"I hope we'll be able to talk at Labor Day about keeping the tour in New England for years to come."

Jimmy Golen reports what sounds like good news for the PGA Tour: Deutsche Bank hoping to continue its sponsorship of the Boston playoff stop. Though there is some hold up to a 2-year extension kicking in but CEO Seth Waugh won't say what that is.

There was also this little buried item about the Tiger Woods, whose charity benefits from the event.

Woods, who has played in only seven tour events so far this season, was 111th on the FedEx Cup points list and would need to move up to make it into the 100-person field at the TPC of Boston.

"Obviously, we all want Tiger to be here," Waugh said. "But if he's not, we have the best 100 players in the world."

Now That's A T-Shirt!

Captured by reader Jay in a U.S. airport (click on it to enlarge):

"As far as I can tell NOBODY is writing off Tiger Woods. And, frankly, by all the available evidence, we SHOULD be writing off Tiger Woods."

Joe Posnanski files a different take on the state of Tiger's game.

And frankly… there’s good reason to write him off. This may sound cruel but I actually mean it as the opposite of cruel: More people SHOULD be writing off Tiger Woods.

First, he will turn 35 at the end of the year. There has been talk that this means Woods will still be in his golfing prime for the next few years, but history tells a different story. Since 1970, the average age of major championship winners is 32, and things tumble off for golfers after age 35. Fewer than a quarter of the major championship winners have been 36 or older. The only players since 1970 to win multiple majors after 35 are: Jack Nicklaus (4), Gary Player (4), Ray Floyd (2), Nick Price (2), Vijay Singh (2), Mark O’Meara (2), Angel Cabrera (2), Padraig Harrington (2).

More to the point, Woods has been dominant for a dozen years — which is a long time to dominate in golf. The greatest golfers have had a fairly short window of time when they dominate, and when that window closes, they stop winning major championships.

Tiger Press Conference Gets Mildly Tense; Tabs To Rejoice

There were a couple of uncomfortable moments in the Tiger Woods press conference today as the standing room only assemblage of inkslingers served and volleyed at St. Andrews. Interestingly, all personal life questions were posed with a wee bit of how shall I say it? No accent...if you live in these parts.

Q.  Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your act on the golf course.  He's gone on record.  Many of us over the years have heard you use the F word, we've seen you spit on the course, and we've seen you throw tantrums like chucking your clubs around.  Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums this week and respect the home of golf?

TIGER WOODS:  I'm trying to become a better player and a better person, yes.

Q.  Your public image has been transformed in the last year or two.  Does it bother you what the public at large thinks of you?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, most of the people have been fantastic.  The places that I've played and the people that have come up to me have been great.  As I said, most of the people have been so respectful over the years here, and I wouldn't see anything different.

Q.  Would it bother you if there was a perception of you as a different sort of person now?

TIGER WOODS:  Hey, it's their opinion.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

And this pointed question on Dr. Spaceman Galea.

Q.  I understand that you had a two‑hour interview with the FBI a couple weeks ago.  Can you confirm that was the case?

TIGER WOODS:  That was the case, yes.

Q.  And are you able to go into any details as to why they specifically wished to speak to you?  And also why you felt it necessary to use a doctor from out of the United States, who apparently is not registered to ‑‑

TIGER WOODS:  Well, I can't go into any of that because of the fact that it's an open case so far.  So that's an ongoing case, so I can't comment.

The real news out of the session, besides six holes now being grassed at his Dubai project (what a relief!), was the revelation that Tiger may abandon the same putter he's used for all major wins this week due to greens he said are Stimping under 9.

TIGER WOODS:  Yeah, I've always been tempted to change my putter on slower greens, and as I said earlier to Steve, I've always struggled when greens are really slow.  My stroke has always been, even from when I was a junior golfer, was built in ‑‑ I always feel more comfortable when the greens get quick.  Some of my best putting rounds were when the greens were running at 14 or something like that on the stimp like at Memorial.  I feel so comfortable on those type of greens.

But on slower greens, I've always had a hard time.  I've always experimented with other putters throughout the years, but I've never put one in play until now.

Update on 2010-07-14 15:47 by Geoff

****Mark Reason's analysis is captivating though he may be reading a bit more into this than necessary!

The opening two questions were asked by Americans and they were softballs. A relieved Woods welcomed them on first-name terms.

BBC 5 Live's Iain Carter then brought up Woods's reduced public image and wondered if St Andrews offered a Road Hole to redemption. Woods gave that the full headlights on beam. The smile was flicked on. He said: "I would like to win no matter what."

A couple of questions later came the first fastball. London press agency man Dick Turner asked: "Tom Watson has said you need to clean up your image on the golf course. Many of us have heard you use the 'F' word, we've seen you spit, we've seen you throw tantrums like chucking your clubs. Are you willing to cut out all those tantrums and respect the home of golf?"

Woods said: "I'm trying to become a better player and a better person."

Then he said his prayers and went to bed. Baby Buddha did not have a lot to say to us, but the media pressed on regardless. How much work did he have to do to rebuild his reputation? Rewind, press play: "Just trying to become a better person."

"It has a little bit to do with the ball."

In Doug Ferguson's account of Tiger's switch to a slightly harder cover in preparation for the Open Championship, it is suggested that his improved driving distance is a combination of ball and improved mechanics.

"The more I keep playing, the better I get," Woods said Saturday after recovering from an atrocious start to shoot even-par 70, making up little ground in the AT&T National. "It has a little bit to do with the ball."

Woods still uses a One Tour, this ball marked with a star symbol between the two words. He started using it this week at Aronimink, most likely as part of his preparations for the British Open in two weeks at St. Andrews, where the wind is often a major factor.

The world's No. 1 player often has talked about how he uses one of the softest golf balls on tour, which gives him greater control around the greens. This version would be helpful in windy conditions because it spins less.

This is the real eye-opener:

Once among the longest hitters in golf, Woods was 21st in driving distance last year. Going into the AT&T National, he was ranked 78th based on two measured drives per round. Through two rounds on a fast, firm Aronimink course, Woods was leading the tournament in driving distance at just over 328 yards.

His additional length was most evident during the second round, when he was playing with Dustin Johnson. On consecutive holes, Woods hit one drive 26 yards past Johnson, and another 10 yards past him. Both led to birdies.

So, we've heard all of these years that the ball is not the real reason for distance gains over the last decade. And we've been told that rolling back the Overall Distance Standard via new ball rules would be complicated and in general, not feasible. Yet here we have Tiger switching balls (and perhaps improving his swing), but we are seeing a serious difference in his driving distance with a simple switch.

Why can't we contemplate a future with a ball that has the characteristics of the pellet Tiger's been using?  A little spinnier, but sharing many of the components that make the modern ball last longer?

"It was confirmed that because he did nothing illegal, he is not the subject of any criminal investigation."

Interesting confirmation from Mark Steinberg that Tiger met with the FBI.

"Tiger willingly spoke to the authorities and cooperated fully," Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, said in an e-mail to the Associated Press Wednesday. "It was confirmed that because he did nothing illegal, he is not the subject of any criminal investigation. Because there is an ongoing investigation involving others, there will be no further comment."