Your Friday Frisson - Prodigal Son Edition

So, what would you like to talk about this morning?  

The "R-Word" - Rusty, as expected, but with golf skills still apparent:

Tiger Woods returns: How did he play? What looked good? What looked bad?

What were Tiger Woods’ highlights?

— The look of comfort with his swing. Since his return from a 2021 car crash, the ‘new’ Woods has relied more on a noticeably larger upper body in his swing, lessening the work his legs have to do.

Thursday was more of the same, and he appeared comfortable. While not as explosive-looking as it was once, his swing does not lack for power, though. On No. 1, no player in the 20-man field hit his tee shot farther.

— No noticeable walking problems. More on that below. But in short, there was no noticeable limp. If you’re a Woods fan, this might be your biggest highlight.

— The tee shot on 1. As noted above, on his first shot of the day, from the tee on the 438-yard, par-4 1st, Woods ripped one 326 yards, tied with Max Homa for the longest shot on the day on the hole.

Yes, the footwork seems noticeably flatter, with that upper body, if possible, even more ripped than previously....  

There are more highlights listed, most notably with his putter.

I checked out after the thirteenth hole, after which it went (somewhat predictably) wrong:

What were Tiger Woods’ lowlights?

— An awful finish. After 14 holes, Woods was one-under. Hopes were high. Then they crashed. He finished this way: double bogey after a questionable decision; bogey after a poor pitch, bogey on a three-putt; par.

— A poor decision. On the 554-yard, par-5 15th, Woods hit his tee shot into a bush, then things snowballed. Instead of taking an unplayable, Woods worked his way into the shrub — only to hit his ball a foot. From there, he played his third shot backward, and he finished with a double bogey. It’s here where we’ll note that Woods confidante, Rob McNamara, is on the bag this week. Would an experienced caddie have coaxed Woods into a different play?

— An inability to build momentum. Woods followed a birdie on 3 with a bogey on 4. He followed a birdie on 5 with a bogey on 6. He followed a birdie on 11 with a bogey on 12. He followed a birdie on 14 with a double bogey on 15 and bogeys on 16 and 17.

— Squirrelly irons on 2 and 4 and 12. Notably, three iron shots got away from Woods — his tee shot on the 169-yard, par-3 2nd, which went out to the right; his fourth on the 503-yard, par-4 4th, which went out to the right; and his tee shot on the 187-yard, par-3 12th, which, yes, went out to the right. It’s something to watch.

— Three-putt from 13 feet. After three shots on the 563-yard, par-5 6th, Woods was 13 feet away. From there, he putted 5 feet past the hole, then missed from there for a bogey. Rust? Maybe.

Here's what that bad decision looked like:

Relatable. pic.twitter.com/K8JqO39R8W

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 30, 2023

Assuming no physical issues when he awakes this morning, we can call the day a success, because nothing could be less relevant than the number on the card.  And Will Zalotoris posted the kind of number guaranteed to keep Tiger out of last place, so he's got that going for him.

This from Dylan Dethier seems about right:

It wasn’t his body that let Tiger Woods down.

That felt like the most important takeaway from Thursday’s opening round at the Hero World

Challenge, Woods’ first tournament since the Masters and since his subtalar fusion surgery: Woods looks like he can do this. In recent comebacks, his swing has looked good and his game has looked sharp but, over the course of one or two or three or four rounds, his body hasn’t kept up.

But if Thursday’s biggest question was whether Woods looks healthy enough to have a future playing a limited professional golfing schedule, the answer was exciting: so far, so good.

“I was dealing with bone on bone for a number of months,” Woods said, referring to pain in his now-fused ankle. “I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

That still doesn’t mean Woods is all-the-way, 100-percent healthy. He still walks with a slight limp. He aches. And his ankle may not hurt like it did, but he describes the pain as having redirected elsewhere. Asked where he feels sore, he tried for a one-word answer — “everywhere” — but gave more specifics, too.

“My leg, my back, my neck. Just from playing, hitting shots and trying to hold off shots,” he said. “It’s just different at game speed, too. Game speed’s a lot different than at home speed.”

He looked like he could walk, with that slight limp only occasionally in evidence.   This is far from the hardest course to walk and it's only Day One, but very encouraging on that basis.

It wasn’t until Woods’ post-round remarks that we entered unfamiliar territory. Woods has faced questions after nearly every round of his professional life, good or bad. But while we’re used to him explaining poor results with references to his swing, his body or his execution, one area has generally remained untouchable: his mind. But not on Thursday.

“I had, really, a lack of commitment through of of the middle part of my round and finishing,” he said. “I just didn’t quite commit to what I was doing and feeling.”

A couple shots in particular drew Woods’ ire. His tee shot at the par-5 11th squirted out to the right and forced a layup. His iron shot on the par-3 12th started way right and stayed there, leading to bogey. And a quick-hook driver at No. 15 led to double.

“You take it for granted, I guess, when you’re playing all the time,” he said post-round. “OK, the wind, it’s coming up, move the ball back [in your stance], you just kind of lean on it just a little bit, just flight it down a little bit, add a couple yards. Instead of reacting to it, I was thinking about doing it. Then as I was thinking about it, should I do this or not, by then I’m pulling the trigger when I shouldn’t really pull the trigger. Hit a bad shot. I kept doing it time and time again. It was a lack of commitment to what I was doing and feeling. I’ve got to do a better job of it.”

If he can walk, one assumes this will take care of itself.....  He's always going to have to make it work without a lot of competitive reps and practice time, but encouraging all the same.

With the caveat that we have to see how multiple days affect him.  I doubt he wants to be in the first group out on Sunday, so let's see what he can show us.  For now, thanks to Will and Wyndham Clark, he's in the second group out:

2023 Hero World Challenge Round 2 tee times (All times ET)

10:51 a.m. – Will Zalatoris, Wyndham Clark

11:02 a.m. – Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler

11:13 a.m. – Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose

11:24 a.m. – Keegan Bradley, Sepp Straka

11:35 a.m. – Jason Day, Sam Burns

11:46 a.m. – Lucas Glover, Justin Thomas

11:57 a.m. – Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa

12:08 p.m. – Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler

12:19 p.m. – Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth

12:30 p.m. – Tony Finau, Brian Harman

The Golf Channel coverage window technically starts at 12:30 p.m., but their pregame show starts at 11:00 a.m., and I'll go way out on a limb and suggest that they might show the start of Tiger's second round.

Tiger, The Presser - Almost more interesting (and perhaps important) than his actual play, lots of thoughts on his comments from Tuesday's presser.  Like Sean Zak, most folks were focused on this bit:

With 3 unwavering words, Tiger Woods puts PGA Tour on notice

That’s right, Woods hasn’t spoken publicly about the seminal day that defined much of the 2023 golf year — and could define much of the golf world moving forward.

“Well, going back to that,” Woods started, “I would say that my reaction was surprised as I’m sure a lot of the players were taken back by it, by what happened. So quickly, without any input

or any information about it, it was just thrown out there. I was very surprised that the process was what it was.”

It’s not surprising that Woods was surprised. So was every pro golfer on the planet. But Woods — the global face of the game, who decried LIV Golf and rallied the top pros into creating a Signature Events system — also wasn’t going to let the Tour’s secret backroom dealings with its one-time Saudi rivals pass, or further develop, without closer inspection.

That’s why Woods is now one of six players on the PGA Tour’s all-important Policy Board. He never once held that position during the peak of his playing days, but he does now, thanks to a late-summer quasi coup during which 41 pros demanded Woods be granted a place on the board.

fair enough, though he's obviously keeping us in suspense as to those three magic words, no?

Why did that happen? Woods is never keen to dive into detail, but for a man who doesn’t say much, it’s often telling when he repeats himself. Tuesday’s phrase of the day was just three telling words: Can’t happen again. As in, what happened in the weeks leading up to maybe the most pivotal decision in PGA Tour history can’t…happen…again.

When asked about Jay Monahan’s role as commissioner, Woods said, “I think Jay has been a part of the direction, he understands what happened prior to that can’t happen again and won’t happen again.”

When asked for the emotions that drove him to join the board, Woods said, “I think the overall emotion is…we can’t let that happen again.”

When asked about his confidence in Monahan, Woods said, “That was part of why I came on to the board is I did have faith in Jay and in what he could do going forward and what can’t happen again.”

So, going out on a limb, I'm guessing the key point Tiger wants to emphasize is that something can't happen again, although the exact nature of that which can't happen again is just a little vague, especially since they seem to be moving forward with the initiative and the guy that did that which can't happen again keeps his job.... 

James Colgan had this take:

Why Tiger Woods’ spicy return press conference felt like a job interview

God doesn't do job interviews....

And not a lot of granularity as to the nature of said job:

So when he arrived at the lectern for his opening salvo from the Hero World Challenge — a frequent spot of Woods comebacks over the years — it was telling that his focus appeared to be on his new gig. For the first time in at least a decade, the most interesting thing about Tiger Woods was not his golf game nor his return to major championship contention, but rather his newly-anointed position.

“We have to protect the integrity of our Tour and what that stands for going forward,” he said poignantly. “Trying to figure all that out in the past few months has been a very difficult task, but we have to protect what the Tour is for the players.”

Yes, but for which players exactly?  Therein lies the rub...

I just find it odd that he's being lauded for candor such as this:

On the topic of the merger, Woods defended players with a mix of candor and cantankerousness. He acknowledged there wasn’t enough time for the players to settle every score, but remained furious about the backroom nature of Monahan’s initial agreement with PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and about the Tour’s initial handling of the news. (Three times during the course of Tuesday’s presser, Woods used the same words to describe the agreement: that can’t happen.)

“I would say that my reaction was surprise, as I’m sure a lot of other players were taken back by what happened,” he said. “We were very frustrated with what happened and we took steps going forward to ensure that we were not going to be left out of the process like we were. So part of that process was putting me on the board and accepting that position.”

Yet, despite the seemingly strong words, that which he objects to is moving forward....  Weird.

Ryan Herrington takes us through the surprises from Tiger, not least this:

Tiger thinks he might be playing a little more regularly

Sitting for another "return" press conference after another surgery and having played in just two

tournaments in 2023, you figured Woods would probably repeat himself again when posed the question about an anticipated schedule for 2024. Instead, there was a more optimistic response.

"I think that best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month," Woods said. "I think that's realistic, whether that's … you would have to start with maybe at Genesis and something in March near the Players. Again, we have set up right now the biggest events are one per month. It sets itself up for that. Now, I need to get myself ready for all that. I think this week is a big step in that direction."

Given the new PGA Tour calendar, that would essentially amount to seven or eight starts in 2024. That doesn't sound like much until you consider eight is the total number of tournaments he's started between September 2020 until today. More over, he's played more than seven events in just three of the last nine seasons.

That points squarely at the Players in March, not Tiger's favorite track but one that is one of the easier walking courses.  Not a huge surprise to me, because to play this week he has to be feeling much better, as it's too far out to help with Augusta prep.

Tiger isn’t thinking about Ryder Cup 2025 just yet

In the wake of the Americans defeat at Marco Simone in September, there had been chatter that Woods should take the reigns as U.S. captain when the Cup is up for grabs at Bethpage in 2025. While Woods didn’t rule out the possibility, he also was quick to say it hasn’t been top of mind of late.

“Right now, there's too much at stake with our tour to think about a Ryder Cup right now,” Woods said. “We have to get this done and we have to be focused on this right now. The Ryder Cup can take a … the players and everyone involved understands that this is an issue we need to focus on.”

More to the point, Tiger doesn't want to talk about that yet.   There is no scenario in which he hasn't thought about it, because there isn't really another logical candidate.  Unless, yanno, Phil is suddenly welcome back into polite society, and let's hope that's not something they try to jam down our throats.

The delay in launching his tech-infused golf league might come with a silver lining

In development for more than 14 months, with all six teams and 24 players lined up, the TGL was less than two months from playing its inaugural match. But then a storm blew through Florida and tore the roof on the still-being-constructed SoFi Center, forcing Woods, Rory McIlroy and other officials to put everything on hold for a year. Given the hype behind the venture, it would be natural to think that Woods was upset with what happened. His response when asked about what happened, however, didn’t leave that impression.

“I think it was moving very quickly and I think we can take advantage of time delay,” Woods said. “I think that we can do it right and I think all the parties that are involved really feel that this is going to be the best thing for it. There's so many partners, so many people that are involved in this league that have had so much brand experience and they want to get it right, and they have gotten it right, they're billionaires. I think that if we're able to capture that I think going into '25, I think that it will be positive for all of us.”

That sound you hear are my eys rolling, though I did lie this quickie slam from Geoff:

He did get a TGL question but here at The Quad we don’t do game show golf-without-backup power generators.

And this as well:

The PGA Tour’s future is more likely to include team golf than you might have expected

There’s been a presumption since the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, the PIF and the DP World Tour was signed in June that should LIV Golf be consolidate in golf’s ecosystem, its “team concept” would likely disappear. But Woods hinted that there is likely to be an aspect of it moving forward (for the record, Tiger has an interest in team golf succeeding given the TGL is built around it).

“Now, as far as team golf, I think there is away in which we can all benefit from team golf, it's just how do we do it. We're just trying to figure out that process now. We have been, we've been doing it for months, trying to figure out how that all works, what does that landscape even look like and where do we play and what impact does it have on our PGA Tour schedule. I think that's something that we have focused on and we don't take lightly.”

A classic Tiger response which tells us exactly nothing.  As LIV has discovered, there's no silver bullet to including a team component, so color me skeptical.  The one thing we can rely upon, though, is that he won't allow any team component to impair his TGL venture. 

Geoff captures Tiger's curious take on the current state of play:

On the progress of negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. “Also frustrated in some of the slowness and the governance change that we want to have happen. And December 31st is coming up very quickly, so there's the timetable* there that we would like to implement some of these changes that have not taken place.”

*Sounds like a hard deadline in his mind!

On options should December 31st come and go. “We have multiple options, but still, we would like to have a deal done December 31st. That's what the agreement said in the summer and all parties understand that. But there are other options out there.”

On what the professional golf landscape will look like in a year or two years. “The answer is murky. I would have to say there's quite a bit of -- there's a lot of moving parts on how we're going to play. Whether it's here on the PGA Tour or it's merging, or team golf. There's a lot of different aspects that are being thrown out there all at once and we are trying to figure all that out and what is the best solution for all parties and best solution for all the players that are involved.”

The rest of the world has assumed that December 31st will come and go, but perhaps the Tour is trying to force the issue with PIF.  

That Other Presser - I don't know what to make of Jay Monahan these days.  Does he still matter in this process, or is Tiger's coup complete and Jay has merely been left in his position as a feckless placeholder?

He gave an interview at the DealBook Summit, and had this on the current state of discussions:

Monahan, 53, did not address those concerns in his talk on Wednesday. Instead, he portrayed himself as a key player in the continued negotiations with PIF and other potential investors. A

deadline of Dec. 31 was set for a deal to be finalized in the original framework agreement.

“We’re having conversations with multiple parties,” Monahan said. “The deadline for our conversations with PIF, as you know, is a firm target. I'll be with Yasir next week. And we continue to advance our conversations. And I think it's pretty well known that there's a large number of other interested parties that we're also pushing to think about.”

Fenway Sports Group and the KKR & Co. investment firm, co-founder Henry Kravis, have been among the entities that are reportedly interested in a tour stake.

“When this gets finalized,” Monahan said, “the PGA Tour is going to be in a position that … the athletes are owners in their sport, and you've got not only the PIF, but you've likely got another co-investor, with significant experience in business, in sport and brand that's going to help take the PGA Tour to another level and help us take share from other sports and even be more competitive.”

But, of course, this is the bit that continues to puzzle:

In the aftermath of the stunning announcement on June 6 about the PIF agreement, Monahan felt barbs of criticism from numerous sides, and that situation came to a head when, a week later, it was announced that the commissioner was taking a leave of absence from the tour for health issues. Monahan revealed in August that he was suffering from anxiety related to the PIF situation that caused him physical and emotional distress.

Well, barbs of criticism, yanno!   Most folks in senior positions try to hide their weakness, but was he expecting to be received as a conquering hero?  None of this makes any sense to me....

“I think what's happening to me in my head around that timeframe was not too dissimilar to what was happening to me in my head in the months prior to it,” Monahan said on Wednesday. “This had been an extended conflict.”

It clearly pained him to leave at such a critical time in the tour’s history.

"I knew I'm the first person to run into a fight,” Monahan said. “Anybody that knows me will tell you that. And I knew the perception was that I was running away from a fight. And that was excruciating. That hurt me to my core.”

In his most insightful comments since his absence, Monahan called himself “a work in progress,” while noting that he’s taken steps in his life, both mentally and physically, to rectify some of his past problems in dealing with stress.

“You'll hear people talk a lot about 'I focus on the things I can control.' I wasn't doing a good job of that," Monahan said. “I was confusing that. I am fully focused on the things I control. And so, you have to realize that it's part of life, it's part of who I am, it's my truth. And I am a work in progress. And I'm just every single day trying to improve.”

I especially love that Brave Sir Jay bit about running into fires, but is he sufficiently stable to be entrusted with sensitive negotiations?  because I don't think the barbs of criticism are done.... 

Or has he been sufficiently defenestrated that he no longer is a threat to Tiger and the other elite players?  The above strikes me mostly as a cry for help, but as long as he knows that he works for Tiger and Patrick now....

That's it for this week.  Enjoy your weekend and the Hero, and we'll revisit it all next week.