Tiger Woods poised for another Masters win

There was that same old final-round confidence that always used to fit Tiger Woods like his custom-made bright red shirt and black pants. Last Sunday, there were the same old roars and the same old big television ratings as Woods won an official PGA Tour event for the first time in 30 months.

If, a week from Sunday, he wins a fifth Masters title and 15th major championship, there will be many who say, "Same old Tiger."

Except that Woods will know better.

As he heads to Augusta National this week, bringing the same old torrent of attention with him, Woods is dealing with changes inside him and around him. "This is the start of his second career because of getting over the shame, getting over the past, starting anew," said Curtis Strange, who captained Woods on the 2002 U.S. Ryder Cup team and will call the Masters on ESPN.

Whether the changes are good or bad, or too little or too much, is a matter of opinion. But change is there. And it seems that is just the way he likes it.

"He is the most engaged when he is changing. It's when he is the most motivated. He likes to be working on things," said Hank Haney, who represents one of the big changes after resigning as Woods' swing coach in 2010 and being replaced by Sean Foley, who introduced Woods to a new swing that has begun to click. ("Not one time working with Hank Haney did he hit the ball as well as he did this past weekend," Strange said.)

Haney wrote in his new book, "The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods," that Woods "never allowed himself to be satisfied." At a breakfast gathering in Manhattan to promote the book Thursday, Haney spoke of his former pupil's refusal to stand pat, be it in his workout regimen, his backswing or on a ski slope: "I really think it's necessary for him to be great."

Some of the changes have not been so great, though, especially the ones involving his disbanded inner circle. His father, Earl, died. His wife, Elin, divorced him over the scandal that made Woods a staple on TV gossip shows. Bitter feelings linger from his firing of caddie Steve Williams and the departure of Haney. The latter's book has stirred debate, with some people saying Haney violated the student-teacher trust and others saying that Woods views loyalty as a one-way street.

Woods has not had a personality transformation, which might have been expected after hearing him speak in the months after that Thanksgiving night car crash. Williams, still working for Woods at the time, is quoted by Haney as saying, "He hasn't changed one bit."

But the other day, Haney said: "He has changed. Now did he change as much as people hoped that he would or thought that he should? That's all up to the person to decide. But he has definitely changed. I thought that if he changes a lot, he's probably not going to win as many golf tournaments."

Winning tournaments is different now. Competition is better, fields are deeper. Most PGA Tour events this season have been decided in a playoff or with a clutch putt on No. 18.

"You have to have a couple good bounces and you've just got to make a few more putts," said Webb Simpson, one of the tour's top young players, who had to finish the final round of the WGC Cadillac Championship playing all alone because Woods left the course with an Achilles injury. "There's that fine line. Tiger Woods, he's basically the only guy in the last 15 years that's kind of defied that idea of you've got to get kind of lucky here or there. He was able to win on a week-to-week basis."

At least the old Tiger Woods could.