Tiger Shows Sergio The Proper Way To Hock A Loogie**

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From Dubai earlier today (postd by kafka01), while playing with Sergio Garcia, who once so infamously dropped a loogie in a cup.

In the video, note the head rotation Tiger demonstrates as he turns to his right and lofts, with admirable trajectory, a healthy dosage of saliva. I think this could indicate the microfiber issue with is neck is improving, giving the PGA Tour hope for a more lucrative television contract.

"As Woods and his advisors already know, their biggest victory in Dubai was sealed on August 22, 2008."

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Shane McGinley follows up on his early week exclusive report with a longer narrative revealing the same facts related to Tiger's contract with Dubai developer Tatweer. The numbers and timing remain staggering, perhaps a tribute to (A) Tiger's miraculous 2008 U.S. Open win and (B) the inability of Tatweer executives to notice that summer's warning signs of the real estate bubble bursting.
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Cliffs Developer Says $150 Million Already Spent On Tiger Project

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With a project completion date of 2013 now, according to Keith Jarrett and Mark Barrett (thanks reader George for the link):

The Cliffs' Asheville region director of sales, Mac Triplett, said Monday that 42 home sites have been sold in a development that features 1,000 to 1,200 lots. Sales officially opened in November 2008.

“That's not exactly correct,” said Anthony. “It's definitely true that all real estate sales are slow, but we brought in a construction group, and now the mass grading (of five holes and the driving range) are two-thirds complete.”

Mass grading. A real walk in the park!

Stick-A-Fork-In Tiger Clippings, Volume 1

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That didn't take long! One bad tournament and he's done!

Joe Posnanski on his Curiously Long Posts blog for SI pens a heartfelt, reasoned critique of Tiger from outside the ropes. The essence: are we in denial about the future of his game? It's a great read even if I think he's a bit premature. Though as he points out, when do we come to grips that things will never be the same?

But I think he is going to enter a new phase, where he will contend occasionally, like other golfers. He is going to enter a phase where it will be difficult to play well for four rounds. He is going to enter a phase where those 10-foot putts that were automatic will not be automatic anymore. I think things have changed for Tiger Woods, and they’re not going back. You can’t ever go back. And I don’t know how he is going to handle that. Nobody knows how he will handle it. Over the weekend, on one of his favorite courses, he looked lost. His swing was off. His short game was off. His putting was off. Yes, it was just his first tournament, but Tiger has always done really well in his first tournament — this was part of his game, he was always more ready to go when the seasons began than anyone else.

Anyway, what was as striking as anything was how uninterested he looked.

On that observation, Tiger's Sunday playing partner Brendan Steele would seem to agree, or so SI is saying they will report in this week's issue of Golf Plus.

"I don't think he gave it ­everything today," Steele told SI. "Once it started going in the wrong direction, I don’t think it had his full attention."

Meanwhile Steve Elling and John Huggan feast on Tiger in an entertaining Pond Scrum:

Elling: Blunt assessment time: I saw a guy who still can't string together four good rounds. He barely pieced together two good nines. Right now, Tiger Woods isn't one of the world's 40 best players. Last night in the San Diego airport, a bunch of scribes were actually discussing what would happen if he never made it back to anything close to his former levels at all. All of a sudden, it didn't sound like heresy.

Huggan: I'm perplexed. Tiger is supposed to have been (working) away since we last saw him at the Chevron and this is what he comes up with? He looked like Justin Leonard's idiot cousin. Can't drive. Can't chip. Can't putt. And let's not even get into his bunker play. Was he digging for buried treasure?

Elling: On Sunday, while he was carding his second-worst score on a course where he has won six of his last seven starts, I was trying to catalog his strengths during the week. Only thing he did above average was hit a few good long irons.

Huggan: Emphasis on a few. Most of the shots I saw were missing California, nevermind Torrey Pines.

Sally Jenkins offers a more diplomatic but essentially similar take:

It will be interesting to see if Woods, in his work with Foley, can really recover the swing of his own youth. Do yourself a favor and pull up some old footage of Woods, back when he was a collegiate player and U.S. Amateur champion. It’s a joy to watch. That kid, all elbows and knees, thwacked at the ball with such unconscious, unthinking pleasure. Now pull up modern footage, and you’ll be struck by the difference, how much stiffer he seems, how much he’s fighting his own body.

At this point, Woods’ swing looks over-taught, and over-thought. Through the years, Woods has gotten steadily more mechanical, as well as visibly stronger and more muscular. Woods’ perfectionism has been his greatest strength, but you have to wonder if all that seeking of improvement, his constant preoccupation with the technical, always serves him so well. Maybe the greatest player in the world overperfected his swing. It would be nice to see a more natural Woods.