Tiger, The Morning After

Sorry, friends, for the absence the last couple of days....  We've been dealing with a difficult personal issue and I'm just happy that we can spend a little time together laughing at what are truly inconsequential things.

We've let Tiger take a well-deserved victory lap, victory being redefined to mean 15th out of 17....  No doubt these boffo TV ratings are being reviewed as closely as certain precincts in the Michigan recount.....

No doubt that's what Mike Bamberger had in mind with this:

Which leads us to the most significant relationship change for Woods. In his heyday, Woods was the PGA Tour, and the players trying to beat him—Ernie Els, Vijay Singh,

Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, among others—grew weary of answering questions about his greatness. These days the PGA Tour is a collective again, owned and operated by a slew of players. In his prime, Woods didn’t want or need relationships with his touring brethren. But now he does, and he is working on it. He made so much effort at the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, where he was an assistant captain. Ditto at the World Challenge. He makes physical contact with players. He puts a hand on a player’s back. He'll squeeze a neck. He'll exchange high-fives. 

And players are returning the favor in a significant way. In recent months, young stars have all gone out of their way to welcome Woods back to competition, to root for his success.

As others have noted, this generation of golfers grew up watching Tiger dominate, and if your golf hero wants to squeeze your neck, well that's gonna make a tingle go up your leg....  Mike sees a conflict coming, though, if Tiger starts eating their lunch...  to which I can only respond, if only.

To me the greater risk is that he doesn't play well and is merely taking up a spot in tourneys that denies a younger player an opportunity.....

Bob Harig dives in on fleshing out his 2017 schedule, though it starts with this howler:

It also had agent Mark Steinberg constantly distracted by his phone.

"My phone was pretty heated this week leading up to the first round,'' Steinberg said Friday at Albany Golf Club, where the second round of the Hero World Challenge was underway. "But it went from heated to hot.

Steiny, it's not always (or ever) about you.  But here's the heart of the matter:

Although nothing is definitive, likely scenarios include the Farmers Insurance Open at

Torrey Pines in late January, and the Genesis Open at Riviera and the Honda Classic -- near Woods' home in Florida -- both in February. 

Torrey Pines is where Woods has had some of his greatest success, and it's often been a starting point for him in a new year. The tournament at Riviera is now run by the Tiger Woods Foundation, all but guaranteeing his appearance at the Los Angeles event for the first time since 2006. It is the tournament Woods has played the most without a victory, having gone 0-for-9, with eight of those events played at Riviera. 

Adding an overseas event makes things a bit trickier. Woods has played the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Classic and the Omega Desert Classic in the past, and those tournaments bookend the Farmers Insurance Open. Playing Abu Dhabi would mean a 12-time-zone change to San Diego for the next event. The Dubai tournament is two weeks after Abu Dhabi and would allow for a week off following San Diego; it would also give him a week off before Riviera.

Let's take a moment to unpack this, shall we?

Obviously Tiger is going to play at Torrey, why wouldn't or shouldn't he?  He grew up not far away and he's owned the event and the venue....  Riviera is ironic because he loathes the venue, but gotta do it for the children.

But while Mike B. sees a change in the relationship between Tiger and the Tour, I see same-old, same-old.... He ain't gonna pass on a seven-figure appearance fee in the desert, and doesn't want to hear how much his playing at home would help that event.  Just sayin'....

And on that subject, this guy (gal? xir?) isn't exactly playing hard to get:

No worries, mate, Tiger being there is a mortal lock.  Unless, you know, the back....

Lastly, the confluence of Tiger and Ernie at Albany last week led someone to ask Ernie about the greatest shot he saw Tiger hit. It's actually not the one I (and perhaps others) thought, this is the winner:

At the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazletine National, Woods and Els were completing their second round early in the morning when Woods found a left fairway bunker on the par-4 18th hole (the hole played as No. 9 for the 2016 Ryder Cup). 

“He pulled his drive way left and into a fairway bunker, and there was a tree in front of it. He was standing outside the bunker, and this was like 7:30 in the morning,” Els recalled. 

Els couldn’t believe what came next. 

“He picks a 3-iron out of the sand, over the tree and onto the green,” Els said. “I mean, you just can’t make this stuff up. He hit this thing, it had to really climb quickly. At 7:30 in the morning, to hit that kind of a shot, crazy.”

Here's the shot:

Pretty special for sure, though this might have been the first big one to get away from him.

But the thing is, the one that came to my mind is simply the better story...

The best shot Els has ever seen Woods hit? Many will point to a shot Woods hit in the third round of the 2000 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. Playing alongside Els, Woods hit a wedge 190 yards out of a nasty lie and landed the ball on the green.

A great shot, for sure, but Els contests: “I think that was more Feherty going crazy.”

Just to be clear, Feherty doesn't have to go crazy, it's his home address. But shall we let Feherty do his thing?  I thought you'd agree...

Good Times!

I'm working on an Udder Stuff post for later, I'm just not sure how much later....  But this should hold you ungrateful wretches for the time being....