son. He may have sinned, but the majority of his adorers have seemingly forgiven; and he is still the best golfer in the world. The official world rankings, if not his game just yet, tell us so.

Yesterday, Tiger Woods bid adieu to the JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am – smiling and politely waving to those packed around the 18th green after shooting a second round 69 and improving on his first round by 10 shots – before heading to the media centre for a press conference which lasted for 20 minutes and 40 seconds.

And, then, he was away. Off to his private jet and a return trip across the Atlantic to see his two children, Sam and Charlie, as if to emphasis he has reclaimed some perspective in his life.

In the past, Woods would have hung around after this remarkable shindig where the greats of fairway, stage, screen and the sporting world mingle and are one. He’d have taken helicopter rides, criss-crossing the Irish landscape from Waterville to the Old Head, Portmarnock to Royal County Down in honing his game for the British Open. Not this time. “I need to get home, see my kids,” he explained.

Woods, though, accepted the new if enforced perspective. When asked if golf ever felt trivial given what he has been through since last November when he was revealed as a serial adulterer and underwent rehabilitation, Woods replied: “Well, golf is something that I’ve done for a very long time. And there are times in one’s life when things get put in perspective; one being when my father passed (away), and obviously what I’ve been going through lately.”

For questions which Woods believed either didn’t merit an answer, or stepped across the boundary, he hunched his shoulders, looked the inquisitor in the eye and allowed the silence – or the “Mm-mmm” – to suffice.

That what he had been through might affect him? That he may never come back to be the force he once was? “Mm-mmm,” he offered, shaking his head.

Never? “Mm-mmm.”

When another long-winded query wondered if he ever reflected on losing his family and his sponsorships and came to the point by asking was it all worth it, Woods replied. “I think you’re looking too deep into this.”

Had matters off the course been sorted to the point where he could concentrate as much as he wanted to on the course? “Everything is working itself out.”

Away from the personal stuff, with the emphasis on golf, Woods was more effusive. After all, his golf perspective is focused on the majors and next week’s British Open at St Andrews is one that has a special appeal. Woods has won the last two Opens staged there – in 2000 and 2005 – and, if he can get his lag putting working, there is a self-belief he can deliver again.

After all, his two best performances in an unsettled tour schedule this year have come at the majors, tied-fourth in both the Masters and the US Open.

Woods’s love affair with St Andrews goes back to 1995, when he played there as an amateur. “I just fell in love with it . . . the R A sets up the pins pretty well, so it forces you to be a little more strategic in how you play the golf course.

“You have to be so creative, and your touch has to be great because you’re going to have a lot of long, lag putts and putts that break three or four different directions.

“It takes a lot of imagination to win. You look at the past champions of St Andrews, a lot have great short games and great imagination and ball control . . . You look at the names on the lip of the Claret Jug, all the way down to the base.”

Famous names, among them his own. The greatest golfer of his generation and possibly any, eeking to take his steps back to greatness.

Here, in Adare Manor, he took important steps; and he also gave back. “I always want to support what JP is doing, the charitable efforts he’s made over the years. What he has done is remarkable, just look at the participants who have come and supported this event. If I can help out in any way, I will. That’s one of the reasons I play . . . JP has meant a lot to my life; and I truly believe in what he’s doing to help others, and that’s why I’m here.” And his presence did make a difference. JP told him so!