Midweek Musings

I'm seriously on the clock, so without further ado....

Tiger Tune-Up - He passed one test yesterday:

On Tuesday, Tiger hit the range when it was still dark out. He followed that session with a practice round alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Jason Day on the South Course at Torrey, the site of Woods's most recent major championship victory at the 2008 U.S. Open. 

You can watch slo-mo videos of Tiger's swing from Tuesday, as well as other social media reactions to Tiger's first practice day below.

As noted, video at the link...  No word on whether he started his warm-up with the driver.  

Any thoughts on why the fat boy pairing? 

Clear your calendars: Tiger Woods returns to the PGA Tour at 1:40 p.m. (ET) Thursday. 

Woods, who last played at the Hero World Challenge in December (he tied for 9th out of 18), makes his first start of 2018 at this week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. It's his first PGA Tour start since he missed the cut (76-72) at the Farmers last year. What followed was a WD a week later in Dubai and another back surgery in April, and he didn't return to the course until the Hero in December, which is an unofficial event. 

Woods, who has won eight times at Torrey, including the 2008 U.S. Open, tees off alongside Patrick Reed and Charley Hoffman on the South Course for his first round on Thursday. That trio then hits the North Course at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

Though I'm not surprised that they gave him the afternoon time on the South course, though I had thought that for TV window reasons that might be on Friday.

For those with far too much time on their hands, Josh Sens has this little quiz to determine whether you believe:

3. At Torrey Pines this week, where Woods has won eight times as a pro, you predict:

A. Yet another Tiger victory, this one even more heroic than the U.S. Open he captured on a broken leg. (10 pts)

B. A solid top-10 finish, and an important stepping stone on his return to form. (5 pts)

C. Fairways missed by yards. Putts missed by inches. And a cut missed by a mile. (0 pts)

I'n worried that his back isn't sufficiently recovered for a proper trunk-slam. 

Pat, Being Pat - With the circus in town, wouldn't you think that Pat Perez would be there?  No only is he a local, but he and Tiger spent years going at each other in junior golf.

John Huggan is with Pat, and late in his item tells us that Pat is enjoying the vibe:

On a happier note, Perez is not surprisingly enjoying what he calls the “relaxed vibe” on

the Old World circuit. Well, apart from the jet lag. Although flying in Sergio Garcia’s G5 plane from the U.S. to Singapore then to Dubai doesn’t sound like it was too taxing.

“The camaraderie out here in the European group is fantastic,” he said. “I have a lot of friends out here. And I’ve had a lot of people come up and say, hey, great to seeing you here. It’s just a different vibe out here. It’s great. I like it. It would be nice to mix in a few more.”

So, Pat has found contentment, that's great....  What?  Oh, it's Pat. so the world continues to conspire against him:

DUBAI — Not for the first time in his life, Pat Perez is a little peed-off. Winner last October of the PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic and T-5 in the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges one week later, the 41-year-old iconoclast received not one Ryder Cup point in so doing. And that, it seems to him, isn’t really fair. 

“That kind of upset me a little bit; the fact that I’m 13 on the [Ryder Cup qualifying] list, but I should be probably three or four,” he said, two days before teeing up in the Dubai Desert Classic, his second regular event as an affiliate member of the European Tour last July. “So it kind of put a bitter taste in my mouth. The fact that you win on the PGA Tour and you beat some good players, yet you don’t get any points because of whatever our committee has decided to do. 

“If you win the same year of the Ryder Cup, you should get the points. I think the reasoning is a lot of top players don’t play in those fall events and so our, whatever you call that, committee … I don’t know, whatever it is, whatever they came up with …”

Pay attention, Pat, because this is a little tricky.  The points system for the Ryder Cup, check that, for the American Ryder Cup team, are awarded in a process that's publicly available and, not surprisingly, involves playing the American Tour.  And, you ignorant slut, you knew that when you decided to hop the ride on Sergio's G5.

If you really want on the team, how about setting your schedule accordingly?  Or you can just keep whining...

Merch Show -  The big one is in progress in Orlando, and there's lots of tech to be found...whether it's helpful remains speculative:

Can you believe they lead with an umbrella?

Weatherman Golf Umbrella, available in 62-inch ($89) and 68-inch ($95) options.

TV meteorologist Rick Reichmuth has designed a golf umbrella that does all of the basic things really well. It’s made out of teflon-coated fabric to keep you (and your clubs) dry. It also has extra supports attached to the ribs so that it can withstand high winds (up to 55 mph). And it’s available in four different colors. 

It’s the small details, however, where this umbrella really shines. Up in the canopy there’s a mesh pocket where you can store your glove between shots or while you’re on the green, so it’s staying safe and dry. You can also store your scorecard there. One of the ribs is coated with silicone, making it nonslip. Hang your towel there, and the silicone keeps it from slipping out and falling to the wet ground.

Cool, but didn't I say something about tech?

If you’re the kind of person who has a tendency of losing things, you’ll like the Bluetooth feature that umbrella has as well (yes, we said Bluetooth). The umbrella has Bluetooth tracking that pairs with an app on your phone to show you the location of your umbrella if you lose it. The app also can tell you the weather at the course you're going to be playing, letting you know if you actually need to bring your umbrella or not. That's next level. —Keely Levins

Pro Tip:  If that course you're playing is in Scotland or Ireland, bring it regardless of the forecast.

Doesn't everyone feel the need for an interactive putter?

TaylorMade's Spider Interactive, powered by Blast Motion, $399. 

We've seen a handful of major manufacturers partner with golf-data companies in recent years to create smarter products that offer significant knowledge to the golfer.

TaylorMade did so with Microsoft in creating MyRoundPro fitness tracker a couple of years ago. Now, the company is bringing intelligence to a putting product.

TaylorMade has partnered with the motion-capture company Blast Motion, and SuperStroke, to create Spider Interactive, allowing golfers to analyze their putting strokes based on data captured in each stroke. 

Blast Motion's sensors have been built into the grip of TaylorMade's Spider putters (similar to Arccos' sensors within Cobra's drivers) to deliver information to golfers via an app that will be available on iOS on March 1 and for Android devices in Q2 of 2018, according to the company. —Stephen Hennessey

You make or you miss.... I don't need no stinkin' motion capture to tell...

There's a second photo of Pat Perez in shorts as a bonus for those that click through.  What were the odds of two in one day?

I'll see you all from out West.