Adept at dealing with highly controversial subjects such as the habits of his pet border collie and his preferred air pressure for scuba diving, further intrusion into Woods's private world is routinely rebuffed with the skilled evasiveness of a practised media performer.

But with his 74-year-old father Earl gravely ill with prostate cancer to the extent that he has been forced to miss a first Masters tournament since his son played as an amateur in 1995, and with Woods himself suggesting beforehand that he might not be able to finish the week if the old man's health deteriorated further, there has been no hiding place.

Woods has a luxury yacht called 'Privacy', yet for the first time in his career, circumstances have allowed for a line of questioning previously accepted to be out of bounds. "Just because he's the best golfer in the world, " says Padraig Harrington, "when it comes down to something like that, you're just an ordinary person and you don't want to discuss it with the world."

Harrington was given the space he required around the time of his father's death last year, however, the rules of engagement are different for Woods.

His flying visit from Florida to California to see an ailing Earl on the eve of the recent Players Championship received blanket coverage, as did his distracted 22nd place finish, but now he would be under scrutiny at the Masters, as defending champion, facing into possibly the most demanding period of his career.It was no surprise that the interrogation regarding his father's health was persistent, and no surprise too that several of the questions were inappropriate bordering on the purile.

"What name would you choose for your son?" led the field by some margin . . . but the way Woods walked a tightrope between emotional confession and dignified rebuttal was if anything more impressive than his confrontation with Augusta's mammoth lay-out.

Another of the questions, "How has watching him fight, what is eventually an inevitable outcome, changed you. Having front row seats to that?", should have been enough for Woods to have called a halt, but he continued to speak from the heart about his relationship with his dad making special mention of the fact that Earl had almost died during heart by-pass surgery just weeks before Woods's record breaking victory at Augusta in 1997.

If it was primarily an exercise in patience, it also brought out human qualities that Woods so often chooses to hide, but which were briefly in evidence last year when he tearfully dedicated a fourth Masters victory to his ailing father. But how would the inner turmoil affect him?

Last year, the hot topic was his swing change, now it was the possible death of his dad, his "best friend". Would the game's strongman wilt?

For one, Phil Mickelson didn't think so. "You're talking about the best player here, not just the best player maybe in the game, but the best at being able to block things out.

I don't think it will be a factor in Tiger's game at all."

Following an unspectacular opening 74, there was only a fleeting reference to Earl's condition, but no, Woods hadn't phoned him before his round. "I had enough to worry about trying to get out there and hit a shot, " he said with a smile.

Jack Nicklaus was asked if he thought the situation would detract from Woods's exceptional focus, and if so, could he handle the emotional pressure. "Tiger copes with constant press that we didn't have, " said Nicklaus, "but we all have to deal with personal distractions. I mean that's what life is."

Before the start of the British Open in 1981, Nicklaus learned that his son, Steve, had been involved in a car accident ironically on the Jack Nicklaus Highway in Columbus, Ohio. Clearly shaken by the news, Nicklaus went out and slumped to an 83 in the first round at Royal St George's. Next day, he recovered his composure with a 66.

Even if his grace under pressure this week has been exemplary, Woods appears to be following in a line of players from Ben Hogan, through Nicklaus and even Nick Faldo who have been competitors first, and family men second.

Perhaps it was to underestimate Woods's inner strength to think he would crumble at this tournament.

After all, this is the player who froze out Fuzzy Zoeller following his "fried chicken and collard greens" remark at the 1997 Masters, who took out Vijay Singh at a President's Cup when Singh's caddie wore a cap with 'Tiger who?' emblazoned on it, and who crushed Stephen Ames by 9 and 8 at the recent Accenture World Match Play after Ames had questioned the current state of his game.

This is also someone who has sacked his caddie for getting too big for his boots, ditto his agent, and who then parted company with his seemingly indispensable coach, Butch Harmon. Ten major wins, and 66 victories worldwide, Woods may flash that boyish smile, but there is clearly an unyielding force at work beneath the mask.

But now it's personal.

Twelve months ago, he wiped away his tears, and said, "This is for Dad." He will be acutely aware that this will almost certainly be the last time Earl watches him compete at Augusta, and maybe the last time he watches him compete at any major. "I know it's wearing on Tiger, " says his close friend Mark O'Meara.

The more golf has been played, the less the demand for news of his father. After a second round of 71 had kept him in contention, there was no mention of the off-course situation. That has been due more to the fascinating overall swirl of this championship, than to any conscious moratorium on questions about his dad.

But in the heat of battle, Woods has more than earned the right to keep his private life private. For another day anyway.