First Tiger Statement-Reading Question: What Timing!
/Okay, unless he's announcing that he's playing the Waste Management Open next week, there is simply no good reason for Tiger to hold this statement reading on Friday.
Read MoreIn golf construction art and utility meet; both are absolutely vital; one is utterly ruined without the other. GEORGE THOMAS
It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
The Amazon purchase page for the book arriving June 15, 2026.
Tiger Woods To Make Public Statement At PGA TOUR Headquarters, 11 a.m. ET Friday**
/PGATour.com posts this news on their site:
Now, according to Darren Rovell on Twitter, there will be no Q&A. And he reports this from agent Mark Steinberg: "Tiger will make a public statement to begin to make amends."
But what a great way to upstage his old friends at Accenture by doing this the week they host a tour event!
For those of you with jobs, PGATour.com's Brian Wacker reports that it will be streamed live on PGATour.com. I suspect it might get picked up a few other places too.
Update on 2010-02-17 20:40 by Geoff
**This ESPN.com story, includes these new wrinkles:
Woods will speak to a small group of reporters at 11 a.m. Friday from the clubhouse of the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., home of the PGA Tour.
"This is all about the next step," Mark Steinberg, his agent, told The Associated Press. "He's looking forward to it."
Steinberg said Woods would speak to a "small group of friends, colleagues and close associates" about his past and what he plans next, along with apologizing for his behavior.
He said three wire services would be invited, and he was asking the Golf Writers Association of America to pick a small group of reporters to serve as a pool. Steinberg said there would be one pool camera, but it would be available live via satellite.
Woods will not be taking questions.
Steinberg was also asked why this couldnt wait until after the Accenture match play.
Michael Buteau filed portions of the above story it appears, and also filed this Bloomberg version. Note that the first two to report the Woods press conference story were Bloomberg and CNBC's Darren Rovell.
“Tiger Woods will be speaking to a small group of friends, colleagues and close associates at 11:00 a.m. EST Friday at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida,” the statement said. “Tiger plans to discuss his past and his future and he plans to apologize for his behavior.”
"Just like on television, the interview room was full of chairs, although surprisingly, most of them were empty."
/The match play gets underway tomorrow and while I couldn't find anyone writing about how they had to blow up a bunch of the Nicklaus greens to make the host course tolerable, I did enjoy a few stories. First this from John Huggan on the key to match play success:
Read More"I think all of his advantages are probably gone."
/Another bold proclamation from Johnny Miller, as reported in Doug Ferguson's notes column.
Meanwhile TMZ reports that Tiger met with Tavistock officials to plot his likely comeback appearance March 22-23, followed by the Masters.
Should Tom Watson Receive A U.S. Open Exemption?
/
I say absolutely. Second place in the previous year's Open Championship should do it, no?
Doug Ferguson brought it up in his AP notes column today and Golfweek's Adam Schupak notes this for the reason the USGA may not have announced it at this point:
Decisions regarding special exemptions generally are made around the time of the Masters, according to USGA spokesperson Rand Jerris. Some insiders tell me it’s a done deal and the USGA just waited for the end of Jim Vernon’s reign as president to avoid any implication of favoritism, because Vernon and Watson are old fraternity brothers.
“Everyone wants to be a pro, so why not act like one?”
/Sean Martin looks at how the groove rule change for PGA Tour and major championship play is impacting college golf.
Read More"The golf ball was found when the undertakers made an incision in the upper chest and neck area during the embalming."
/Blogging has opened my eyes to many things, but none moreso than the sheer number of deaths caused by cart accidents, golf club bludgeonings and other other assorted golf related deaths. But the investigation launched after a Dublin businessman's post-mortem turned up a golf ball in the throat, qualifies as a first. Cormac Byrne reports.
Read MoreOpen Returning to Liverpool In '14
/Here's the scoop. After St. Andrews this year, three of the next four will be contested in England.
Read MoreUSGA Tweaks Pebble's 14th
/Mike Davis kindly reported back about the troublesome 14th at Pebble Beach and the extreme chipping area that led to AT&T final round dramatics.
After studying the 14th green situation for about 45 minutes today, we decided to bring the rough up on the left side about half-way. I think that will, on balance, provide the fairest outcome. It will allow balls just left of the green to roll down about 5 paces and then be caught by rough. The player would have an uphill shot that could be played with a bump and run or a high-lofted pitch. It will give the player under the tree down on the flat area a play (which he never had before with thick rough) – hit a low pitch out of the rough onto the closely mown area and run it up the hill. I think this scenario will challenge the players from all four sides of the green … try to get their ball up onto what might be the smallest (effective) green for any major competition (that I know of).
Once again, great to see Davis and the committee unafraid of making adjustments this close to the tournament in the name of common sense. Not that the 14th still won't keep Davis and championship committee chair Tom O'Toole up at night, but this modification should cut down on some extreme goofiness. Though the front hole location will still be a beast.
"Nothing would advance the public’s embrace of naturalistic golf course maintenance more than to see more diversity in tournament course preparation"
/Brad Klein also thinks that any talk by the USGA about using less water and brown golf can only happen with help from tournament venues and the PGA Tour.
Read More"Definition of insanity? Playing West Coast Swing in January & February! Only 2 bad months of weather for the entire year."
/John Strege makes what seems like an old but entirely necessary case for flipping the Florida and California PGA Tour swings.
Read More"If the last half hour has been torture for you, you have no idea what is has been like for us!"
/John Huggan looks at the CBS telecast via Sky Sports' feed that he endured overseas this weekend.
Read MorePebble's 14th And Chipping Areas **
/The Bryce Molder and Paul Goydos' 14th hole follies during Sunday's AT&T final round raised all sorts of interesting questions heading into this summer's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
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