Brandel Expands On His Tiger Critique

I've never thought Brandel Chamblee's critiques were anything but well thought out and carefully considered, so I'm a little surprised he had to pen this defense of his comments during the Golf Channel Powered By Dick Ebersol "State of the Game" criticism of Tiger's swing changes.

As for the negativity, in some cases I’m guilty as charged. I cannot as an analyst find reason to compliment a player who abandons proven methods for more pedestrian ones. What if he is ultimately successful in his endeavors to change his swing and win majors? He would end up right where he started, at the cost of time, which is every athlete’s most valuable commodity. Furthermore, it would have cost him considerable wear on a body that has not aged well. All of this makes me question whether it is one of the most confusing things we have seen in golf.

Clearly he hasn't watched the homeless golfer wrist-slasher of a reality show on his own network!

Rory Riffs On Tiger; Where Was Chubby's Red Pen?

Okay, we're not in Stephen Ames territory quite yet, but you do have to wonder what Rory McIlroy thinks there is to gain from these comments about Tiger in a self-bylined golf.com item that appears in this week's SI Golf Plus special issue.

I wasn't playing against Tiger Woods when he had that aura. I was watching on TV! I remember getting nervous when I first met him. I was 15. There was a presence about him. There still is to some extent, but when you're on the golf course you simply block it out. But Tiger is not playing as well as he was even a couple of years ago, never mind going back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he was at his best. I'm not sure we are going to see him dominate again the way he did. He never seemed like he would make a mistake.

Okay, that was edgy but at least that's the...oh there's more.

It's not that he's playing badly. He's simply playing badly by Tiger's standards. He's playing like an ordinary golfer. People expect more of him because of what he has achieved. As much as I would love to have the success that Tiger has had on the golf course, I wouldn't want to live his life. He has made the same mistakes as any footballer, or NBA or NFL player. Tiger is obviously different from the rest of us because he is a bit of a rock star. But he can't really take his kids to the cinema. It's a tough life because of what he has done and what he represents, being the first African-American golfer to break down the barriers.

Why didn't Rory's ten-percenter, Chubby Chandler, turn into Ben Bradlee on this one? Or do they just not ever anticipate having to face Tiger in contention anymore and enjoy beating the lad while he's down?

Or...maybe this was just a ploy to bury the real lede: Rory writing that The Players has lost its luster moving to May!

Tiger: No Doubt The Process Of More Reps Will Not Take Place At The Honda Classic

Steiny issues a Thursday statement so that Tiger's fans can do something Friday besides sitting around hoping he'll add the Honda Classic to his schedule.

Johnny: Tiger Needs A Win, Especially Since NBC Televises The Next Six Events

From today's conference call, reported by Randall Mell:

“Tiger just needs a win, the bottom line is that it could be the Hershey Bar Open,” Miller said. “He needs to say, `Hey, I can win again.' . . . He better win something before Augusta, because it's just too hard to go a couple years, or whatever it's going to be, to win at Augusta without winning. I’m not saying he can't do it, like Jack Nicklaus did winning the Masters out of nowhere in '86, but he needs a win.”

Today's Tiger Presser Would Have Been More In Depth And Compelling Via Twitter

 A "no doubt," a "Got to take it one match at a time," but no "it's all right in front of you." Frankly, his Twitter Q&A sessions are more revealing.

Hey, I have an idea. He should pull out his phone and scribes could tweet him questions next time!

As for insights, the only one came in a question. It sounds like someone in the room realizes that the days of visits to the remote Tucson backcountry may be numbered.

Q. Would you like to see it stay here in Arizona?

TIGER WOODS: I think it's a great event here. When we moved from the Gallery to here, it's two neat golf courses, two good match play courses. Some drivable par 4s, some par 5s are reachable. The greens are just enough where they are undulating enough where it presents a little bit of a problem. And you know, on calm days generally the scores are pretty low. When the wind blows out here, right around par, couple under par usually gets a match done.

"It's proving even tougher to live up to his own words."

Doug Ferguson makes the case that while Tiger is definitely not living up to his own words as Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of his infamous Ponte Vedra speech, there is some perspective required on the fine and spit saga.

Actually, it does get slightly lower when it comes to expectorations.

Imagine being in the group behind Sergio Garcia when he bent over and dropped a loogie into the cup after missing a short putt on the 13th hole at Doral in 2007.

Video of Woods spitting already was going viral on the internet Monday when the European Tour said he will be fined an undisclosed sum for breaching the tour code of conduct.
This was not his first fine.

This was not the first time he's spit.

"Forstmann's lawyers said he never would have bet against Woods since IMG represented him and would benefit if Woods won tournaments."

Thanks to Pete Finch for Tweeting William Cohan's in-depth look at the lawsuits filed against IMG owner Ted Forstmann. The story has remained off the radar as a TMZ item. But this gets into details which, while still leaving suit-filer James Agate's credibility in some doubt, leaves little question that Forstmann loves to bet, helped put Agate in debt with the IRS and Forstmann was undoubtedly betting on things he shouldn't have been betting on as the IMG leader. Worst of all, he Forstmann is not denying that he ran his bets through Agate, who worked through bookies in Vegas and Costa Rica.

Legal or not, after Forstmann bought IMG, which represents major sports stars, and then kept placing bets through Agate -- often on IMG's clients -- his gambling fairly reeked of poor judgment. The Tennis Integrity Unit has said such betting violates its rules but that Forstmann's betting occurred before its creation; an NCAA spokesperson says Forstmann is not under its jurisdiction "but that the expectation is that those providing services to the NCAA will not wager on sports." While Agate, by all accounts, including his own, seemed to grow increasingly desperate and unstable, Forstmann has come around to the view that he made a mistake; he has since instituted a ban on college-sports gambling at IMG.

There wasn't one before?

As for the explosive charge of betting against Tiger, it still sounds sketchy. Though not sketchy enough to likely offend Woods or any other client learning that the boss could be rooting against you.

Agate also claims Forstmann bet "several times against" Tiger Woods, also an IMG client, to lose to Vijay Singh, another (now former) IMG client and onetime friend of Forstmann's. Forstmann's lawyers said he never would have bet against Woods since IMG represented him and would benefit if Woods won tournaments. Agate's charge "defies logic and common sense," they wrote. (Of course, by betting for Federer in 2007, Forstmann was necessarily betting against IMG client Nadal.)

But how much does IMG really benefit from Tiger winning tournaments?

On a less important note, there was this:

That's when Agate gave a copy of the proposed suit to gossip website TMZ. Forstmann was served the lawsuit, plus a copy of the still-unfiled complaint with the betting records, two days later on a Saturday in the parking lot of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, near his home in Southampton, N.Y.

A few weeks later, hearing nothing from Forstmann, Agate filed the amended complaint with the betting information. All hell broke loose.