Report: Tiger Woods Nearing Return To Competition
Based on this match play bracket, it seems he is due at 2:02 EST. Then and only then will we get some closure.
And it sure sounds like he'd love to ditch the match play from his schedule based on his remarks about the course. Shocking, I know, that the PGA Tour moves to an untested Jack Nicklaus design and it seems to, well, stink.
Jim McCabe on Golfweek.com:
Welcome to the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, which will not elicit many warm emotions toward the designer, even if his name is Jack Nicklaus. Diplomatically, Woods called the greens “severe,” which is like saying the desert can be dry. Opened Jan. 17, the Ritz-Carlton GC features one wild putting surface after another, and while Woods had never seen the place until he stepped onto the first tee just after sunrise, some four hours later he was able to provide expert testimony that the quirky greens will dominate this week’s play.
Gary Van Sickle files this ringing endorsement and longer quote from Tiger.
As for this week, Woods commented on the obvious: the greens on this new Jack Nicklaus design are clearly over the top.
"The greens are a little severe," Woods said. "The speed of the greens is down because if they ever got them up, you couldn't play. It'll be interesting to see how the tour sets up the pins. The greens have so much pitch and slope and movement, there aren't a lot of pin positions they can go to."
I guess I might as well debut my new Tiger translator, which takes his delicately worded quotes and spits out what he's really thinking:
"Jack still can't do a decent green," Woods said. "They're unplayable if they are more than 10 on the Stimp. They have no more than a couple of hole locations per green. Real shrewd planning there Jack! This is why I get $25 million and you only $2.5 mill. I'd drop this dog from my schedule if Accenture weren't my sponsor."
Meanwhile the Armchair Golf blog lands an exclusive with Tiger's left knee.
Steve Elling describes the scene this morning when Tiger appeared and more importantly, the majority of the golf media arrived at the press center three hours earlier than normal.
Considering the buildup, the day was surprisingly devoid of soppy sentimentalism. In fact, since Woods teed off shortly after 7 a.m. and the gates didn't open until 7:30, the first cry of "Welcome back, Tiger," didn't occur until a pair of elderly women shouted it in his direction on the fourth hole. Woods, never one to acknowledge much, actually turned to the pair and said, "Thanks." They giggled like a pair of schoolgirls.
The scene before dawn on the practice range looked more like a red-carpet opening on Broadway, with golf paparazzi lined up on both sides of the ropes. Approximately 50 cameramen were encamped on the range awaiting Woods, who was in the clubhouse eating breakfast.
When Woods appeared, whirring camera drives erupted in a cacophony of beeps and buzzes. Somewhat humorously, longtime rival Phil Mickelson actually beat the notoriously early rising Woods to the range, and he cast an occasional bemused look in the direction of the comeback kid.
A moment later, as he tried to push his way through the crowd of media packed around Woods on the range, Mickelson's coach, Butch Harmon cracked, "What are you guys watching?"
Jason Sobel will be live blogging every excessive comment made by the Golf Channel crew. Actually, I believe the telecast will be reuniting Azinger and Faldo, so it may just be watchable.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 08:07 PM
Reader Comments (6)
As for Tiger—he’s the best putter and the best course manager in the game; one would have to think that severe greens would be to his advantage. He only gave himself one practice round, and the report yesterday was that he was 4-under through nine. If the greens didn’t “stink” then I suppose he would have been 10-under.
I think desert golf is the next best thing to links golf.
Down with trees.