By Matt Slater BBC golf editor at The Grove

Woods has already put Ryder Cup defeat firmly behind him

That feeling lasted all of about 15 minutes here on Thursday - that was how long it took Tiger Woods to put on his game face and pick up a regulation birdie at The Grove's par-five 2nd.

American angst, European euphoria and hugs and chugs all-round were last week. It's back to the day job now - oh, and these PGA Tour guys are good again.

But the first quarter of an hour of Woods' first round at the WGC Championship had been decidedly un-Tiger-like.

It wasn't that he was playing poorly, he wasn't. It was that he was smiling - and chatting.

Charming and personable off the course, you normally don't get much more than a "good shot" out of him from the time he gets out of his courtesy car to the time he starts his post-round interviews.

But here he was joking with Paul Casey on the chipping green, joshing with Darren Clarke on the first two tee boxes and practically exchanging phone numbers with starter Ivor Robson at the 1st.

If there is no wind, expect the scores to be really low this week Tiger Woods

So the much-anticipated K Club hangover appeared to be more of the "do you remember when so-and-so did that" variety than the more life-threatening "I'm never drinking again" category.

Actually, Lee Westwood looks and sounds like he might ask for "a second-class return to Dottingham" but he was complaining of flu symptoms before he played on Sunday. And, as his mate Clarke likes to point out, he is a hypochondriac.

But the rest of the Ryder Cuppers present, and that is all of them apart from Europe's Paul McGinley and American duo Phil Mickelson and Vaughn Taylor, look in reasonable nick.

Furyk says the size and quality of the event was too good to pass up

Woods is in sole possession of the lead after round one and three of the five players at the top of the leaderboard competed at the K-Club last weekend. That is a superb testament to their ability and mental focus.

One of the more popular betting markets coming into this tournament was on whether the winner would be a Ryder Cup player or not - I thought not, but it is looking like I either underestimated them or overestimated the size of Sunday's party.

World number three Jim Furyk, who gave it his all last weekend without much luck, admitted on Wednesday he wouldn't normally have played so soon after a Ryder Cup but felt he had to, given the quality of the event and size of the prize fund.

Most men on duty last weekend would also have skipped this week if it wasn't for the fact that this is an elite-field event with no cut.

The Grove looks like a pay-and-play course with the kind of facilities much loved by corporate hackers

Mickelson, in fact, has skipped this week - but then he should have skipped last weekend too.

However the rest of them have reported for duty again at this curious corner of Hertfordshire - it calls itself Chandler's Cross, which sounds like an episode of Friends, but we all know it's Watford really.

The Grove, "the last remaining aristocratic estate within the M25", looks like a pay-and-play course with the kind of facilities much loved by corporate hackers - and that is exactly what it is.

The prevailing view on Kyle Phillips' design seems to be "very nice, excellent greens and... how much?!? Thank God Sprogget and Sylvester picked up the tab for that one".

This view was confirmed to me by a European Tour player before his round.

"The hotel is smashing. Especially when you're staying there for nowt! But (�155 to play) is ridiculous," said the refreshingly down-to-earth, but probably best if he stays anonymous, Englishman.

Woods, who is chasing a sixth straight PGA Tour win, is not somebody to worry about piffling things like value for money.

And while he may be missing his own bed after three weeks away he can't have noticed much difference in the type of golf courses he has been asked to play on - The Grove's 7,125 yards could be anywhere in Florida outside the Everglades.

The 30-year-old American said: "If there is no wind, expect the scores to be really low this week," and on early evidence he is spot on. Well, his eight-under 63 was the lowest on Thursday.

Stewart Cink, US captain Tom Lehman's best player in Ireland, might have something to say about that - he has brought with him the form that thrashed Sergio Garcia on Sunday - and Europeans Padraig Harrington and David Howell have clearly got more left in their tanks following excellent first rounds.

But that is not to say a non-Ryder Cup winner this weekend is suddenly out of the question. The likes of English pair Simon Dyson and Ian Poulter have made excellent starts and there are a fair few Rest of the Worlders on the leaderboard too.

Prior to the event Furyk spoke of "international players who couldn't care less about the Ryder Cup". Well, that's not quite true Jim. They might care less than we do but they all watched it and they all loved it.

And given this is supposed to be a "back to business" weekend, it is perhaps only right to leave the last word on last weekend's events in Ireland to one of them.

"I saw plenty. And I thought the result was really sad," said the well-known Wentworth resident with a big, easy smile spreading across his face.