At the end of this particular week, it is appropriate to begin with a heartfelt confession: I have always loved golf but never loved Tiger Woods. Indeed for many years now, it has been impossible to love both. Though Woods had the best game, won the most tournaments, generated the highest television ratings, he didn’t respect the game he dominated.

Occasional bad shots caused him to swear loudly, throw his clubs, smash his driver against his bag and do all the things that batter the game’s soul. And he couldn’t seem to get it. Until you accept the game’s beautiful unfairness, you don’t understand it. You could love Tom Watson, but not Tiger Woods. And yet on Friday I was on his side, sympathetic to the pain he has brought to his life and supportive of his efforts to discover a better version of himself.

Of course, it was a performance but it didn’t strike me as insincere or contrived. Yes, he paused at the right moments, engaged with the camera when he wanted us to understand how heartfelt was his sense of having done wrong, but you needed to be deeply cynical to see cynicism in this 13.5-minute mea culpa. If the revelations about his private life have taught us anything, it is that the behaviour we came to dislike on the course was not the problem but a symptom of an issue far greater. You may scoff but it cannot have been easy for Woods to live his life of deception: hero to the public, lying cheat to himself. He is too intelligent and too decent not to have agonised over this.

There was one part of the statement that didn’t ring true. “I knew my actions were wrong,” he said, “but I convinced myself normal rules didn’t apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to.” The thoughtful and bright Woods we have watched for more than 10 years could not have convinced himself that fidelity and honesty weren’t applicable in his home. Neither can he now convince us he believed he would “get away with whatever I wanted to”. What, with 15 mistresses? Thirty mistresses? It is easier to believe he was controlled by desires and weaknesses for which he has been receiving help over the past two months. And easier still to imagine that in the end, he subconsciously wanted to be found out. Not every mistress was going to have Woods’ best interests at heart, something he would have worked out from the start.

We are dealing with a chastened man. As powerful as his words on Friday was his appearance. He looked older, less athletic, much less sure of himself. The veneer of assurance has been stripped away. Hopefully, it is gone forever because it, too, was part of the lie. The man introduced to us on Friday was humbler, more human, more vulnerable and easier to warm to. How could you be unmoved by a sportsman who says: “I felt I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have far to go to find them. I was wrong. I was foolish. I don’t get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone else apply to me. I brought this shame on myself.”

Draw up a list of the sportsmen who have womanised recklessly but make sure you’ve got a good supply of pencils. Then make a list of those who have stood before us and said: “I brought this shame on myself.” In that second group, Woods is one of a select few and for refusing to diminish what he has done, he stands at the top of that list. George Stephanopoulus, who anchors ABC’s Good Morning America described Woods’ mea culpa as “one of the most remarkable apologies by a public figure ever”. This is no exaggeration.

As he neared the end of his statement and had yet to mention anything about a return to golf, there were contradictory thoughts. There was the sense that here was a man not yet ready to resume the game. But there was also the fan’s desire to just make all the bad stuff disappear and get him back to the game. “I plan to return to golf one day,” he said. “I just don’t know when that day will be. I don’t rule out that it will be this year. When I do return, I need to make my behaviour more respectful of the game.” We will not see him at The Masters in April, possibly not at the US Open in Pebble Beach, but how appropriate it would be if he returned to golf at its spiritual home in St Andrews for this year’s Open Championship.

He acknowledged that after he has dealt with the big stuff, there are details that must be taken care of and so his promise of a golfer “more respectful of the game”. I never loved the old Tiger Woods but I believe I will love the new one.

REACTION TO WOODS

SIR NICK FALDO He’s made a complete apology. Cut to the bottom line — it’s not about words, it is about actions. I personally think if Tiger wants to be a family man... get out and play some golf and bring the whole family out with him. It has left a big question mark — when is he going to return? We have had the apology but as golfers we are back at square one

GRAEME McDOWELL Tiger is the biggest icon in sport. He just creates a buzz. Not having him is huge. A return at some point was something we were hoping for but it doesn’t look like it is going to be here in the short term, which is a bit of a shock. I’m sure when guys see how humbled he is we’ll cut him a bit of slack. Golf needs him back soon

DONALD TRUMP Tiger’s a friend but I question whether [he and his wife] should get back together. I would recommend Tiger just call it a bad experience, go out and be a playboy and win tournaments and have a good life. He will hopefully be the greatest golfer again