Eugene YS Han tries to make some sense out of Tiger Woods' first public appearance on Friday.

Last Friday was deemed to be D-Day for golf, even a multitude of non-golf folk tuned into ESPN's SportsCenter for the first public address from Tiger Woods since that incident and the repercussions that followed.

Tiger's 'press conference' drew compassion and flak from the others - the golfing, tabloid community and even a religious figure who just happened to be in America. The world stopped for 13 and a half minutes just to listen to Tiger. Even the stock market slowed at 11 am as the traders eyes stayed glued to the TV or computer monitors. No one apart from Tiger and perhaps US President Barack Obama is capable of that.

Some of Tiger's colleagues who were dueling in the WGC-Accenture Match Play were reportedly unhappy with the timing of the press conference while the Golf Writers Association of America voted to boycott it altogether to protest against the 'no questions asked' ruling. But the reports still went on. It dominated headlines the next day.

Tiger's address was heartfelt - even if it was scripted - he spoke clearly of his remorse as well as his anger of the rumours and conspiracy theories that were thought out by the press in the days after he crashed his car outside his home on Thanksgiving Day.

To start with, Tiger could have avoided all this guessing by making a public appearance immediately after the car crash. But he chose not to. And thus he had to face the speculation. The lofty position which he held not just in the sporting world but in the world in general, made him an even easier target.

Even the Dalai Lama, who admitted to never of hearing about Tiger Woods, told AP that faith will help the world number one find discipline.

Perhaps it would take more than just Buddhism for Tiger to be able to return to the golf course. Friday's PC was a good start for Tiger no matter how you looked at it. He will return stronger because of this.