Golf:Tiger Woods put on his smiley face on the first day of Ryder Cup practice at Celtic Manor and insisted he was ready to have fun. So much so that not even an openly hostile question was going to disturb his equilibrium in front of the press.
"You don't win majors anymore, you don't win regular tournaments anymore and you are about to be deposed by Europeans as the world number one or by Phil Mickelson. Where is the Ryder Cup now on your agenda now that you're an ordinary golfer?"
Woods flashed a smile, along with a message for his inquisitor who he remembered indulging in similar provocation at The Open in July: "I hope you're having a good week."
Cue ripples of laughter. Woods has come to Wales to please. He has not come to trawl over the remnants of his personal life, nor to talk about divorce from wife Elin, nor to divulge how he is being treated by the wives of his team-mates.
Had he sensed a cooling in that relationship?
"No, we are here as a team. We're here to win the Ryder Cup," said Woods. He was speaking after a first day learning the contours of Celtic Manor in which he demonstrated both his tunnel vision on a golf course and his avowed aim to be more approachable.
Woods has won just 11 points from 25 matches in the Ryder Cup and has been accused of only caring about individual victories.
The 14-times major winner appeared to reinforce that impression during his practice round when he strode to the third tee well ahead of his playing partners, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan, and hit his tee-shot on the par three while they were still walking towards him. He countered that, however, by signing the cap of a steward who had used his headgear to mark his ball after it had landed in the rough.
The impression that he is not a team man, however, is hard to shake and he puts it down to his youth when he burst on to the scene amid team-mates most of whom are now on the senior tour. Right now, however, he insists that 'team' is his raison d'etre. He is happy to beat anyone who will listen over the head with the word.
"What really matters is my team," he said. "It's about us coming together as a team and being a team. What happens outside the team room, what happens in the media has no concern to us. We are here to get the job done as a team.
"The teams are always fun to be part of," he said. "We don't get a chance to do it very often. To be part of a squad truly is fun. The thing that goes on in the team rooms, that's what we all look back on; the memories and the friendships that you build for a lifetime just in one week. The connection we have, it's awfully fun."
The sceptics will need convincing once the real action begins, when he is expected to partner Steve Stricker in the foursomes and fourballs.