Until this year, Tiger Woods never subscribed to Fields' old philosophy, as his appearance at the AT&T National at Aronimink Golf Club this week marks his first tournament ever in the Philadelphia area. On the whole, however, Woods remains in that grey area between B.S. and A.M. - before scandal and after mea culpa. If anything, this tournament brings that point home.

AT&T was one of the first companies to drop him as a spokesman after his affairs became public. He was the tournament's official host its first three years at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. His name is off the tournament logo now, although the Tiger Woods Foundation is still the tournament charity, and he has been doing host-like things such as granting rare one-on-one interviews to Philly's two daily papers.

This week also finds his private life in flux with his divorce from Elin Nordegren reportedly almost final and his story having almost but not quite reached the end of its shelf life. Then there is his golf. He won this event last year and in two weeks, he'll have his best chance to win a major when he goes for a British Open St. Andrews three-peat. His back-nine 31 at Pebble Beach told him he's close. His Sunday 75 told him he's not Tiger just yet.

That "process" that he calls his golf game actually is one across the board. He kind of summed it all up in one quote he gave the Philadelphia Inquirer when asked about the current spotlight.

"What's it like? It's not what I thought it would be. Do I like it? No. Has it subsided? Uh, no . . . maybe a little bit but it's still difficult," he said.

Difficult is relative, however. Outside of a few stray hecklers, the galleries have generally been warm, because they simply crave good golf. That may be tested this week by Philly's notorious sports fans, but certainly none of the incidents so far has rattled him.

The questions, meanwhile, have become a whole lot easier since that first press conference at Augusta National.

"Outside the ropes there are certainly still distractions. It is what it is," he said at his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday. "I think everyone has had distractions in their lives. I think that my life out here on Tour is becoming more normalized, getting out here and talking to you guys about the game of golf and why I haven't won a tournament yet this year or why I hit that shot or this shot, and it wasn't like that at the beginning of the year. But now that certainly has changed, and for the good."

Woods has tried to push it that way as he attempts to remake his shattered image. His foundation, which remained untainted through the scandal, is still a source of pride, and Tuesday, when asked about AT&T dropping him but keeping the tournament, he made that point.

"If you're going to have one over the other, you choose it this way because we're trying to help as many kids as we possibly can and this is the way to do it, to bring awareness to the foundation," he said.

And he was asked, how does he take his position as a role model now?

"I certainly have made mistakes, no doubt about that," he said. "I take full ownership of them, and I think that's what a lot of, I think, kids can learn from that, is that you're not always going to go through life perfect. No one does. When you make a mistake, step up to the plate and take ownership of it."

Woods will never again own what he once had. He's still working toward getting as much of it back but, as he often says of his golf swing, he's "stuck."