Bonus Saturday Musings

Six inches of fresh stuff, so we're not going to be here long... It might be what we call dust on crust, but we haven't had any appreciable snow for a bit and we're inclined to at least give it a look.

Tiger, The Postmortem - This header on a Derek Lawrenson item doesn't pully any punches:

Tiger Woods is unfit for purpose as lame former world No 1 pulls out of Dubai Desert Classic

Unfit for purpose?  'dems fighting words..... 

What is beyond dispute is Woods's trip to the Emirates was a shambles from start to finish. Tiger can insist all he likes that he was in no pain during his horrific first round 77

Steiny, taking the heat as usual....

but it looked as plain as day that he was unfit for the purpose of playing tournament golf. Certainly, few would argue with the striking headline on the Golf Channel website proclaiming he looked like the oldest 41-year-old golfer in the world. 

Quite honestly, it was a blessing when the news came he was pulling out, for the Tiger we saw on Thursday would have struggled to break 90 in the torrid conditions that prevailed. 

Is it just a temporary setback or are these the sad, final death throes for perhaps the greatest golfer of all time?

Death throes? My, aren't we the drama queen....  I have it n good authority that he just needs some reps so he can get back his golf feels...  But did you see how he was fighting out there?  That was quite the gritty WD after all...

But wait, there's more:

Never mind the Genesis Open. What we could really do with is a Book of Revelation, and some truths as to actually what is going on with Woods and his back. 

I had a drink with one of the leading players here on Thursday night and his exasperation was obvious. 'What is the problem with giving people a full picture of what is happening and what you're dealing with?' he said. 'I think we could all see there were problems on Thursday that weren't there when he played at the Hero Challenge in the Bahamas before Christmas. Why not tell us what's going on? That's never been Tiger, though, has it?'

It's gotten old, no?  And that's with us all rooting for him to get back into the mix....  But it makes one feel like a battered spouse, that this next time will be different....  Just a little candor might be nice...

Derek is obviously a fan of this blog, or so I deduce from this:

Naturally, there were many questioning the wisdom of flying 10,000 miles after his first comeback event in California to compete here, and particularly when his next event is taking place in the very State from whence he came. But Woods was determined to test his back with four events in five weeks to see how it would hold up. Sadly, he got precisely the answer he didn't want.

The young and rash Alex Myes offers additional reasons for the WD, ensuring that he's permanently off Tiger's X-mas card list.  It's far from Alex's best effort, but I'll assume he was on deadline.  This is about as good as it gets:

A seat on a private jet opened up. After flying commercial to Dubai, Woods just couldn't pass it up. 

He remembered he left a light on at home. Energy costs these days, right?

But this is the bit that's of interest:

See you at Riviera in a couple weeks, Tiger. We hope.

Do we?  I don't need to see more of this, if that's what's on offer.....  And every time he does this he's taking a precious spot in the field from an actual professional golfer.

And today's "Shanks for the memories" moment comes courtesy of Ian Poulter.... Poulter's hosel is well acquainted with the feel of surlyn, though he does have a reasonably pithy response to the Twitter posse:

Is That Like Extreme Vetting? - Aussies have a well-established reputation for being the hail fellow well met, but it seems that we're seeing a darker side these days.  To wit:

Steven Bowditch, competing in this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open, was

arrested for Extreme Driving Under the Influence by Scottsdale Police early Friday morning. 

The incident unfolded at approximately 1:10 a.m. after a motorist had called police to report a white pickup truck swerving all over the road, according to police.

A short time after, a Scottsdale officer found the pickup at the intersection of Scottsdale Road and Lincoln. 

According to police, the vehicle, a courtesy car provided by the tournament, its engine running, sat through two green traffic signals without moving. The officer had to wake the 33-year-old Australian, who was removed from the pickup and later arrested with a blood alcohol content over 0.20, well above Arizona's limit of .08.

Reports are that Robert Allenby is insanely jealous of the quality of Bowditch's mug shot... at least I'm hoping that's a mug shot.

Shockingly he missed the cut, though unlike his countryman he took responsibility:

OK, let's not cast him out from polite society just yet....

Today in Phil being... - I watched quite a bit of yesterday's coverage, but they didn't show this:

We started this whole "Today in Phil Mickelson doing Phil Mickelson things" on Thursday as somewhat of a joke. But it didn't take long for the five-time major champ to prove it really could be a daily series. 

Mickelson made birdie from the trees on TPC Scottsdale's 8th hole in the first round and he found himself in a similar spot on Friday in the left rough. Although, this time, the lie was much worse. In fact, Mickelson's ball was so buried that you couldn't see it on TV. 

So of course, he opted to hit a driver off the deck for his approach shot. Yep, a driver off the deck from the rough. From 193 yards. Only Phil.

Video at the link.  As noted in the commentary, that's 8 degrees of loft to hit a ball so deep it's not visible....

It reminds of this wonderful Samuel Johnson quote:

Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

 Enjoy your weekend, and I'll likely see you next on Monday morning.