Roundup: Tiger's Coming Back (Again)

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Steve DiMeglio with the USA Today take on Tiger announcing a December return to the Hero World Challenge, just as Hank Haney guaranteed.

I wrote about why I'm buying stock in Tiger this time around for the weekly Golfweek and now posted online. This was before we knew of the Hero entry today, but with all signs pointing to a comeback (again).

And some of the same points are noted by Will Gray at GolfChannel.com. In particular: Tiger's lighter and more open approach:

To his credit, Woods appears to have used his time away from the game to turn over a new, self-deprecating leaf. He grinned his way around Liberty National as an assistant captain and displayed a level of self-awareness with his “return of the stinger” tweet last week that would have seemed out of place a decade ago.

Even Monday’s announcement included a reference to the “committee of 1” which granted Woods, the tournament host, an exemption specifically reserved for the tournament host.

The thought of a largely healthy Woods returning to action is tantalizing enough, but for that same player to be willing to have a little fun while trying to keep up with players half his age? The internet has combusted over less.

Ryan Lavner summarizes the views of Notah Begay, who is pleasantly surprised but how quickly things are going all of a sudden after Tiger showed great patience in his latest rehab process.

Here he was explaining:

Jason Sobel at ESPN.com reminds us to not get carried away with some of the deja vu all over again aspects to this.

Woods made a similar return from injury at this same event last year, finishing in a share of last place among those who completed four rounds, but in a tie for the tournament lead in birdies with eventual champion Hideki Matsuyama.

A month later, Woods missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, which was followed by the withdrawal in Dubai a week later.

ESPN's Bob Harig explains how Tiger green-lit this comeback and says the Hero World Challenge is "a nice soft landing" spot.


Before the news, Damon Hack and I discussed the different signs this time around:

Tiger Woods To Play In 2017 Hero World Challenge!

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Fantastic news!

For Immediate:

TIGER WOODS TO PLAY IN 2017 HERO WORLD CHALLENGE
 
Tournament Host Tiger Woods to make his return to competitive golf at Albany, Bahamas. Woods and Daniel Berger round out the 18-player field. Tickets available at HeroWorldChallenge.com
 
ALBANY, Bahamas – Following nine months away from competitive golf, tournament host Tiger Woods is set to make his return at the 2017 Hero World Challenge Nov. 30 - Dec. 3 at Albany, Bahamas.
 
“I am excited to return to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge,” Woods said. “Albany is the perfect setting and it will be great to join this outstanding field. I want to thank Pawan Munjal and Hero MotoCorp for their continued support of this tournament and my foundation. I would also like to thank the fans for their unwavering support during my injury.”
 
Woods, whose TGR Live organization manages the Hero World Challenge, is a five-time winner of the event. Tiger Woods Foundation is the event’s charitable beneficiary along with the Tavistock Foundation and Bahamas Youth Foundation.
 
Joining Woods in the 2017 Hero World Challenge field is Daniel Berger. Woods and Berger round out the final two spots in the elite 18-player Hero World Challenge field. Berger is coming off one of his best years as a professional, earning his second career PGA TOUR win and representing the United States in the Presidents Cup.
 
2017 Hero World Challenge field:
Name (Official World Golf Ranking as of 9/25/17), Country
 
Dustin Johnson (1), USA
Jordan Spieth (2), USA
Hideki Matsuyama (3), Japan
Justin Thomas (4), USA
Jason Day (7), Australia
Rickie Fowler (8), USA
Brooks Koepka (11), USA
Matt Kuchar (12), USA
Justin Rose (13), England
Alex Noren (14), Sweden
Marc Leishman (16), Australia
Tommy Fleetwood (17), England
Francesco Molinari (18), Italy
Patrick Reed (20), USA
Charley Hoffman (23), USA
Kevin Kisner (24), USA
Tiger Woods (tournament host), USA
Daniel Berger (exemption), USA

What Is Tiger Up To, Files: The Stinger And Now A Podcast?!

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Ok a few swing videos and Mr. Stubborn is even forgetting all of the pleas to just hit the darned stinger and even putting that back in the repertoire. Someone is feeling it! Hashtagging Star Wars? Next thing you know he'll be rolling out emojis, GIFs and doing podcasts. (Paul Doyle with the details of Tiger's interview in the can with UConn coach Geno Auriemma.)

And the responses were just as fun:

Firefighting Mid-Am Champ's Masters Dream: A Practice Round With Tiger Woods

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Not that Tiger ever sets goals for injury return on such things, but the older, maybe more sentimental and "making progress" Woods might just relish the chance to fulfill the dream of U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion Matt Parziale. After all, it would mean Woods was even well enough to play The Masters.

From Doug Ferguson's story on the Massachusetts firefighter who won the U.S. Mid-Amateur last week, earning him berths into the Masters and U.S. Open:

Parziale was 9 when he watched the Masters for the first time and saw Woods break 20 records on his way to a 12-shot victory. He was 16 when Woods won a World Golf Championship at Capital City Club, the very place where Parziale realized so many of his golf dreams.

So when asked if he could play a practice round at the Masters with one person, Parziale didn’t hesitate.

“Tiger, and there’s not even a close second,” he said. “I play golf because of Tiger Woods. I was the perfect age to see him.”

Hank Likes What He Sees In Tiger's Swing

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Tiger shares a swing video featuring driver and his old instructor, Hank Haney, chimed in with a positive review.

That’s a swing he could win with, it’s not across the line and stuck inside coming down, a little stiff looking but it’s good enough

The Tweet in case you don't believe me:


Even better, the cautious approach from agent Mark Steinberg sounds like Team Tiger has learned from past mistakes, offering just enough reason to be optimistic but not committing to a comeback timetable.

From Bob Harig's ESPN.com exclusive on Tiger getting the go-ahead to be a full time golfer again.

"He got a nice report and is allowed to proceed," Steinberg said. "He can do as much as he needs to do. Tiger is going to take this very, very slowly. This is good, but he plans to do it the right way."

We discussed on Morning Drive that the signs point to all positives, but I understand, we've seen this movie before. However, the rhythm and audacity to post clips suggests this is a different.

Flashback, Tiger On Distance: "There's different ways you can get around it so that we're all playing under certain speed limits."

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In Sunday's Irish Independent, Dermot Gilleece took an entertaining look at the golf ball, considering its role in the game as a precious piece of equipment compared to other sports.

He was inspired by comments from Rory McIlroy during last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship at St. Andrews to revisit the idea of a tournament ball and recounted this exchange with Tiger Woods.

The comments were from the 2004 American Express Championship at Mount Juliet.

DG: "Would you be prepared to play with an official tournament ball designated for each event?"

TW: "What do you mean by 'tournament ball'? Do you mean with the same spin rate, same launch angle, hover, same speed of core?"

DG: "I mean a uniform golf ball that would be the same for everybody."

TW: "So everybody plays with the same spinning golf ball?"

DG: "Same golf ball."

TW: "I don't think that would be right because there's too many guys have different games and different types of swing. But I think you should put a limit on the speed of a golf ball, the spin-rate of a golf ball. You can increase the spin of the golf ball and make it so that we don't hit the ball as far. You can decrease the speed of the core. There's different ways you can get around it so that we're all playing under certain speed limits. Hopefully that will be the answer to a lot of the problems that we're having with golf course design around the world."

That was 2004!

As an aside to the speed limit comment, check out the shift in LPGA Tour leading driving distances from 2002 to 2017. While about a 10 yard limit, there is nothing going on like we're seeing in the men's game where optimization of launch conditions suggests gains are being made by top men that are out of proportion with gains the rest of the sport has enjoyed:

2002:

2017:

Bridgestone CEO: Tiger More Valuable As An Endorser Than He Is As A Player

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Catherine Campo at CNBC summarizes Bridgestone CEO Angel Ilagan's assertion that Tiger "on board" is spurring growth for the game and Bridgestone.

More fascinating is Ilagan's assertion that Tiger is better endorsing than playing.

"He actually has more power as an endorser than he does as a player," the CEO said.

He added that Woods is "the Michael Jordan of golf" and "the single golfer who's had the greatest impact of bringing consumers into [the game]."

Ilagan's suggested that as long as Woods is around (on or off the green), the golf industry is safe.

"I think the industry is in a little bit of panic, although it really need not be," he added.

All of the delusional talk can be viewed here...

Bridgestone bets on Tiger from CNBC.

 

Task For Bros: Tiger And Phil Show They're Friends, But Will They Hang Around When The Other Wins (Again)?

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Of course not, but it's still nice to see these two rivals and Task Force partners sharing in the celebratory mood and no doubt thanking their bud Tom Watson for helping bring everyone closer together. Next thing you know they'll be hanging out by the 18th green the next time one of them wins a golf tournament.

This big hug followed Team USA's 2017 Presidents Cup win.

After play, the two insisted it's the media's fault for not seeing what friends they are, reports Will Gray for GolfChannel.com. Tiger:

“I think the press has made it out to be more than what it has been. We’ve been friends for a very long time,” Woods said. “We’ve had some tough moments where we’ve lost some cups, and also the flip side is we’ve had some great success. Hopefully, going forward, we can continue doing it.”

Tiger's Looking Forward To A (Golf Course) Proactive Chairmanship From Fred Ridley

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Tiger Warren Wind's 1500 word blog post yielded the predictable glee over news of putting contests at the house with Rickie and Justin, but there were a few more intriguing references for the seasoned Woods observer.

Given his recent book and the extensive chapter on technology taking away much of the Augusta National he knew, this Woods line regarding new Chairman Fred Ridley suggests he's looking for changes.

All of the players are looking forward to becoming better acquainted with his successor, Fred Ridley. He’s an accomplished player and I look for him to be more instrumental on the golf course side of things and how it plays.

No more mowing fairways toward tees, maybe?

A firmer, tighter and faster Augusta National would show how ridiculously dated the course has become despite governing body claims of a distance flatlining over the last decade.

Either way, a throwaway line from Woods is a reminder that with the change in Chairmanships, something of note is around the corner.

"Michael Phelps: A Golden Shoulder to Lean On"

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The headline-grabbing comments from Michael Phelps broke last week, but it wasn't until Sunday's hard copy edition of the New York Times did I get to read the entire (excellent) Karen Crouse story.

It's a fascinating look at the work Phelps is doing to talk about depression and substance abuse. Crouse detailed in this separate Times Insider item how she got the greatest Olympian to talk and about the location (Scottsdale National Golf Club).

Here is one of the excepts related to Woods:

Phelps contacted Woods through a mutual friend, the Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay III, who was Woods’s teammate at Stanford. A recovering alcoholic, Begay had reached out to Phelps around the time he sought help at the Meadows. Their first phone conversation lasted two hours.

Begay said Phelps was almost uniquely qualified to support Woods.

“Michael can provide honest and direct feedback, and that’s what athletes of their caliber need the most,” Begay said. “Athletes at their level of accomplishment, they have 100 people lined up around the corner trying to sell something to them or do something for them, and it’s hard to filter out, to decide, who is looking out for their best interests.”

Tiger's People: "Tiger is not in partnership with Mr. Trump or his organization and stating otherwise is absolutely wrong."

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As reported by Alan Shipnuck in a lengthy Sports Illustrated look at President Donald Trump's connections to golf, a purported comment to Bedminster members--"The White House is a real dump"--has been picked up by AP and many other news agencies.

More interesting of the many anecdotes and backstories is the distance Tiger's camp wants to have from the President. Damac Properties has commissioned Woods' design operation to do a course at Trump Dubai. 

Shipnuck writes:

The biggest name in golf is now linked to the President through the Trump World Golf Club Dubai, which is slated to open in 2018. "My father and Tiger have been friends for a long time," Eric Trump told Golf.com in a '16 interview. "They've been very, very close. When you combine Trump and Tiger, it's a match made in heaven." But in a statement to Golf.com, Woods's spokesman Glenn Greenspan wrote: "Tiger is not in partnership with Mr. Trump or his organization and stating otherwise is absolutely wrong. Tiger Woods Design's contract and obligation is to the developer, Damac Properties. Our association ends there. I can't put it any clearer than Tiger Woods Design does not have an agreement with Mr. Trump."

Deep breaths Glenn, he is, after all, President of the United States. Tiger played golf with him just last December!

And of course there are press releases.