"He had to go to the pro shop to buy golf balls before the playoff"

Doug Ferguson's weekly notes column features a fun bit on Tiger seeking and getting only his second autographed piece of memorabilia from Dodgers great Sandy Koufax, and these anecdotes from Open Championship winner Padraig Harrington's new book:

He used three drivers during the British Open, going from a 9-degree loft in practice to a 7.5-degree loft in the first two rounds to an 8.5-degree loft on the weekend. The latter, which he used to drive into the Barry Burn on the 72nd hole, is still in his bag.

He had to go to the pro shop to buy golf balls before the playoff because he couldn't find the extra balls he had set aside, although he located them moments before he teed off against Sergio Garcia.

Tiger Tops Rory By 19, Setting Up Monty-Sabbatini Dewsweepers Pairing

Since it was 29 degrees in Malibu Canyon this morning and 31 when I pulled into Sherwood, you can imagine how many people will be rushing out to see Rory Sabbatini attempting to repeat his trio of triple bogies while Monty sees if he can run faster than Rory and perhaps even catch the hole cutter during Saturday's round at Sherwood.

Oh, by the way, Tiger fired 62 and said the greens were soft.

Q.  How would you characterize the course setup today, and what do you think of the job the field staff does in general?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, the field staff set it up probably a little bit more difficult today pin wise, but the greens were soft.  I mean, that's the thing that allows us to be aggressive.  I fire at pins that I normally don't fire at here.  One, we had no wind, and we had greens that were backing balls up.  We had to watch out for spinning the ball back too much with 9 irons and wedges.  They did all they can do to hide the pins and make it a little more difficult, but when you've got receptive greens then the guys are going to shoot good scores.

I walked on all 18 of them while touring the course with John Mutch of the PGA Tour field staff and while the greens may not have been brick hard, to call them soft is an exaggeration. Several were frozen until nearly 10 a.m.

Admittedly, Sherwood's greens and today's locations did allow for shots to be funneled to the hole, but soft?

If those are soft and guys are spinning it back, then maybe U-grooves do have to go. I'd hate to think what Tiger considres to be a firm green.
 

"What you're trying to prevent is the kids look up to athletes, and you don't want to have kids going down the wrong path at an early age and knowing that they can get away with it."

Sherwood was abuzz today...with talk of the Mitchell Report. This meant all of us got to listen to Art Spander do a live radio interview (actually, Art talked loud enough that he really didn't need to phone this one in).

When Tiger Woods came in the cart barn after his opening 69, he was asked by Doug Ferguson about the possibility of such a report in golf had the new drug testing program not been started, and Tiger said what I've been ranting and raving about forever and which no one in a position of power has said, which is odd considering their devotion to family values.

Q. If the TOUR doesn't have this testing now, do you think there eventually could have been a Mitchell report for golf?

TIGER WOODS: I think it could happen. What you're trying to prevent is the kids look up to athletes, and you don't want to have kids going down the wrong path at an early age and knowing that they can get away with it.

"Fairways are much tighter…and this is further evidenced by the fact that Fred Funk -- who is the benchmark for fairways -- is down in accuracy about 6 percent"

Bob Harig catches up with Hank Haney, who makes a long overdue point about Tiger's driving and the accuracy decline of other top players.

And the easy place to look was at Woods' driving accuracy, which had dropped from over 70 percent in 2000 to under 60 percent this year -- with varying degrees of difficulty in hitting fairways during that time.

"Wouldn't it be more relevant to compare Tiger to the other players?'' said Haney, who pointed out that most players have lost accuracy over the past five years.

Among the reasons Haney cites are the fact that players are hitting the ball farther, fairways are tighter, they are using more drivers off the tee in an attempt to overpower courses and they are using drivers with longer shafts (45 inches now, compared to 43).

"Simple geometry says that even a driver that averages one yard farther will miss more fairways,'' he said. "And Tiger is much longer" -- 293.3 yards in 2002 versus 302.4 yards in 2007 -- "than he was.

"Fairways are much tighter … and this is further evidenced by the fact that Fred Funk -- who is the benchmark for fairways -- is down in accuracy about 6 percent, despite the fact that he has lost distance since 2002.''

Remember, those in favor of grooves regulation suggest these guys thump away at the ball because they have grooves, yet have never mentioned that the decrease in accuracy could also be influenced by narrowing fairway widths.

"Woods either uses things as motivation to take his seemingly indestructible golf game to higher levels or simply blocks them out of his mind."*

Yahoo!'s Martin Rogers is the only scribe (golf.com's Michael Walker also weighed in*) to cover the odd events at Tiger's Tuesday press conference, but he draws a much different conclusion from the incident than I have.

Despite the intrusion of a rogue television crew from a British dating program that tried to embarrass the world's No. 1, there was not a crack in his professional demeanor or a flicker of annoyance.

"Hi Tiger, my boyfriend is a big fan of yours, but he often calls your name out during sex," squealed a pile of mascara and cleavage from the third row. "Do you think he might be gay?"

"That's a very interesting question," replied Woods.

The conversation continued, with the woman making a suggestive comment about a golf club – too lewd for this online publication – and Woods giving a neutral answer.

"I think I should dump him and get back with my ex," the woman said of her "boyfriend" toward the end of her routine.

"I guess you have to figure that out," Woods said.

"I think I should meet someone new. Do you think I should join a dating Web site?"

With that, the woman and her camera crew were ordered to leave by tournament staff.

Immediately, the event's PR crew started fretting as to how annoyed Woods would have been by the exchange and how it might affect him.

Somehow, I don't think they need to worry.

Woods either uses things as motivation to take his seemingly indestructible golf game to higher levels or simply blocks them out of his mind. If more than a decade's worth of the best golfers in the world have failed to shake him out of his stride it will take more than a Spice Girl wannabe and her misguided humor to throw him off.

After sleeping on it, I'm of the school that this incident needs to be examined by the PGA Tour quite carefully. The AP's Doug Ferguson has noted for some time that these meet-and-greet sessions with Tiger are out of control. If I'm Tiger or his agent, I would have to see Tuesday's incident as more than just an annoying little incident, but instead as a serious security issue.

He certainly can handle a heckler better than just about anyone. But what if one of these mysterious TV types that now get access to press conferences so that the PGA Tour can reach out to the coveted youth demo included someone who wanted to do physical harm?

"If I ruled golf? We'd be playing persimmon and balata"

Jaime Diaz turns in another classic Tiger profile in what seems to be a now-annual state of Tiger piece, this time accompanied by Walter Iooss Jr. images.

So many great anecdotes here related to Hank Haney and a young golfer he's mentoring, but naturally this was my favorite:

Most important to his longevity, Woods continues to have fun with a game he has never stopped loving. He seeks practice rounds with Bubba Watson, who entertains Woods with his freakish power and loose-jointed grace. Woods hits a bevy of persimmon-head drivers and fairway woods on the range at Isleworth, saying he loves the sound and feel and the smaller margin for error. "If I ruled golf? We'd be playing persimmon and balata," he says.

What To Ask Tiger?

I'll be sitting in on Tiger's pre-Target press conference today with the hope of slipping a question, though the event has become a bit of a mess between all of the television reporters and the conference call participation.

I have a question in mind for him, but if you have something you want asked, please post it, and if I like it I may just use it. Or maybe one of the pen-pushers present will see it and ask.

Update on 2007-12-11 16:26 by Geoff

Jill Painter reports on the cool ads that have been running to promote the Target, featuring an unusual charcoal drawing of Tiger. The ads are in sharp contrast to what we normally see for the Nissan (RIP) Open, which chose to go with a minimalist no-ad concept. Let's hope the Northern Trust people learn from that mistake.

"The world's best player charges $4 million to drive through the gate."

Trevor Grant treads thoughtfully through the minefield better known as taking on the issue of excessive purses and apperance fees while considering the impact on golf.

Of course, this boundless gluttony has repercussions for those who don't get to sit at the big table.

Last month, after the announcement of a new European Tour event in Dubai, worth a staggering $11 million, US Tour boss Tim Finchem described it as terrific for golf globally.

However, it's hard to see the benefits in this corner of the globe as the Australian golf tour hangs on for dear life, threatened by a tsunami of cash for tournaments in the Middle East and China.

All manner of tactics have been employed to try to prevent Australian golf's plunge towards global irrelevance.

The organisers of the Australian Open, being played this week at The Australian in Sydney, have followed the money trail to New South Wales, where the State Government has agreed to back the event until 2009.

Thus, the national Open has become Sydney-centric, and now ignores one of the best assets in Australian golf - the Melbourne sandbelt.

By 2009 the Open would have been played in this world-acclaimed golf mecca just twice in 12 years - at Kingston Heath in 2000 and Victoria in 2002.

Australia's most significant course, Royal Melbourne, has not hosted the most prestigious event in the country for 16 years.

It's much the same as the British Open ignoring St Andrews, and a sad indictment on the priorities in golf in this country.

Firmly ensconced in Sydney, the Open's priority is said to be the signing of Woods to play next year.

Sources say the pursuit of Woods has the backing of the NSW Government, which wants to make an impact after losing out to its Victorian counterpart in the bid for the 2011 Presidents Cup.

It sounds great for the game here. Except for one thing.

The world's best player charges $4 million to drive through the gate.

The last time he did so in this part of the world, at the NZ Open in 2002, the tournament was a financial disaster.

Elin Settles With Dubliner; Vows To Not Hold It Against Ireland

Thanks to reader Colm for this story on Elin Woods settling her libel case against the Dubliner for printing a baseless story on the eve of the 2006 Ryder Cup. This was a nice touch:

Ms Nordegren Woods is donating all the money to cancer support charities in memory of Irish golfer Darren Clarke's late wife, Heather, who died from breast cancer.

"Do you ever swing the club as hard as you can?"

Thanks to reader Steven T. for this Craig Dolch story recapping Tiger's Monday clinic in Palm Beach where he faced tough scrutiny from the assembled media:

What was your favorite statistic this year?

"Seven wins," Woods said.

Michael (Jordan) used to throw away his shoes after every basketball game? How long do you wear your shoes?"

"Michael did give his shoes away after only one game," Woods said. "But in golf, once you break your shoes in, you want to keep them. I probably keep them for three months."

What type of a grip do you use?

"I use an interlocking grip," he said. "I used a baseball grip until I was 4. But I use different grips when I chip, depending on the shot."

Do you ever swing the club as hard as you can?

"I try not to go much over 90 percent," he said. "You can try and generate more clubhead speed, but I've found the ball goes the farthest when you hit it flush. If you swing hard and don't hit it flush, it goes out there like a 3-iron."

What A Compliment: Rory Calls Day's Remarks Admirable

Rory Sabbitini was asked about Jason Day's assertion that he's going to take Tiger down as well as hopefully join his neighbor for java at the same time:

"Personally, I think Jason Day is a phenomenal talent. I think he is going to be one of the fiercest competitors in years to come.

"I think a good question is would you want to raise a kid saying 'hey, listen, you can be No2, you can't be No1'.

"I think it is admirable that someone is willing to go out there and say, 'yes, I do want to beat him'. You can't let Tiger sit at No1 forever, because that's not going to happen.

"There will be a time when someone's going to overtake him. For him to say I want to be the one that's going to take down Tiger, good for him."

Jason Day Looking To Dethrone Rory's Claim As Best Player Who Could Believes He Could Be Better Than Tiger (And Is Dumb Enough To Tell A Reporter)

Looks like Australian Jason Day has been reading too many of his own press clippings, including this howler from the PGA Tour. From The Age on Nov. 27 (yeah, I'm a little slow).

Day has already claimed his own slice of US golfing history as the youngest player to win a PGA Tour-sponsored event when he won on the secondary Nationwide Tour in July.

"I had a really good amateur career," said Day, who emulated Woods' feat of winning a world junior championship, if not his three consecutive US Amateur crowns.

"Making five out of seven cuts on the PGA Tour (on sponsor invites) was pretty big at 18," he added.

"Winning at 19 and being the youngest on the PGA tour to win ever is pretty big.

Uh...it's called the Nationwi...ah forget it.

"At 19, Tiger didn't win a tournament as a professional.

And that has what to do with this?

"I'm just trying to mark myself up against him.

How about we just play a major first! Or win a PGA Tour event and then we'll try to compare. 

"Next year when I'm on the Tour somehow I've got to win two tournaments because that's what he won and I want to try and keep up with him."

What a good idea!

Day said winning a tournament boosted his confidence.

"At the same time the pressure builds up," he said.

"You're a 19-year-old kid, the youngest kid to ever win a PGA sanctioned event and the media is building you up like you're going to chase down Tiger next year which is a big, big ask for a 20-year-old kid on his first year out on the PGA Tour.

Take that Rory!

"I want to chase Tiger and my goal is to become the number one golfer in the world. That's been my goal since I was a little kid.

"If I work hard on what I need to, I'm sure I can take him down."

Oh but there's more. On whether he thinks Tiger could pick him out of a police lineup:

"He (Woods) watches a lot of golf. He has so much time.

"He played 16 events, what does he do with his time?

"He'd be aware of me, he'd be saying 'here's another kid coming up'

Well if he wasn't aware before, he sure is now.

"I just want to work really hard and take him down."

So glad you repeated it just in case the unbylined writer missed it the first time.

Day owns a house in Orlando just a lob wedge away from Tiger's mansion - at least till Woods relocates to his new spread under contruction.

He hasn't met the great man he plans to dethrone.

"He lives 10 minutes down the road but I've never come across him," he said.

"I must just knock on his door and have a coffee with him and let him know I'm chasing him."

My guess is Tiger doesn't drink coffee Jason. Maybe a carrot juice or some wheat grass.

Meanwhile, Nick O'Hern was asked about the comments. 

"I don't know Jason myself but from what I've heard and from what I've seen, he's a fine player," said O'Hern.

"One thing I've learned about Tiger though is you don't annoy the guy.

"If you do - look what happened to (Rory) Sabbatini and Stephen Ames."

Hey, at least they'd actually played on the PGA Tour and even entered majors, shoot, even contended in majors when they opened their mouths.

"I wouldn't mind that."

Thanks to readers Adam and Jon for catching Tiger's appearance on CNBC to plug the latest swollen spatula from Nike. You can see the video here, but be warned, lots of lame questions from giggly anchors.

I loved that Tiger pointed out how this latest ugly thing you won't find in his bag "sounds a lot better."

Eric Pfahler writes up the interview but mysteriously leaves out a key, key comment.

While other professional sports have standardized equipment, golfers have lots of leeway, though there is some debate about using a standardized golf ball.

“I don’t see how we could get the entire industry to (believe) and go with that,” Woods said. “There would be some serious fighting going on if that was the case because that’s what separates us from other sports.

“It could happen. Augusta threatened to do it, but they just lengthened the golf course so we’re playing from downtown Augusta. We’ll see what happens down the road.”

Whatever technological advances there are in the future could change the game even more, Woods said.

“Seven years, our entire industry’s changed,” Woods said. “How’s it going to be 15 years from now? I don’t know.” 

But this kinda key answer was left out, as you'll see on the video.

Asked about a ball rollback:

"I wouldn't mind that."

Works for me!

Flash: Tiger To Play Dubai!

I was really hoping for a quote stating that since Sam is now old enough, he's going to play abroad more often so that he can make these trips to Dubai educational.

For those keeping score at home, the Dubai event is the same week as the PGA Tour's Scottsdale stop.

So there is still hope that he will consider playing at Pebble Beach and the opportunity to play six hour rounds on Softspike-dented greens. 

"Bear that in mind the next time a so-called expert pops up to claim that Tiger's Butch Harmon swing, circa 2002, is better than the Hank Haney-produced method that he uses these days."

In his Sunday column, John Huggan points out Tiger's dominance on the European Tour.

As a professional he has played in 77 European Tour events, 32 ending in victory to give him an amazing strike rate of 41.56%. In four of every five appearances he has finished in the top ten, and in six of every ten he has made the top three. Along the way he has won €35,166,588, an average of €456,709 every time that he has teed up - never mind any appearance money that he has trousered courtesy of grateful sponsors.

All of which renders ridiculous the almost compulsory and oh-so predictable pro-Rose drumbeating that has resounded as the England media's darling takes an admittedly significant step towards real stardom. Having won only six events in his nine-year professional career - none on the PGA Tour - and only now made it into the world's top-ten players, Rose is still a million miles from the exalted level that Woods has scaled.

While the former child star did extraordinarily well to record top-12 finishes in each of this year's four major championships, a quick look at more numbers reveals that his four-event aggregate was 16 shots worse than that returned by Woods. In other words, Rose has to find one shot per round if he is to challenge the great man in the events that are the genuine measure of any career.

That's an enormous gap in professional terms.

The further bad news for those deranged individuals still harbouring ambitions to challenge Woods in the near future is that the American continues to improve at the age of 31, even with a driver in his hands - the area of the game in which he is perceived by many ignorant judges to be uncharacteristically weak.

A couple of weeks ago, this column ran figures revealing how almost every top player has grown longer and less accurate off the tee over the past five years. While this is true of Woods, his numbers show that, relative to almost every one of his nearest 'challengers' on the world-ranking list, he is better than he was in 2002. Bear that in mind the next time a so-called expert pops up to claim that Tiger's Butch Harmon swing, circa 2002, is better than the Hank Haney-produced method that he uses these days.