Tiger update: The recovery begins...

Following his public apology yesterday, the Tiger Woods brand began it's first, tentative steps back to recovery.

While most of the media ridiculed Tiger for the rather dramatic and sensational way in which he began his first steps back to recovery, focussing on his robotic manner, or the fact that he seemed to be wearing the blazer of a much bigger man, or even that most sentences began or ended with "Elin and I", we must remember it takes some guts to come out and admit the bare facts... "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated."

Here it was in black and white, a straight up confession: I did it, I can't hide from it, yes I am human and I made a mistake. Most importantly, I WAS WRONG.

By doing this, he did what Tiger has done best for so many years, and taken control of the situation. With one fell swoop, the ball is back in Tiger's court. He will return to golf, but only when he is ready, and really, that was the only thing we needed to know - Brand Tiger will be back.

The cynics were out in force at this very public airing of dirty laundry, but let's remember that at ten o'clock last night, this was the headline story. Not the progress in the middle East or the goings-on at Westminster (as indeed should have been the case), but how Tiger was going to recover.

And this is the crucial point - for those out there that believe Tiger will never recover from this setback, think again. Of course he has shattered his holier than thou image, but that isn't going to shorten the queue of sponsors eagerly awaiting his signature. If anything, it's just got longer and the likes of TAG and AT&T, will have to get to the back (when they have finished kicking themselves).

Because now Tiger is human, he is flawed, he is like you and I. He is accessible.

And for the brands that stuck by him, who stepped back and distanced themselves from the mess and waited for it to pass? They've just added another string to their bow. They are now the loyal, committed and understanding brands that will never leave you. They will stick by you through thick and thin, for the good times and the bad.

Remember, there is nothing more appealing than an underdog, and for the first time in his career, Tiger is just that.