FROM THE SPORTS DESK:Tiger Woods not cool with me, but he’s OK

Tiger Woods is legit even if he did big-time the Daily Pilot.

What I mean by legit is, he’s the real deal. There’s hardly anything fake about him.

He didn’t hold much back with the crowd during his driving demonstration that also including fellow pro Fred Couples at the Mesa Verde Country Club on Saturday morning.

His people denied the Daily Pilot a one-on-one interview, and ideal access for photography. In the end, not a great story for media types.

But Saturday morning wasn’t really about notebooks and tape recorders. It was all about 7-year-old Madison Galitski and the smile she displayed.

Why was she so happy? After Tiger’s clinic ended, little Madison called out to Tiger to have him sign her Mesa Verde Country Club flag. He could not say no to a face like Madison’s.

I don’t know that for sure, but suspect that was his reasoning.

There was not an autograph session, but still Tiger signed for her.

“I just yelled, ‘Tiger,’ and he came to me,” said Madison, from Costa Mesa.

Her father, Kurt, said they will frame it. She’ll have something to look at for inspiration.

Woods snubbed the Daily Pilot, but let’s be real, he was candid with the crowd at the Mesa Verde Country Club.

He let them into his world and what a world it’s been. Woods lost his father, Earl, to cancer, in May, but that hasn’t stopped him from winning on the golf course. He’s won six straight PGA Tour events.

As if that wasn’t inspiring enough, he offered advice for adults and kids like Madison.

“How do you handle the pressure?” Someone asked.

“I love it,” Tiger said. “I absolutely love it.”

In this sports era of steroids and crime grabbing headlines, Tiger’s recent story of victory amid loss has been intriguing, to say the least.

On Saturday morning, his advice and humor seemed to keep the crowd interested in his every word.

“Do I get nervous? Yeah, I do because I care about what I do,” Tiger said. “I have great pride in what I do. I cannot live with myself if I went out there and dogged it because I would have to come home and know that I didn’t do my best and I know I could have done better. I can’t live with that.”

Tiger, that’s someone who is taking advantage of his talent, not abusing it. Abuse has been seen in the NFL and in the NBA.

Chris Henry of the Cincinnati Bengals has been suspended for two games for being drunk in public. He’s been arrested four times since December. The Tennessee Titans’ Albert Haynesworth has been suspended five games for stomping on Dallas’ Andre Gurode, who needed 30 stitches after the incident.

“I just want to know if you were out late last night at a club and you came out shooting a gun,” Couples jokingly told Tiger, referring to the Indiana Pacers’ Stephen Jackson.

Jackson fired shots in the air, reacting to being hit by a car outside an Indianapolis strip club early Friday morning.

“I don’t understand how these so-called athletes get in all this trouble,” Couples added.

Tiger is different. For most people, he’s an inspiration. Yet he’s not inspiring for everyone, especially Marshall Faulk, who was also at Mesa Verde Country Club.

Maybe it’s a case of reading too much into his words, but Faulk, with pride, brushed at the thought of being inspired by Tiger.

“I don’t need to be inspired,” said Faulk, the St. Louis Rams star running back who is out for the year with a knee injury. “I don’t even need his story to be inspired. I have self motivation. Other things that were instilled in him were instilled to me by my parents.”

Faulk did give Tiger his props, saying the remarkable golfer can overcome anything.

Maybe Tiger snubbed Faulk, too.