"When Tiger's foundation is involved, he has a pretty good track record of playing in the event"

Len Shapiro on the new Washington D.C. stop benefitting Tiger's foundation:
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem announced yesterday that the tour had reached a long-term agreement with the Tiger Woods Foundation, the educational charity established by Woods and his father in 1996, to be the host organization and beneficiary of a tournament in the Washington area July 5-8. The site of the event is undetermined, but the tour is in negotiations with Congressional Country Club, site of the 2011 U.S. Open, to host the event in 2007 and 2008.

Woods is expected to be a regular presence at the tournament, though his participation this year might be affected by the birth of his first child. Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, have not announced a due date, but he has said he might not play in the British Open July 19-22 because the baby is due around that time.

"When Tiger's foundation is involved, he has a pretty good track record of playing in the event," his longtime agent, Mark Steinberg, said yesterday. "This year, it may be something of a wild card because his wife is expecting at around that time, so everything is pretty much up in the air. But I can tell you he's very excited about the Washington event."

Tour and Tiger Return To D.C.

 Does this mean Tiger really hates Denver's altitude that much?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2007
PGA TOUR, TIGER WOODS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE
NEW TOURNAMENT IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Finchem, Woods to Announce Event Details at March 7 Press Conference

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - The PGA TOUR, in conjunction with the Tiger Woods Foundation, announced today that the TOUR will return to Washington, D.C. as a result of the two organizations reaching a long-term agreement to create a new PGA TOUR event in the nation’s capital, beginning in July, 2007.

The new tournament will be held the week of July 2-8 with the Tiger Woods Foundation serving as the event's host organization and primary charitable beneficiary. A press conference is scheduled for March 7 in Washington, D.C. where PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem and Tiger Woods will announce further details of the tournament, including the title sponsor, total purse, and the charitable vision for the event.

"After an extensive search, we are very excited about our partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation to bring a PGA TOUR event back to our nation’s capital over the 4th of July holiday celebration," Finchem said. "We are delighted to be able to work with Tiger and his Foundation, and I look forward to joining him on March 7 to announce a very strong title sponsor and additional details of the tournament."

"This is a wonderful opportunity to expand awareness and interest in the work we're doing for millions of kids across the country," said Woods, founder of the Tiger Woods Foundation. "I'm grateful the PGA TOUR selected us as partners and am very excited my Foundation will host another amazing event, this time in our nation’s capital. I'm delighted to think of all the young people this will help us reach."

Additional information on the time and location of the March 7 press conference will be released later this week.


"Will you be designing environmentally-friendly golf courses in the future?"

1.jpgSeems like a dumb question, right? Unfortunately that one was teed up for Tiger Woods and he uncharacteristicaly heel pulled it into the left rough.

But first, other highlights from his sitdown with the laptoppers in Tucson:

Q. I know you're concentrating on this week, but in the buildup to coming over here, I've read a lot in the media about the dialogue or lack of dialogue between you and the commissioner, about the schedule for this year. Can you tell us anything about that?

TIGER WOODS: I've talked to him quite a bit (smiling), so I don't know where that comes from.

Q. Well, there's been talk about given the new sort of format this year that -- is there a situation where you could maybe fall short of the minimum requirements of playing this year and maybe miss out on some of the climax to the FedExCup?

TIGER WOODS: I've just got to play 15 events, right? That's what I did last year.

Gee, what a ringing endorsement for the FedEx Cup and the PGA Tour!

Q. I don't know if you're reading the same stuff as me, but basically they were saying that there is a kind of atmosphere between you and the commissioner.

TIGER WOODS: We talk about once a week, so I don't know where that comes from. He's got my cell phone and we talk. It's funny, we just missed each other skiing. I have no idea where that's coming from.

How sweet, just missed each other on the slopes. Let's hope they don't run into each other.

Which reminds me, this slug for the Lakers Radmanovic slipped in Park City, separated his shoulder and already they're calls for a contract reading to see if he violated a clause by skiing (oh wait, he was in Park City for the great sidewalk shopping, forgive me).

As much as they are paying him, does Nike really let Tiger ski? Guess so. Anyway...

 Q. As a budding golf course architect, when you come to a new venue, come to a new community that has such a historic golfing tradition, do you approach it a little bit differently than when you were just playing, or have you always taken the mindset that, could I come here and design a golf course in place like that?

TIGER WOODS: It's interesting, since I started to get into that part of my life, every golf course I play, I look at the golf course differently now. Why would they construct that? Why would they build this? What were they thinking here? Trying to understand it instead of just plotting my way around the golf course. I do look at golf courses now, and it is kind of fun.

And...

 Q. In your design career and with a new baby on the way, where do you stand in terms of the environmental aspects of golf, and where will you be designing environmentally-friendly golf courses in the future?

TIGER WOODS: That's the whole idea. That's the challenge of it. As an architect, that's what your responsibility is to do, to also provide a wonderful playing environment. That's a task that I think is going to be -- that's been at the forefront for all architects for decades.

Uh, Tiger, they mean are you going to build a wetlands at Al Jambajuicia to mitigate the puddle that you are bulldozing over. Your architecture buddy,
Geoff

"The first Tiger Woods course cannot be a course Tiger likes to play on."

Blasphemy! We're talking about a man who loves Firestone, so I'm sure he can find Al Jumbalya to his liking. Ron Fream does not agree.

Fream told The New Paper: 'Tiger Woods' first golf course will be the product of the ability and talent, knowledge and experience of those who surround him.

'Tiger learned nothing of golf course architecture at Stanford University.

'His ability to focus is so intense that when he walks a golf course, he does not see the course or the surroundings.

'He only sees his ball, his target and then the next target.

'The first Tiger Woods course cannot be a course Tiger likes to play on.

'His design will most likely accommodate many expected tourist visitors and average players and, maybe one day, play host to a championship.

'Tiger knows nothing of land use master planning and, therefore, cannot contribute significantly to the interface of golf and adjacent housing development, which will be a source of revenue to pay off his huge design fee.

'Tiger knows nothing of golf course construction methods. He knows nothing of technical turf-grass maintenance.

'Building a golf course in Dubai, where temperatures often exceed 45 degrees Celsius, gets special expectations for construction and maintenance.'

So how will his course look like?

He said: 'The Tiger Woods course will have dramatic terrain changes as the site is flat now.

'It will use a lot of water for lakes and maybe streams.

'A large number of date palm trees will surround the golf holes.

'Greens cannot be overly contoured. Sand bunkering will be a major attraction.'

 

"Just came across the tracks.''

Doug Ferguson filed a follow up to the Vickers-Finchem press conference stories by going to the Commish so that he could rebut the Vickers post-press conference claims. (Wouldn't it have been easier if they were just honest when the mikes were on?)

The PGA Tour has narrowed it search to four cities to replace the International, and commissioner Tim Finchem said Friday that a return to Washington likely would be the first choice if all options were equal.

The other cities being considered for the Fourth of July spot on the schedule are Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and another market he declined to identify that "just came across the tracks.''

Nothing like a good railroad metaphor.

"When we get done and we're ready to prioritize, if all is about equal and Washington was one of them, we would probably prioritize Washington because we know it's a great time with the Fourth of July ... and it would be nice to have members of Congress involved.''

Why would it be nice to have members of Congress involved? Am I missing something?

Finchem said Congress has been supportive of The First Tee, a program aimed at getting kids involved with golf.

Uh huh.

"On the one hand, the Tour's asking for a new five- or six-year commitment and you've got a one-man show out there right now that is the big difference,'' Vickers said Thursday.

Finchem disagreed. He said if that were true, "we would have a schedule of 18 events.''

"That's just not the case,'' Finchem said. "When Tiger Woods plays, more people watch on TV and more tickets are sold. When he doesn't play, a lot of tickets are sold, a lot of money is raised for charity and our TV numbers are solid for the value of a sponsor.''

Uh huh.

"Money was not the big motive for Tiger"

Yes and if you believe that, I have some land in Dubai for a golf...oh wait. Wrong joke.

Anyway, John Garrity offers a few gems in a Dubai-filed column. Writing about Al Ruwaya, home to the first Tiger Woods design... 
The golf course deal had been in the works for a couple of years, and local sources say that Sheikh Mohammed had to fend off a strong bid from Chinese interests, who were equally determined to land Tiger's first course design. ("Money was not the big motive for Tiger," says businessman and seven-time UAE golf champion Ismail Sharif. "There were other countries that would offer one more zero to get him.")
I guess I would tell myself that too if I was writing a check for $45 million.
Woods was coy when asked if he planned to spend much of his week in the desert, stepping off yardages and planting little red flags. ("I'll probably go out to the site and take a look.") His nascent design team, however, met with the Tatweer staff and got the ball rolling. Tiger's man on the ground was his childhood friend and high school teammate, Bryon Bell, who caddied for Woods on occasion before going to work at the Tiger Woods Foundation. Bell will reportedly manage Tiger Woods Design from an office in Orlando, Fla.

Tiger at Riviera?

My interest in Tiger Woods playing at Riviera is purely selfish (it's pretty boring without him!).

Over at ESPN.com, the boys are debating their usual FACT or FICTION topics and they all say he's going to play.

Obviously, they don't remember that Tiger got caught in two hours of about the most hideous Friday afternoon traffic I've ever seen while battling the flu and Stevie's brilliant decision to leave the umbrella in the locker with a slim rain chance.

But in this suck up piece, Tim Rosaforte starts laying out all of the excuses for why Tiger's not playing, most of which the scribblers in San Diego were fed last week in the pre-planning for a likely no-show at Riviera.

Right now Tiger's playing with a three-club wind at his back -- but to quote Bob Seger, it's all about deadlines and commitments. After the Desert Classic, he's hanging around to check out his $25 million golf course project, and then jetting back to a short week in California after flying back through 12 time zones. What to leave in, what to leave out?

Hmmm, I don't know, the ones that don't pay big appearance fees?

Of course, while we're doing the whole Seger Against the Wind metaphor...

And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I
Guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was livin to run and runnin to live
Never worried about payin or even how much I owe

Okay, well maybe not the part about how much he owes.

Tiger's Winning Percentage

Golfobserver.com's Sal Johnson cooked up this stat on Tiger:

Highest winning percentage's on the PGA Tour:
Player     Percentage (wins / starts)
Tiger Woods     27.36% (55 out of 201)
Ben Hogan     20.7% (61 of 294)
Byron Nelson     17.8% (50 of 281)
Sam Snead     14.9% (81 of 549
Jack Nicklaus     12.2% (73 of 594)
Billy Casper     9.2% (51 of 556)
Arnold Palmer     8.4% (62 of 734)

The More Impressive Streak?

If you are a bit turned off by the streak of PGA Tour PGA TOUR branded wins, this Tiger streak of no finish worse than 2nd as listed in today's L.A. Times is probably more impressive.

Since missing the cut at the U.S. Open last June, Tiger Woods has finished no worse than second in 12 stroke-play events, a streak that includes victories in his last seven PGA Tour tournaments:

Date    Tournament    Course    Site    Result
July 6-9, 2006    Cialis Western Open    Cog Hill    Lemont, Ill.    T-2*
July 20-23    British Open    Royal Liverpool    Hoylake, Eng    1*
Aug. 3-6    Buick Open    Warwick Hills    Grand Blanc, Mich.    1*
Aug. 17-20    PGA Championship    Medinah    Medinah, Ill.    1*
Aug. 24-27    Bridgestone Invitational    Firestone    Akron, Ohio    1*
Sept. 1-4    Deutsche Bk Champ.    TPC of Boston    Norton, Mass.    1*
Sept. 28-Oct. 1    American Exp Champ.    The Grove    Hertfordshire, Eng    1*
Nov. 9-12    HSBC Champions    Sheshan    Shanghai    2
Nov. 16-19    Dunlop Phoenix    Phoenix    Miyazaki, Japan    2
Nov. 21-22    PGA Grand Slam    Poipu Bay    Poipu, Hawaii    1
Dec. 14-17    Target World Challenge    Sherwood    Thousand Oaks    1
Jan. 25-28, 2007    Buick Invitational    Torrey Pines    La Jolla    1*
* PGA Tour Event