Fred Couples, left to right, Jim Furyk, and Tiger Woods coordinate their golf swings hitting trick shots skipping across the water to the 16th green during their practice round for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on Monday, April 5, 2010. The skipping shot has become a fan favorite during practice rounds at the Masters. Curtis ComptonCurtis Compton
He stood stone-still at the first tee of Augusta National, drew his club back in a wide arc, and then promptly ripped the ball 75 yards left of the fairway.
Yet there were no obscenities. There was no look of disgust or ill-tempered throwing of equipment. There was nothing, frankly, resembling Tiger Woods.
On Monday, in his first news conference since revelations of his multiple affairs surfaced last fall, Mr. Woods preached humility and contrition, and promised he was working hard to reinvent himself: not just at home, but on the course as well.
"I'm actually going to try to not get as hot when I play," Mr. Woods told a group of 200 reporters. "But when I'm not as hot I'm not as exuberant either."
But just how does the world's most celebrated athlete subdue his signature tantrums and triumphant fist-pumps without blunting his competitive edge? How does Mr. Woods fundamentally alter behaviour that many view as a hard-wired component of his success?
The problem for elite athletes, who feed off a high level of emotional intensity, is that it is difficult to simply adopt a calm demeanour - especially if their previous behaviour has been developed over a long period of time.
Openly venting his frustrations - or displaying his elation - has become a deeply ingrained part of how Mr. Woods plays the game, and changing that behaviour will not come easily, says Gregg Steinberg, a sports psychologist and author of Mental Rules for Golf.
"It will be very difficult, because it's become a habit," he said. "It's going to take him a while probably to figure how much he turns it down. If he's focusing on turning down his exuberance and his intensity, it's going to carry over to his game."
For some athletes, feeding off emotions is the only way they are able to play their best. Michael Jordan and John McEnroe, for example, each performed at their peak when they fed off emotions rather than tried to suppress them.
"John McEnroe is a very good example of someone who thrived on the emotional part of the game," Dr. Steinberg said. "If he were to tone it down, it would drastically hurt his game."
There are exceptions. Last year, during the Presidents Cup, Robert Allenby lashed out at fellow professional golfer Anthony Kim, calling him "the loosest cannon on the U.S. team." Since then, Mr. Kim has vowed to get a grip on his emotions and no longer throw clubs after hitting errant shots. He has also jumped up to No. 14 in the world rankings.
Sports experts have long sought to understand how emotions positively and negatively impact athletes.
In a study of athletic performance and emotional intensity published in the journal Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport in 2001, researchers found that "increased intensity of optimal-pleasant emotions had an enhancing effect on performance," meaning the more pumped up athletes are, the better they will do on the field or the fairway.
Feeding off emotions has been an inextricable part of the way Mr. Woods plays golf, says Stephen Ladd, a mental game coach based in Columbus, Ohio. And it has helped make him one of the best golfers in history - albeit not the most popular among his peers.
Other players have criticized Mr. Woods for failing to meet a certain level of decorum on the course. Earlier this year, for example, fellow professional golfer Tom Watson took Mr. Woods to task for his temper tantrums.
"His swearing and his club throwing, should, that should end," Mr. Watson told an NBC affiliate in Kansas City. "That's not part of what we want to project as far as the professional golf tour is concerned."
Mr. Woods is trying to win over audiences following a sex scandal that has destroyed his public image. And that means curbing the fiery outbursts is essential, says Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York University's Schulich School of Business.
"He's got to come across as a contrite, normal human being," he said.
There is a delicate balance to strike here as well, says Henry Brunton, the Royal Canadian Golf Association's national golf coach. Mr. Woods won over a legion of adoring fans in part because of his signature celebrations. Dispensing with the fist-pumps altogether could impair that connection.
"If he's going to be the Tiger we all have seen and known for so long as a celebrity competitor," Mr. Brunton said, "we need to see the same general person on the golf course."
Dave McGinn