NASSAU, Bahamas -- It wasn't exactly, "Hello, world." It was more like, to borrow an old Michael Jordan comeback phrase, "I'm back."
Tiger Woods made it clear Tuesday during his first news conference after a 15-month injury hiatus that he has metaphorically transitioned from his Chicago Bulls glory years to the late-career unfamiliarity of the Washington Wizards.
He even has a name for it: Phase 2. That's the term Woods came up with for the second half of his career while bedridden after a third back surgery last year, unsure whether he would ever play competitive golf again.
Yes, it's true. The most dominant player in the history of golf -- the man who not so long ago appeared invincible against every other elite player in the world -- believed he was done. He had come to grips with the realization that he might never swing a club inside the ropes again.
While questioning that career mortality, he started thinking about life after golf.
Woods decided he wanted all of his business entities -- the foundation, the course design firm, the restaurant -- under a single umbrella. This shouldn't come as a surprise, nor should it be of great interest to anyone who isn't directly affected by these entities. The decision does, though, shine a light on Woods' mindset at the time. It stands as residual proof that he believed he would never fully recover from those surgeries.
Now that he is playing again at this week's Hero World Challenge, Woods finally knows that Phase 2 will also involve a competitive golf schedule.
"The sponsors are happier than they've ever been," he explained, "because of the cross pollination, better communication has now occurred and here I am competing again."
Early last year, when Woods was struggling to chip his golf ball onto the green from merely a few yards away, he tried to explain away this mental block by blaming technical changes in his swing. He contended that he was "caught between patterns," which might also be a perfect way to describe his thought process during this current transition.
At one point during the news conference, Tiger sounded like the Tiger of old, answering a question about his goals for this week's return with very much the same response he has been proffering for the past two decades.
"I'm going to try to do the same thing I always do," he insisted. "I'm entered in an event. I'm going to try to win this thing."
Minutes later, when asked how he'd measure his success, that hubris was replaced by the Phase 2 edition of Tiger. It's the one who understands he's no longer golf's version of the guy wearing No. 23 for the Bulls.
"I'm playing again," he said. "I'm sitting here in front of you guys with a different reality, because things have improved so much that I'm able to come back here and do this again. It hasn't been easy."
We can forgive Woods for being caught between the old pattern and the new one, for maintaining that winning is the main goal while also admitting that just teeing it up again should be considered a victory.
Old habits die hard, after all, and it will take some time for him to admit to himself -- and to the rest of us -- that he can't have the same standards. The player who for so many years set the bar to an abnormally high level needs to move it lower than it has ever been.
For the time being, at least.
Maybe Woods can return to the level where anything less than a win is a disappointment. Maybe the man who a year ago wasn't sure he'd ever play again can restore that form. Maybe he can infuse parts of that old version of himself with his next phase, rendering a transition more gradual than he once believed.
Maybe being caught between patterns won't have the same result as the last time he employed that phrase.
"I've made a lot of different changes in my game, but the mindset's still the same," he explained. "Physically and also equipment, practice schedules, training, all that has evolved, [but] the mindset of competing hasn't. That is to go out there and try to beat these guys. I know they're going to try and beat me. I'm going to try and beat them."
This wasn't, "Hello, world." This was, "I'm back." We'll soon find out what that means for this next phase in Woods' career.